Whitepapers

www.lora-alliance.org A DIGITAL REVOLUTION FOR OIL & GAS FROM SCADA TO INDUSTRIAL IOT Many O&G firms have small tanks that can be moved around a customer site. LoRaWAN is an excellent techno- logy to track the tanks and ensure the levels are accurate. Pepperl+Fuchs manufactures sensors that allow an oil company to check the liquid level in a tank, and alert staff about any problems. Energy firms all have cooling systems, and LoRaWAN helps the firms ensure the water pool is always filled with enough cooling water. Many O&G firms also need to track pipelines and control valve positions, and sensors can help meet these requirements. Sensors are also used to monitor rotating equipment vibrations. Sensors from Yokogawa reduce downtime and unplanned maintenance costs and help energy firms migrate from periodic maintenance, run to failure, and manned patrols to 24-by-7 condition-based maintenance. ASSET AND PEOPLE TRACKING Because deployments are spread out, asset tracking is a common use case for O&G firms in the U.S. In a large oil field, a company will have a central office, which is generally an environmentally controlled trailer. TEKTELIC has deployed LoRaWAN technology in these areas to keep track of the trailers, monitor whether a trailer is warm and if there are people in the area. Because an oil field has expensive equipment, often located in a remote area, a firm might set up a perimeter around the site with sensors that help track if anything comes into or goes out of the site. And tracking the assets within the site is just as important. O&G firms often have emergency showers at facilities. If a worker is exposed to hazardous materials, the showers allow the worker to quickly wash. An oil firm needs to know when someone is in the shower so paramedics can be dispatched. A LoRaWAN sensor can automatically com- municate that the shower is on. The showers also need to turn on every few weeks, so bacteria don't build up in the pipes. The technology allows the showers to automatically be started and stopped. For some hazardous areas, people are not supposed to enter or stay for a long period of time. Lansitec has deployed people and asset tracking products and solutions with LoRaWAN to help O&G companies to reduce the risk and improve management efficiency. This technology can also be used to locate all workers in the field in case of emergen- cy to provide support or evacuation. As we said earlier, LoRaWAN technology is bringing a trans- formation to the energy market by allowing it to automate and digitize the vast amount of data and assets that are part of its operations. When sensors connect, they unlock massive amounts of data to be analyzed and leveraged as business insights. Connectivity is crucial to capitalize on the opportunities brought forth by data; it contributes to genera- tion revenue. Collecting various data sources can cause data to reside in silos, preventing end users from taking full advantage of the collaborative intelligence of understanding patterns, anoma- lies and accessing real-time data insights. In addition, it is often complex to identify multiple data tags, PLCs, gateways and eventual blind spots in case equipment is not properly connected. Normalizing data therefore is critical. The data gathered during an O&G deployment of LoRaWAN technology can be collected and normalized through real- time software from providers like Webee. Their solution, which can run in the cloud or on-prem, ensures data is DATA ANALYTICS Emergency showers on hazardous sites The first 10 to 15 seconds after expo- sure to a hazardous substance, especially a corrosive substance, are critical. Delaying treatment, even for a few seconds, may cause serious injury. Therefore you find many emergency showers spread over the chemical plant and providing addi- tional insights in the usage of your existing safety showers and eyewash stations will increase safety and efficiency. The signal indicating that the safety shower is in use will improve Emergency first responder times, incident reporting, time stamp of inspections and detect failures caused by malfunc- tions of the actuator. For some hazardous areas, people are not supposed to enter or stay for a long period of time. Lansitec has deployed people and asset tracking products and solutions with LoRaWAN to help O&G companies to reduce the risk and improve management efficiency. This technology can also be used to locate all workers in the field in case of emergen- cy to provide support or evacuation.

• Cover