April 7, 2011 - Radius Middle East will supply a wireless network for the Ministry of Water in Saudi Arabia. This project incorporates both the FastNet RTU and PDR VHF Data radios as part of a rainwater drainage SCADA system for remote monitoring and control of the pumping stations spread across the twin cities of Al Dammam and Al Khobar. The System reports to three master sites and multiple outstations across the cities. The PDR was chosen as the data communications device due to its multi-repeating capability, which was able to extend the range of the system without the need for additional radio equipment or cost implications.
The system will benefit from not only the multi-repeating functionality, but also the radio's high sensitivity rate and forward error correction, which provides a greater level of reliability within the communications system.
Due the easy of use and collaborative benefits of using complementary Radius products the Radius FastNet RTU was seen as the obvious choice of RTU to provide the required SCADA facilities and control to the master and outstation sites. The FastNet RTU is a high specification unit at extremely competitive price. It comes with DNP3, ModBus, IEC870-5-101 and IEC870-5-104 as standard and supports ModBus for IED and slave expansion. IO count at each site varied so the ease of expansion of the FastNet RTU was another major advantage.
Features such as ‘chatter control’ (to prevent an input from permanently sending changes of state and therefore dominating a communications channel) are just some of the main features supported by the FastNet RTU and essential for the rainwater drainage project to perform effectively. The project was won against a background of strong competition.
