Jon Sessions, Chief Technologist for Utilities IT Group, SAIC
SAIC is a systems integrator that oversees an extensive multi-state network in Arkansas. The network covers corporate IT, T&D SCADA, and AMI. Four major hurricanes were handled by that network in the past decade. This (un- named) utility network has survived hurricanes, tornados, and ice storms. The land mobile radios, network inftrastructure equipment, towers, etc all survived and were in tact during those natural disasters.
Jon articulated three key wireless network drivers for utilities:
- Handling emergencies is fundamental to Public Safety and Utilities
- Emergencies are obviously unexpected, making responsiveness and availability critical
- Key to handling an emergency is communications reliably spanning broad regions
He stated that 20% of telecom facilities can reach 80% of customers (but isn’t that true only in densely populated areas?).
Trust and control were seen to be of paramount importance. Jon opined that self determination drives utility behavior, which is very conservative to begin with.
“When it counts, count on only yourself,” he said. This is basic to human nature in emergencies, so cultural values come into play in a big way. Trust can only be established through strong agreements (that to date, don’t exist between utilities and telcos). Jon believes that we’ll only know once it has worked at least once, which will take some risk taking on the part of the utility.
Regarding the public vs private network approach for Smart Grid, Jon stated that using public (commercially available) networks is appealing from a cost perspective. No distinction was made between telco and MSO supplied public networks. “Recent history has shown that these work for non-critical uses, but inconsistently in emergencies,” according to Mr. Sessions.
The utility network that SAIC runs is using VZW (the former Alltel) public wireless network to shut off pumps in rural areas, but that’s not seen as a critical task. That public network is used for demand shedding of peak load to optimize energy load for the utillity. In contrast, the utility relies on a private 800MHz wireless network for critical voice communications. Wireless telcos are seen as network providers of last choice in the event of a natural disaster. Therefore, SAIC’s point-of-view is that “a private mechanism for wireless communications is going to be needed for at least another decade or longer.”
Jon expressed the following thoughts related to sharing of spectrum/bandwidth between a utility and public safety agency:
- More direct control of the emergency environment can be achieved using joint public safety
- The larger the utility, the more likely sharing will become untenable
- For smaller utilities or for munis, the opportunities for sharing with public safety look attractive
- Implementing models for sharing might need to include third parties to intervene or manage
As many other speakers at Connectivity Week suggested, the FCC should allocate more dedicated spectrum to utilities to expedite the transition to the Smart Grid. Jon said, “It is in the best interest of society to allocate dedicated bandwidth to utilities just like military and public safety. Many utilities have dedicated spectrum today, and this should continue to be supported. It is unlikely that true broadband capacity can be provided, so only narrowband functions can be supported by the available licensed spectrum. For the emergency scenarios, it is therefore likely that only voice functions need to be supported in this space.”
In closing, Mr Sessions offered the following implementation guidance for utility communications:
- The utility must fully understand its emergency scenarios and grapple with self determination
- For large utilities, “Hybrid” solutions will emerge, part public (broadband), part private (emergency critical)
- For smaller utilities and especially munis, sharing with public safety is very viable
- Only operational experience (track history) will change the view of utilities that handle emergencies
- Diversification of technology choices in wired and wireless will yield the most dependable solutions
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