Data transfer system for South Korean power company

A Korean power company had a brief to transmit various high-capacity data to its control centre in a timely and safe way. Hytera and its partner WOORI were able to provide a TETRA modem and electric communications device to solve the problem.

Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco), a state-owned power company in South Korea, was established in 1898 with more than 19,000 staff in total. The company is committed to developing electric power resources.

Taking electricity transmission, distribution and sales as its main businesses, the power company contributes to the development of Korean economy with stable electricity production and supply. The company serves not only Korean customers, but also global ones with the establishment of overseas offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Paris and New York to name a few.

With various systems like SCADA, DAS, ARM and DTMS, the company monitors and controls on-site equipment to deliver functions such as data acquisition, equipment control, measurement, configuration and signal alarm so as to construct a smart digital grid.

At the same time, a TETRA communications network was established to ensure timely, secure and effective data transmission. 107 stations have been set up so far to support the transmission of data in the electric system.

Kepco hopes, in the course of transmission, that the TETRA modem could be used as the medium to transmit various high-capacity data to the control centre timely, effectively and safely; and the requirements for this were as follows:

• SDS and PD are mainly used to transmit the data of different electric systems;
• The products should work under stable performance for a long period of time due to the data is for electric power network real-time monitoring;
• High timeliness is required as a result of the two-way transmission of data. If the data feedback is not processed in time, the data will be re-transmitted, which shall break the data transmission order and lead to errors like data loss;
• The devices are required to be integrated with the electric equipment for the purpose of better deployment and implementation.

According to the detailed analysis of the user’s requirement, Hytera proposed a professional wireless communications solution for the project.

When the modem is to be used in an electric system, the primary challenge was its compatibility with data format and electric equipment. WOORI, Hytera dealer in Korea and also the supplier of electric communication device PAD, had improved the PAD product to make it compatible with MODEM products, thus ensuring hardware compatibility.

Hytera, in collaboration with WOORI, solved the problem of rapid response and stable data transmission for the client by optimising the SDS and PD process after many tests and discussions.

The data transmission system passed strict tests and trials. It can respond rapidly to the requirements of data scheduling and process the various complicated data transmissions in a safe and stable manner. Thus, the monitoring and control of on-site equipment can be ensured, which provides a stable and effective platform for data acquisition, equipment control, measurement, configuration and alarm for the vast array of different signals.

“The system, which is robust and well adaptive to the environment, has been highly recognised by our superiors. Currently, we are planning to expand its application in Korea electric grid and wishing there are further chances to cooperate with Hytera in more areas,” said WOORI Information Technology.