Case Study - Remote Monitoring and Control of Cathodic Protection Systems

Fastwave Satellite RTU

Fastwave has developed an integrated remote monitoring and control system for Cathodic Protection (CP) installations. Fastwave's solution offers monitoring and control of remote CP systems on pipelines , bridges, jetties, offshore platforms and other infrastructure anywhere in the world in near real time, using the highly advanced Iridium Satellite Short Burst Data (SBD) telemetry system. Fastwave has integrated advanced data acquisition and control hardware with the satellite system and online data delivery to enable seamless condition monitoring and control of remote assets and equipment, such as the transformer rectifiers (TR's) used on CP systems.

Fastwave has installed the system on Chevron's offshore oil and gas processing hub located on Barrow Island. Due to the island's remote location, the Fastwave system provides an ideal solution by overcoming the usual communication problems associated with offshore installations. Using the system, a corrosion engineer can remotely monitor and adjust operating variables such as pipe potential measurements and TR output current from a desktop or laptop with an internet connection. Reporting intervals and parameters can be remotely selected and adjusted, and alarms delivered via e-mail or SMS if thresholds are exceeded. GPS synchronised current interruption is possible. The system can be integrated with existing SCADA systems or operate as a stand-alone system.