Whitepaper: Resilient Wireless Ethernet on an FPSO

The need to provide Ethernet connectivity to locations around production plants or other facilities is becoming more common place. This is mainly due to the fact that most modern control and instrumentation equipment is now supplied with an Ethernet interface as the primary means of communicating with the device. In many cases it is simply a matter of running an Ethernet cable from the switch to the device as this more often than not provides power as well using the 802.3af POE standard.

This white paper covers:

Why Ethernet connectivity is needed

• general requirements
• how that applies to industries such as oil and gas

The practicalities of installing Ethernet in applications such as an FPSO

• Ethernet cabling restrictions
• accounting for 360 degree rotation of the FPSO’s turret
• drawbacks of the traditional slip ring method
• the need for a reliable, affordable solution

Designing a wireless solution

• selecting the correct wireless technology
• how the radio signal propagates through the turret
• choosing suitable antennas
• considering the leaky feeder cables
• accounting for interference in a metallic environment
• outline of a MESH Ethernet solution