Optimal Antenna Configurations for Digital Oilfield Implementations

Antennas play a very pivotal role in the development and advancement of digital oil fields. They provide the last mile communication link to the field locations and thus must be properly sized to ensure the link availability and reliability. There are different types of antennas currently being deployed with each having different impacts on the communication link performance. This paper discusses typical antenna configurations for implementing last mile communications to the field in digital oilfield applications. It analyzes the characteristic of each configuration, the impact these different configurations have on data security, deployment speed and communication range and presents an optimal configuration that improves data security, deployment speed and communication range

Design of a GPS/GSM based Tracker for the Location of Stolen Items and Kidnapped or Missing Persons in Nigeria

The high rate of kidnapping in Nigeria is fueled by the inability of security agencies to quickly identify the location of the kidnapped persons. This system combines the position location capabilities of the GPS (Global Positioning System) to identify the current location of the kidnapped person or stolen items. These coordinates are time stamped, accessed by the microcontroller and sent to predetermined mobile phones via the GSM network. The GPS readings are accessed at short regular intervals but only the latest five readings are stored per time and these five readings are transmitted on demand by the GSM modem under the control of the Microcontroller upon the receipt of a location request SMS. The system monitors the GSM signal strength as the tracked object or person moves and when the GSM received signal strength falls below a predetermined threshold value, an alert together with the last five location data is sent to the monitoring mobile phones and the control center notifying them that the tracked object is approaching an area without GSM coverage. The system is designed to be permanently on and it is run on batteries that can last for very long periods before requiring a recharge. The unit is designed to be attached to the clothing or strapped on the tracked person in such a way that it can not be easily identified or removed. It also has a panic button which can be activated during an emergency to send the location data to the predetermined numbers

DEVELOPMENT OF A RAPID MENTORING SCHEME FOR MANAGING LARGE CLASSES IN ENGINEERING DEPARTMENTS

The large number of candidates applying for the limited number of available slots in Engineering departments in Universities in Nigeria has resulted in an over population in these classes. This coupled with the lack of attraction the academia has had to young graduates over the years has resulted in a shortage of lecturers in many of engineering departments. This trend is however being reversed as the downturn in the labour market especially in the choice industries such as the oil and gas, banking and telecommunications is now causing young graduates to consider careers in the academia. This sudden influx of young graduates into the academia has led to an improvement in the students to staff ratio but the lack of experience of the young faculty in managing large classes or lecture delivery is threatening both the quality of teaching and learning the students are exposed to. This paper proposes a rapid mentoring scheme where the senior faculty teach the large classes while simultaneously mentoring the younger faculty. The senior faculty will be responsible for the development of the curriculum, course materials, test and examination questions and also teaching the large classes. The younger faculty will be responsible for developing the tutorial questions and answers which will be vetted by the senior faculty, they will also be responsible for taking the tutorial classes and marking the test and examination question papers. The senior faculty will teach the large classes with the junior faculty in attendance both to learn the principles of class management and undergraduate teaching and also help with class control. The class is then broken into smaller groups and assigned to the different younger faculties assigned to the senior faculty for the course and they will undertake the tutorial sessions. These sessions are to be held within the same week so as to reinforce the lectures undertaken within the week. The key benefits of this system include the fact that the students will benefit from the quality and experience of the senior faculty. The senior faculty will have sufficient support to introduce simulations or demos into the class, the junior faculty will receive mentoring as well as an opportunity to deepen their understanding of the course through the setting of the tutorial questions. The students will have a more personal interaction in the smaller groups with the younger faculty during the tutorial sessions and be able to ask questions which they couldn't ask in the larger class. The system is capable of providing a rapid mentoring path for young faculty while enabling the students benefit both from the experience of the senior faculty and the availability of the younger faculty resulting in very high quality engineering educatio

Intelligent Traffic Monitoring and Hybrid Energy System for BTS OPEX Reduction

A predominant approach at developing a low cost system for GSM networks has been targeted at the power section due to its prime position in the overall financial requirement both at the CAP EX and OPEX Ericson developed a hybrid network approach which involves the replacement of one of the generators required at the cell site with a bank of specially designed high capacity batteries. This approach reduced the cost of fuel required by 50% due to the utilization of only one generator. Its set back is in the requirement of specially designed batteries. Another low cost approach is the use ofbio-diesels which was also pioneered by Ericsson. The use of Solar/wind power system to replace the diesel generators at BTS cell sites is an· approach pioneered by Motorola, GSMA and MTC. The development of energy efficient equipment is another approach aimed at reducing the cost of a GSM network, prominent under this is the development of soft switches and low power transceivers. The use of intelligent traffic monitoring and hybrid energy supply systems where the variation in the telecom traffic both in the, residential and business areas allow the use of renewable energy sources to provide energy for the BTS during periods of low traffic has been found to yield significantDPEX cost savin

Design of Intel 8751 Microcontroller-based System for Monitoring and Control of a Thermal Process

An Intel 8751 microcontroller-based system was developed to monitor and control the temperature of an oven. The IN4148 signal diode was used as the temperature sensor and the on-off control algorithm was utilized with the system switching off the heating process whenever it attains the preset value. The system provides a digital readout of the system temperature and a status/blinker indicator showing whether heating is in progress or terminated. The control programs were loaded onto the memory of the microcontroller and the enable the selection of the different temperature values. The system improves accuracy by eliminating human participation and saves operator time. The system is easy to operate, maintain, and upgrad

Strategies for Low Cost Rural Telephony.

