"Utilities Telecom Council" posts

‘My Experience’ with Microwave Radio Systems

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Quasar GB 1428, 12.4 billion light years from Earth, a celestial source of enormous X-ray and microwave energy. Photo: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center / Foter.com / CC BY-NC

Collectively, we as consumers of high-tech communications systems tend to think very analytically, very logically, about the solutions that form the core of our working lives. In all the fields that we pursue from mobile telecom to public safety to utilities to oil and gas to financial, microwave radio has touched, shaped and framed our worldview. But like a star in a distant galaxy, every user’s experience with microwave radio is unique. No exception to that totality of reality is Ron Beck, president emeritus and past chairman of the Utilities Telecom Council, a trade group dedicated to advocating telecommunications issues for energy companies and associated concerns.

In a recent video, Beck talks about his life with microwave radio for almost 30 years. Starting with analog TDM microwave radio, he has traveled the technology evolutionary path to arrive at the present day systems of digital IP/Ethernet microwave communications. However, before ever touching on any technical considerations, he talks about the people responsible for his and his company’s success with microwave. For utilities applications, Beck feels it is critical that the people he deals with at a microwave solutions provider understand his business. “The (Aviat) sales force understands utility applications; they understand what we need in a radio system,” he says.

Beck goes on to elaborate how Aviat design and engineering groups collaborate closely with his team to deliver exactly the solution that is needed. Service and standards-based technology are very important to him and make microwave radio very user-friendly because “frankly, you don’t have to touch it very much.” See and hear all Beck has to offer below:

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Utilities Must Work Closely with Wireless Vendors on Smart Grid

At the UTC Telecom 2012 show, Aviat Networks was able to meet with utilities regarding their networking needs. Bottomline, utilities must work closely with their wireless backhaul and other solution providers in order to implement smart grid capabilities.

UTC Telecom 2012 is the annual show of the utilities industry in North America. New technologies and products were displayed to help the industry with its latest challenges. Also various utilities shared their experiences in implementing new networks to deliver leading edge smart grid capabilities.

The show was extremely well attended with a myriad of vendors including many consulting firms. The key message that I took away was the need for utilities to work very closely with their equipment vendors—especially wireless backhaul solution providers—and consultants to implement next generation networks capable of handling the multitude of applications associated with smart grid.

It was interesting to hear from AltaLink about the findings from its extensive lab testing and network implementation:

  • How far do you drive MPLS into the network?
  • How do you “tweak” the MPLS settings to accommodate microwave radios adapting in modulation?
  • What kind of MTU sizes need to be passed and how well do vendor capacities relate to the particular MTU sizes?

BC Hydro talked to the two critical issues it is struggling with: end-to-end management and security across the entire network. Balance the needs/wants of the IT dept., the communications dept. and various internal administrative groups is a real task! Some people think that only the commercial mobile networks must deal with overzealous users demanding unlimited bandwidth to address their video/gaming/voice applications…what happens when all the utilities’ departments find out that there is bandwidth available?!

Aviat Networks’ Eclipse Packet Node radios and skilled network engineers can help you find the right solution for your smart grid implementation. Whether your utility is just starting to look at the issues or ready to buy the critical components of the network, Aviat Networks is able to help.

Randy Jenkins
Director of Business Development
Aviat Networks

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