PIC BASIC based Wind turbine controller network interface

Hello guys,

I'm researching for a wind turbine controller that I'm doing for my senior project. My team is going to build a wind turbine controller for a company that I am interning at. So far, we know that we will be using sensors, we will be interpreting the data from the sensors, we will be using actuators based on the data from the sensors, and finally, we will send the data to a remote base and analyze it.

So for our first step, we need to find out what we will be using to send the data. We are thinking 4G or 3G. Can anybody point me in the right direction? We need to know what devices are available, what services they use, what chips they are compatible with, etc.

Many thanks!
Jerry

What distance does the data have to travel? Bear in mind that 3G and 4G use the mobile telephone network and if data has to be sent live and continuously it will make a VERY expensive phone call !!
It might be better to think in terms of a local controller for the sensors and actuator and just occasional calls to and from the remote location to "phone home" with reports. If possible, consider using a landline to contact base, it usually works out cheaper and is more reliable.

Brian.

Brian,

As of right now, since we are just building a prototype for the senior project, it probably won't have to be sent more than a few meters. But eventually, the turbine will be commercialized, and so we will have to transmit data in the range of miles, since we are sending data from a turbine to a substation, probably. And yes, the company has thought about maybe having to get a service plan for each turbine.

Your "phone home" idea sounds very economically feasible, because the data we are sending probably will not take up much bandwidth. Can you tell me more about this?

Thanks,
Jerry

The point I was making is that if your controller uses a feedback loop of any kind you really don't want the control system to be too far away, especially linked via a telephone network. Not only is 3g/4g expensive to run continually, it has some serious security and reliability flaws. for instance, you have to consider what happens if a glitch takes out the local cell station and the call drops or even worse, what happens if someone dials in with a wrong number!
Most turbines are on "wind farms", they are around my locality with 28 in view from home, it makes more sense to use a local controller with wired or short range radio links to a central hub and have it control the masts from one central point. Designed carefully you can make such a system expandable to almost any size to cater for single up to hundreds of co-located turbines. The hub can then respond to remote requests or just periodically report in data to the contact base.

Brian.