Integrated Industrial Wireless Network for Drilling Platforms

In the current wave of intelligent and digital transformation in oil and gas exploration and development, stable and efficient data connectivity is crucial for improving drilling operation efficiency, ensuring construction safety, and enabling remote decision-making. Traditional wired networks are cumbersome to deploy and lack flexibility, making them unsuitable for the highly mobile equipment and dynamically changing layouts of drilling platforms. Therefore, Maxon provides integrated industrial wireless network services for drilling platforms, building a unified, reliable, and intelligent wireless network platform to connect the information links of critical equipment and systems, providing core support for digital transformation and upgrading.

Maxon has deployed a comprehensive explosion-proof industrial-grade wireless network covering the entire area. Explosion-proof base stations are deployed in key production and auxiliary areas such as the wellhead area (e.g., robotic arms, power catwalks), mud circulation area, generator room, driller's cabin (control center), tool room, and drill pipe storage area, significantly improving data exchange efficiency.

Project Challenges 

The industrial environment of drilling platforms presents stringent challenges for wireless networks:

On oil drilling platforms (especially offshore platforms), due to the presence of flammable and explosive gases (such as methane and hydrogen sulfide) in the operating environment, and the difficulty of rescue due to their remoteness from land, all equipment, especially electrical and hydraulic products, must meet extremely strict explosion-proof requirements.

I. Applicable Explosion-Proof Standards

National Standards:

GB 3836 series: Chinese general standards for electrical equipment in explosive atmospheres.

Such as GB 3836.1 (General Requirements), GB 3836.2 (Flameproof type "d"), GB 3836.4 (Intrinsically safe type "i"), etc.

SY/T 5225-2019 "Technical Regulations for Fire Prevention, Explosion Protection and Safe Production in Oil and Gas Drilling, Development and Storage" 

Clearly stipulates that all electrical equipment within 30 meters of the wellhead must meet explosion-proof requirements.

International/Industry Certifications (common in high-end or export equipment):

Ex d IIC T4 / Ex d IICT4: Applicable to environments containing highly hazardous gases such as hydrogen and acetylene (IIC is the highest level).

ATEX (European Union), IECEx (International Electrotechnical Commission), etc.

Extreme Physical Environment: The platform experiences strong vibrations, continuous oil contamination, high humidity, and significant temperature fluctuations; ordinary commercial network equipment struggles to operate stably for extended periods.

Complex Electromagnetic Interference: Strong electromagnetic interference generated by high-power generators, variable frequency drives, and heavy-duty motors severely affects wireless signal quality and can easily lead to communication interruptions.

Demanding Communication Requirements: High-definition video surveillance throughout the platform generates massive uplink data traffic, requiring the network to have high concurrent processing capabilities, high reliability, and high bandwidth.

Solution and its Advantages

Maxon's explosion-proof wireless series products meet the highest explosion-proof standard IIC and IP68 protection rating, with a stainless steel casing for corrosion resistance. Maxon has designed a layered, redundant, and intelligent integrated wireless network solution.

Network Architecture: Industrial-Grade Redundant Design

A two-layer "core-access" architecture is adopted, with core switches and access switches connected via an industrial fiber optic ring network. When a fiber optic cable fails, the network can automatically recover within 50 milliseconds, ensuring uninterrupted service.

Wireless Coverage: Scenario-Based Precise Deployment

Using Maxon explosion-proof wireless AP/bridge MX811/MX821/MX911/MX921 series, with explosion-proof level Exd IIB/IIC T6 and protection level IP68, suitable for wellhead core operation areas, mud pools and open areas, generator rooms and heavy equipment areas.

Intelligent Management: Unified Network Management and Traffic Optimization

Centralized Management: The Maxon wireless controller AC is used for unified configuration, status monitoring, and software upgrades of all APs, significantly reducing operation and maintenance complexity.

Business Assurance: The product supports network management functions, and through network virtualization and Quality of Service policies, it assigns the highest priority to critical services such as robotic arm control signals and video surveillance streams, ensuring smooth operation of core businesses.

After implementing the Maxon wireless coverage solution, the drilling platform achieves safer production, more efficient operations, smarter maintenance, more economical investment, and more accurate decision-making.

Case Study

Project Name: Intelligent Wireless Network Upgrade Project for a Deep Well Drilling Platform

Client Challenges: After introducing new power catwalks and robotic arms, the client faced difficulties with wired deployment, unstable control latency, and blind spots in video surveillance.

Solution:

Eight explosion-proof wireless access points were deployed along the derrick and key platform pathways to create a seamless coverage ring.

An independent control VLAN and the highest QoS policy were established for the power catwalk and robotic arm controllers.

Four new explosion-proof high-definition PTZ cameras were added to the mud pit and wellhead, transmitting high-definition video wirelessly.

Achieved Results:

Control latency remained stable within 20ms, ensuring smooth and error-free collaborative operation of the power catwalk and robotic arm.

100% coverage of platform video surveillance was achieved, allowing the control room to view any work area in real time.

Network operation and maintenance efficiency improved by approximately 60%, with most maintenance tasks completed through the network management platform, significantly reducing non-productive platform downtime.