Keeping the Lights On: Satellite Tech in Utilities Management

What happens when the lights go out in your house? Ever have them go out in the entire neighborhood? What about the whole town or city? The state? What would happen if service suddenly stopped all together?

Utilities management is a huge job with billions of people depending on the outcome of how well each operation runs. A power outage that lasts just a few hours can cost people money in lost wages, cause refrigeration and frozen food loss, exacerbate health issues for people dependent on power for climate control or medical devices and much more.

It’s not just an inconvenience for people when they lose access to utilities. That’s why it’s so critical for utilities management to have reliable, consistent access to monitor their systems. Terrestrial solutions can be unreliable (especially in remote areas) and networks can get bogged down by excess traffic. In the event of an emergency, when you really need utilities to be working, communication lines can get clogged by a surge in traffic. This is where satellite solutions come in.

How Satellite Tech Works for Utilities

By using satellite technology, utility companies can have connectivity across their entire smart grid. Anywhere they need connectivity; satellite is there — whether it’s remote substations, remote customer locations or automatic reading collector sites. Using IP-based satellite communication systems integrated with core networks, utilities are meeting their smart grid objectives. They have a reliable and secure network solution that allows them to monitor their SCADA devices. They may also use satellite technology to extend their ability to use video surveillance, VOIP and corporate data access to substations that are inaccessible by terrestrial networks. Satellite also allows utilities to manage green energy sites in remote locations and backhaul smart meter data from aggregation sites.

Utility networks can also operate primarily on terrestrial networks and use satellite as emergency backup. Satellite solutions can give an alternative way to monitor SCADA and communicate with field crews in the event of a natural disaster or manmade event, to ensure minimal downtime of the smart grid.

Major Benefits of Satellite

Satellite provides many benefits for utilities because it’s:

• Easy to use – The technology is so user-friendly that just about anyone can deploy, monitor and optimize with minimal training.
• Reliable – Weather conditions, remote locations and traffic surges won’t affect the data reliability of the satellite network. Satellite networks are 99.9% reliable.
• Fast – Data rates with satellite have improved so much over the years that now they can support bandwidth-intensive real-time applications like VOIP and video streaming.
• Affordable – Satellite is no longer an expensive niche solution. It is widely used across many industries and has become a very affordable solution. The cost to operate a satellite feed is comparable to a terrestrial and cellular network cost structure.
• Flexible – Utilities can choose between outsourcing management (either partially or fully) of their satellite networks or building and operating their own. There’s a solution for every skill level and budget.

Satellite also:

• Increases safety – Field crews sometimes work in hazardous conditions and remote locations. With satellite technology, they can have increased connectivity and better lines to safety with satellite phones, push-to-talk solutions and GPS devices equipped with panic buttons.

• Enhances worker productivity – Constant access to the home office helps workers in the field check emails, update job orders, schedule work, send progress reports and more from anywhere in the field, which increases worker productivity.

When it comes to keeping the lights (and more) on, satellite is the go-to-tech. New York Mobile Satellite has that tech. Contact us today to get more information.

Headquartered in New York City, New York Mobile Satellite provides B2B wireless and satellite based telecommunication services, both mobile and fixed, to commercial enterprises around the globe, including banking, financial services, oil and gas, first responders, law enforcement, electric and water utilities, construction, sea ports, leisure boating, mining, cruise lines, media, shipping and container vessels, transportation, camping and hiking groups, rescue organizations, maritime communications, public safety markets and government sector, as well as for disaster recovery and humanitarian agencies. The Management Team has over 75 years of satellite and telecommunication experience. The company’s flexibility to custom design solutions and integrate various satellite communications technologies for customer and industry specific needs sets us apart from the competition. New York Mobile Satellite LLC is certified as a Veteran Owned business by the Veterans Administration.