Satellite Communications Services for "Remote" Mobile and Fixed Site Users in the Oil and Gas Community
Authors: Pedersen A. 
Published: March 2010

What is "Remote?"

The community of users referred to as "Oil and Gas," along with many other resource-based industries in North America, have urgent requirements for cost-effective, reliable, and easy-to-use telecommunications in "remote" areas. Depending on the telecommunication service being considered, "remote" can mean several hundred kilometres from an urban area in the case of analog cellphone or two-way radio services. But in the case of two-way text messaging over digital cellphone networks, "remote" can mean 30–50 kms from large urban areas.

Until very recently, companies and individuals operating in remote areas seldom considered satellite telecommunications as an affordable, reliable, and easy-to-use alternative to terrestrial-based cellular and two-way radio networks. However, regional mobile satellite service operators in several countries have demonstrated over the last seven years that satellite networks are an excellent complement to the limited coverage available from terrestrial networks. Some former terrestrial users have in fact switched to satellite networks because the satellite network provides better coverage and greater availability (i.e., reliability of service) at lower operating costs. Another important reason for the increasing usage of satellite networks is that the services and applications available over satellite are comparable to those available over traditional terrestrial networks.

Satellite Coverage and Services

Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) owns and operates the MSAT geostationary satellite network which provides a comprehensive range of telecommunications services throughout Canada, U.S.A., Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and most of Colombia and Venezuela. The MSAT-1 and MSAT-2 satellites also provide coverage 200 nautical miles off the east and west coasts of North America and throughout the Caribbean.

MSV has pioneered the development of a broad range of services including phone, fax, circuit-switched data, dispatch radio, and packet-switched services. Other services, such as asset tracking, flight following, and differential GPS are also offered over the MSV network by independent operators.

MSV Satellite Applications

All of the MSV network services are utilized in the oil and gas industry. Mobile and fixed-site phone service and fax services are used extensively. Circuit-switched data operating at 2,400 or 4,800 bps provides access to Internet or Intranet e-mail using POP3 connections from ISPs. MSV circuit-switched data service supports continuous data transfer at 4,800 bps for parameters such as pump pressure, rotary speed, and pump load.

Dispatch Radio Service provides half-duplex push-to-talk group-oriented communications services. The service replicates many elements of terrestrial "two-way radio" service and features up to 15 talk groups per mobile, private mode for one-on-one communications, priority one interrupt, and the flexibility to assign one of three different priorities to each talk group being monitored. One application of the push-to-talk dispatch radio service is in pipeline patrol where the dispatcher communicates with a fleet of vehicles in push-to-talk operation over the entire length of the pipeline. Proprietary local area networks are interfaced with the satellite network. Two major oil field service companies in the southern U.S. use Dispatch Radio as well as a company in northern B.C. that has service trucks setting up and tearing down rigs.