For busy staff in the field, nothing is more frustrating than having laptop computers or smart phones crash due to lost connections when those devices lose wireless coverage. Often, important data is obliterated and workers have to waste precious time reentering the lost information.
The irony is that wireless data connections, which are increasingly being used by power plant field personnel, are intended to boost productivity.
Wireless data coverage is more ubiquitous than ever. Telecommunication companies and others offer Wi-Fi (the trade name of the popular wireless technology used in mobile phones, home networks, and other devices) or "3G" cellular data networks (wide-area cellular telephone networks that incorporate high-speed Internet access and video telephone capabilities).
However, many field workers find that once the novelty of wireless devices wears off, serious problems surface that cut the productivity gains those wireless devices and their data management capabilities are supposed to offer.
Wireless coverage challenges
Nowadays, on-site and field staff at power plants use a variety of wireless devices, including laptops, smart phones, and personal digital assistants (PDAs — mobile phones that include limited computing capabilities). Wireless coverage gaps can affect workers both within and outside a power plant. Typically, the common problems related to deployment of these devices include the following:
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Coverage gaps and interruptions. When a worker moves out of cell tower or Wi-Fi range, applications fail and force users to reconnect to the network, restart the application, and reenter any lost data.
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Enabling inter-network roaming and efficiency: Businesses and agencies are looking for integrated solutions that enable their workers to stay connected while moving between networks (wide-area cellular, Wi-Fi, and wired).
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Securely managing multiple devices across multiple networks: Centralized management of mobile devices is crucial for any wide-scale deployment.
Power plant personnel using wireless devices are likely familiar with a couple of all-too-common scenarios. In the first, the field employee logs onto a laptop computer equipped with a wireless modem card from a cellular provider that’s enabled through Wi-Fi. This assumes that the worker’s laptop has a secure connection and the computer’s data is safe from hackers. The worker then travels to another location, enters a coverage gap, and the data connection is lost. At this point, the worker must log back into a wireless network from the new connection, restart applications or devices, and reenter any lost data. These actions can be very time-consuming and impair the worker’s productivity.
In a different but equally frustrating scenario, the field worker travels over a large area where different types of wireless data networks are available to deal with a service call or respond to a power outage. In this instance, the worker is unable to seamlessly switch between cellular networks and the Wi-Fi network that is used at the power plant’s main location. At that point, the worker loses the data connection and must manually reestablish a connection and restart applications.
Until recently, the IT (information technology) departments at most power plants have lacked centralized tools to deal with complex management issues such as coping with the status of laptops and smart phones being used across different networks and handling software and anti-virus/security software updates for mobile devices.
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