This paper presents strategies that operators can employ to profitably provide acceptable and affordable telecommunication services to customers in the rural areas. The strategies discussed include the use of low power/ low cost infrastructure designed and based on the specifications of the rural areas and the shared access concept using the Global System for Mobile (GSM) phone booth. These strategies are based on infrastructure that is modular, scalable, solar powered, and customizable to the operator’s specifications. The low cost infrastructure is designed to extend telecommunication services to rural areas enabling users in those areas to link up with the operator’s network in the urban areas using their personal phones. These devices (repeaters) can be designed to allow the user’s phones to transmit at minimum power thus giving them longer talk time. With the GSM phone booth, the users don’t need to have personal phones. The GSM phone booths are installed within their streets and the users are supplied with re-loadable cards with which they can access the phone booths to make their calls. These phone booths are also designed to be range extenders powered by solar making them suitable for the more remote areas

Remote Operations Implementation: A Tool for Improved HSE Management

The current security challenges and hazards associated with oil and gas operations especially in the Nigerian Niger Delta calls for an innovative approach to managing the operations to reduce the exposure of staff to these hazards and risks without compromising the asset integrity and operations philosophy. Remote operation is defined as the remote monitoring and control of the field based production systems from an offsite location with the aim of optimizing the entire production process. It involves the continuous collation of operational data using smart instruments, the transmission of these data using a robust and secure communication link and the integration of these data to the company’s IT infrastructure comprised mainly of a data historian and production optimization tools. It provides the relevant personnel with information on the field performance and also provides an avenue for intervention while minimizing the exposure of the staff to the Health Safety and Environment (HSE) hazards associated with the fields. Remote operation has been shown to also reduce the Operational Expenses (OPEX) by reducing the number of field visits and the associated logistics and security costs and enhancing the field performance in terms of faster and more accurate interventions thereby enabling a better HS

Telecommunication Cost Reduction in Nigeria through Infrastructure Sharing between Operators.

This paper reviews the cost structure of mobile telecoms operations and presents collocation strategies aimed at reducing the total cost of ownership of mobile telecom service. An approach where everything on the site except for the shelters are shared by two or more operators is proposed with the shelters installed either in a storied fashion or placed side by side while the cost of electrical energy, cooling, tower construction, security, and fuel is shared by the operators on the site. A typical base station BTS requires 3000W of power while the air conditioners are typically the 2HP capacity type requiring about 1500W. Lighting (security lights inclusive) can require up to 3000W. All of these loads sum up to approximately 10000W. This compared with the typical generator capacity of 20KVA shows that an extra shelter (BTS) load of 3000W can be accommodated by the generator on the site with the air conditioning shared in the form of a central air conditioning system. The use of ducts has been found to reduce the buildup of heat in the shelters thereby reducing the cooling required by up to 20%. The shared resource can be outsourced to a third party while each operator controls the access to their individual shelters. The provision of strict enforceable legislation will also ensure that operators get fair treatment regardless of their status on the site. Collocation has the capacity of reducing the capital expenses (CAPEX) and total site dependent operational expenses (OPEX) for each of the by up to 50% depending on the lease agreements between the operators and at the same time facilitating a faster deployment time for new operators in a mature market and ultimately reducing telecom tariffs

Remote Operation of Oil and Gas production installations in the Niger Delta

The current security challenges posed by the militancy in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria and the need by the International Oil and Gas Companies(IOC) operating in these areas to deploy both local and expatriates personnel for mandatory site visits both for operations, maintenance and upgrades make it necessary for the evolution of more effective operation strategies. The IOCs have resorted to the use of armed military escorts for staff to and from the sites and this has yielded some reduction in the risks but has still not totally eliminated it. This paper presents a robust communication configuration which is designed to enable remote operations, control, maintenance and upgrades by experts from a secure location away from the site. The system is implemented using appropriate sensors, communication links, topologies and plant operators. The advantages of this system include the reduction of staff exposure to the risks currently associated with traveling to these remote locations in the Niger delta region. It also ensures significant OPEX cost savings for the IOCs in terms of logistics costs and also allows for an increased effectiveness of the experts in terms of deployment time and the number of sites the can handle

RFID Applications for Asset Monitoring and Multi-Level Asset Tracking

Oil and Gas operations require the maintenance of large inventory of spares, equipment and materials all referred to in this work as assets. The differences in the arrival time and the fact that the receiving personnel may be different from the personnel that ordered the items and also different from the personnel that may eventually check out the items from the warehouse makes it necessary to have an automated system for monitoring the inventory. The large number of inventories maintained by the oil and gas process and the multiplicity of teams increases the risk of loss of items due to unauthorized release of items from the warehouse and the challenges of managing inventory movement. This system presents the development of an RFID based real-time inventory tracking system which makes it mandatory for the suppliers to embed all supplied items with RFID Tags. The warehouse is to have RFID readers installed in each section and also at all entrance and exit points. The system logs personnel access and movement within the warehouse and it is also able to track items wrongly placed in the warehouse. It monitors the entire asset and reports the movement of each asset to the team leads and Managers of the team that made the item procurement. The system maintains a database of all items in the warehouse and is capable of generating reports of the entire inventory and their history. The system also integrates a reader at the main exist gates of the premises. For an item to exit the company premises, the supervising manager will be required to give a final approval by email to enable the item exit the company premises. This system will minimize the risks associated with illegal removal of items from the warehouse as the movement of the items is tracked in real-time, the access control monitors the staff access into the warehouse and matches it with the item movement out of the warehouse. Managers are aware of the item’s movement from the warehouse and in the event of item leaving the warehouse without authorization and without any record of its exit being approved by the required manager, a watch list is created at the security post to check for such items in the event that the RFID tags have been removed. This system will enable a more robust asset management process for oil and gas inventories and minimize the risks associated with unauthorized removal of inventory from the warehous