BPL is Fast, Affordable Answer to Safety of Aging US Infrastructure

The bridge collapse in Minneapolis two weeks ago and the steam pipe explosion in New York City a few week prior put the aging US infrastructure of roads and utility equipment on center stage for the general public and press. Meanwhile the BPL industry has been talking about this un-sexy (for most people) topic for years ...

Washington, DC (PRWEB) August 21, 2007 -- The bridge collapse in Minneapolis two weeks ago and the steam pipe explosion in New York City a few week prior put the aging US infrastructure of roads and utility equipment on center stage for the general public and press.

Meanwhile the BPL industry has been talking about this un-sexy (for most people) topic for years because BPL technology sits in the "sweet spot" of having the ability to affordably deliver connectivity to everywhere that has power wires -- a ubiquitous network of wires that's already deployed.

That connectivity can be low-tech if needed or deliver speeds that only fiber and some cutting edge microwave systems can compete with, depending on what's needed at each point in a deployment.

Low tech? CenterPoint Energy in Houston is using "utility grade" BPL -- spacing the regenerators further apart and thus delivering less bandwidth but saving money by using less equipment. That approach could be used for other applications that don't need high-speed connectivity such as vibration sensors on bridges, high-tension utility towers, tunnels and anywhere else that needs careful monitoring.

Any number sensors, monitors and controls could be quickly, affordably and easily on utility and municipal infrastructure. Anywhere that's got power wires connected can be hooked up almost instantly -- it's truly plug-n-play -- and anywhere that's not wired for power could be at far lower cost than sending out virtually any other kind of wire or wireless network. Ask any electrician.

Can ConEd wire steam pipes?

Consolidated Edison owns and runs the steam pipes throughout New York City including the one that exploded causing much fear, some injuries and one death. The utility has lots of experience with automation and with BPL -- as has been reported at UPLC conferences by its Director of corporate Planning Tim Frost, who's utility co-chair of the trade association's board of directors.

And BPL firm Ambient in late 2004 was the first firm to use DS2's 200 mbps BPL chips in action in a ConEd steam tunnel delivering telecom and data communications. Further use of BPL at ConEd -- for safety monitoring for example -- is under ongoing study, Frost told us Friday.

Using BPL for monitoring and security including video surveillance was the point of a BPL project ConEd and Ambient did with the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority in 2006, he reminded (NYSERDA).

Any plans to change the utility's steam pipe safety activity would have to wait for a metallurgy study of the pipe that ruptured, a utility representative told us, and that work is expected to be finished in October.

Steam pipes may often represent an application that's not connected with existing electric wires. Even so, we believe few applications needing sensors and possibly automation are a challenge for BPL since most have power wires readily accessible.

It's not 'pie in the sky'

Another firm that's worked with NYSERDA on creating and testing "smart grid" applications is Broadband Energy Networks (BEN). The firm proved BPL works now to deliver connectivity for sensing and controls for safety and security.

BEN sees smart grid as a BPL enabled grid -- and imagines its applications going way beyond the automated grid, CEO and Founder Larry Silverman told us. His firm worked for several years with NYSERDA and others to create a real-world approach to smart grid -- at a time when many of the smart grid applications were power point bullets and not yet available.

CenterPoint Energy hired the remote automation -- sensors and controls firm -- to help develop and create its BPL deployment and demonstration center in Houston. "In many of these areas such as tunnels and bridges and other things it's very difficult to get telemetry data out, in other words there often not a good phone connection -- either cellular or a line that you can tap into," explained Silverman.

"You can't get into a cable network and in some cases, tunnels for example, there are very few ways that you can actually get signals in or out. "All of these have electricity running through them and in many cases its accessible and therefore you could use it as a way not only of powering sensors and other devices but also -- if its BPL enabled -- to bring the data back to some place where it can be acted upon." BEN was approached by a utility that wanted vibration sensors for its HV power line towers. Towers "appear to be one of the more vulnerable parts of the electric grid," noted Silverman.

Tunnels are challenge

Tunnels are vulnerable, too, whether for trains or mines, he added. For the reference of future readers of this story, at the time it was written, six miners were reportedly trapped in a Utah coal mine collapse and it wasn't known whether or not they were alive. That's not part of this story but clearly fed the attention on safety in recent public discourse.

BEN some time ago received a call from a firm that had installed a phone system in a subway tunnel by stringing phone wire between emergency phones -- only to find rats were chewing the wire insulation.

BEN suggested the firm install a BPL-enabled VOIP system using the conduit-encased power line feeding the lights. Air quality monitoring -- for safety and for pollution monitoring -- is a serious public concern, noted Silverman, and an application BEN provides.

That can be crucial in a tunnel, mine or factory, he added. The utility industry generates about 40% of the greenhouse gases emitted in the US, said Silverman, and has a responsibility to address it.

What's it going to cost? How much time will it take? Visit BPL Today's website at http://www.bpltoday.com/prweb/bpl.html for answers to these questions and more.

About BPL Today
BPL Today's mission is to chronicle the broadband over power lines industry as power line communications takes on its vital role in creating the 21st century "smart grid," "smart building" and "smart home" -- where ubiquitous connectivity creates a platform for the invention and deployment of new worlds of applications to deliver the value, efficiency and vital economic strength that only high-speed internet can deliver.

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