Industrial Switches Ensure Network Reliability in Offshore Oil & Gas
Thanks to its outstanding filming techniques and stunning visual effects, Deepwater Horizon—a 2016 action thriller directed by Peter Berg—was recognized for Best Visual Effects and nominated for Best Sound Editing at the 89th Academy Awards.
One of the reasons this film was so gripping is because of how realistically it reproduced the most serious environmental disaster in American history: the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill. It shows firsthand how quickly such disasters can unfold, permanently changing lives and the environment. At the same time, it reinforced the importance of safety for offshore oil and gas platforms.
Industrial switches are a critical component of these networks, and they must meet specific application requirements for offshore oil and gas platforms.
Operational Constraints of Offshore Environments
The offshore environment is characterized by factors like:
- Wide temperature swings
- High humidity
- High levels of corrosiveness
- High winds, waves, and storms
- High pressure
Although most systems are installed in relatively enclosed indoor environments, equipment can still be affected by electromagnetic interference, vibration, tilt, and impact. Therefore, industrial switches must withstand these environmental challenges.
How to Overcome Environmental Constraints
Select industrial switches with classification society certifications, such as DNV (Det Norske Veritas) or GL (Germanischer LIoyd), which are both common global classification society standards.
Switches should also offer anticorrosion coating that meets the operational requirements of offshore environments. For example, when industrial switches are installed in any position on a platform—even on the open deck—this coating ensures that the switch isn’t affected by factors like temperature, humidity or electromagnetic interference.
Classification of environmental parameters at different locations on the platform
The Importance of Real-Time System Communication
Most offshore electrical and automation systems operate in remote-control mode, with instructions sent from the central control room to onsite controllers. For automatic control, data response times must be within 100 ms, requiring strict real-time network performance.
How to Ensure Real-Time Performance
During the design stage, reasonable planning for network architecture and bandwidth can ensure the real-time performance you need for your oil and gas network.
If a ring network is applied, convergence time for the network should be less than the data response time required by system. For example, if MRP ring network redundancy protocol is applied, then the convergence time of the ring network should be less than 50 ms, which ensures that the control data can respond within the specified time.
Reliability and Availability of Network Systems
Network design should ensure that a single point of failure will not cause system downtime. Some systems may also need to avoid multiple points of network failure at the same time. The impact of network failures should be kept to a minimum and avoid affecting other systems.
How to Reduce Network Failures
Adopt a redundant architecture with fault tolerance that is designed based on system requirements and terminal device functions.
Industrial switches should be equipped with wide voltage power supply and redundant power supply to avoid power impact on the network. The network should also minimize effect of failure through functions like:
- Network segmentation, which can isolate and contain issues so they don't spread to other parts of the network
- Virtual local area networks (VLANs), which divides a physical network into multiple logical segments to confine broadcast traffic and restrict access to network resources
- Boundary protection, which monitors and controls communications to defend against threats
Network System Security to Protect Energy Resources
How to Make Sure Switches Are Secure
IEC-62443 is the most popular network security standard worldwide. It defines detailed network security requirements for asset owners, system integrators and product suppliers in terms of product functionality and system management. Selecting industrial switches that meet IEC-62443 standards can fully ensure network security—from data integrity and confidentiality to resource availability.
Efficient System Management and Operational Maintenance
Electrical and automation systems monitor and manage all the network devices in an offshore oil and gas platform. This not only includes switches and routers but also terminal devices, such as servers and controllers. When system networks fail, system engineers should be able to use monitoring information to quickly locate and solve problems. This means that industrial switches must support comprehensive network management, data synchronization and communication.
How to Support Network Monitoring and Management
Belden’s Hirschmann switches can support industrial communication protocols, such as OPC-UA, PROFINET and IEC-61850, as well as network management protocols like SNMP.
This enables switches to share real-time network data and information about the operating status of network devices, device logs and alarm information for comprehensive network monitoring and management.
We Can Help Harden Your Oil and Gas Network
As offshore oil and gas production shifts from shallow water to deeper regions, networks play an increasingly critical role in supporting platform operations. They ensure reliable, secure communication for functions like control, monitoring, redundancy, and security.
Belden provides end-to-end network solutions for offshore oil and gas platforms, offering products, technical expertise, and design experience to meet these unique challenges.
Learn more about how we support oil and gas platforms.
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About the Author
Hongwei Wang joined Belden in 2021 and brought over 15 years of experience in process automation space. He used his project and personal experience to create innovative network solutions such as offshore engineering, oil and gas field pipelines, and enhanced cooperation with system integrators. In the field of industrial digitization, he has been involved in the consulting and design of several large industrial Internet platforms, and he is also a TOGAF certified technical expert.