Whitepapers

www.lora-alliance.org A DIGITAL REVOLUTION FOR OIL & GAS FROM SCADA TO INDUSTRIAL IOT However, much of the estimated $2.5 trillion of value projected by the World Economic Forum in 2017 origina- ting from digitization within the O&G sector remains on the table. This eye watering projection was predicated on existing O&G organizational and operational constraints being reassessed to enable the rapid adoption of emerging technologies. As these constraints are slowly being remo- ved, O&G is demonstrating it can now more readily enjoy the benefits of proven technologies previously overlooked from adjacent industries. A key wireless technology ena- bling quick, cost-effective connectivity for assets at scale is LoRaWAN, an unlicensed, wireless protocol for the IoT that falls under the umbrella of Low Power Wide Area Networks (LPWANs), which provide long-range communication on small, inexpensive batteries that last for years. This family of technologies is purpose-built to support large-scale IoT networks sprawling over vast industrial and commercial campuses. LPWANs can connect all types of IoT sensors and are best suited for use cases that don't require high bandwidth and are not time sensitive. Lessons learned by analyzing how adjacent market segments like smart cities, agriculture, and hospitals cap- turing big data from garbage bins, moisture and fertilizer sensors and more have been actively applied to transform legacy O&G workflows. This has unlocked stranded data found in remote geographies via secure, economical, and highly scalable LoRaWAN networks and devices, allowing operators to retire their clipboards and spend more time managing by exception. O&G firms have unique applications from pipeline monito- ring to predictive maintenance to asset tracking that can benefit from digital technology. Although each operation is unique and has specific requirements, technology provi- ders are stepping in to help address the industry's needs, bringing long-term benefits. The global pandemic has sped up the sector's transformation to digital and heightened the need for technology to improve operational efficiency and effectiveness. The LoRaWAN protocol is bringing a transformation to the energy market by allowing it to automate and digitize the vast amount of data and assets that are part of its opera- tions. As a result, LoRaWAN leads the way for long-term implications for O&G cost efficiency, worker safety and THE BENEFITS OF LoRaWAN IN OIL AND GAS LoRaWAN AN OPEN AND AGILE STANDARD FOR DEPLOYMENT AND OPERATION evolving operations, and lays the foundation for numerous energy use cases. Equipment built to LoRaWAN specifications offers an optimal trade-off of device density, long battery life and range with secure AES-128 encryption. The sturdy RF link budget of over 160 dB as well as support for antenna macro diversity means LoRaWAN has plenty of capability to coexist and communicate in noisy environments such as an oil field. Furthermore, the protocol is effective for propagating RF signals hundreds of meters within dense and harsh industrial environments such as refineries, and greater than many kilometers in open upstream oil fields. Unlike previous tech- nologies such as mesh networks, LoRaWAN also supports moving devices, opening applications for vehicle tracking and worker safety. LoRaWAN enabled devices have optimized battery power, which means battery life can be 10 or more years. The price of the sensors and mobile data plan are much less than legacy protocols, not to mention the installation and mainte- nance fee. Not all IIoT applications require the broadband, low latency performance of 5G technology, making Lo- RaWAN a more cost-effective and efficient choice. LoRaWAN is the perfect fit for automating tasks that don't require high data rates but do require a wide geographical reach and secure data transmission. LoRaWAN's low data rate and long-range IoT communications uses license-free RF spectrum in the sub-GHz industrial, scientific and medical (ISM) band. In the United States the ISM band is at 915 MHz, while European Union ISM is at 868 MHz and 433 MHz in some regions, and 920 MHz is generally the ISM spectrum used in the Asia Pacific region. The LoRaWAN protocol provides bidirectional communications in a simple star network topology, ideal for connecting sensors and actuators capable of localization for tracking. The LoRa Alliance ® is a non-profit organization representing over 400 member companies developing and operating LoRaWAN equipment from silicon to solutions. Members offer LoRaWAN chipsets, modules, sensors, actuators, gateways, servers, managed networks, data management platforms all used for consumer, commercial and particularly industrial deployments within energy-specific solutions.

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