2008 - Jamaica Rebuilds Their Communications Network with the JumboSwitch
Jamaica Public Service Company Limited upgraded their SCADA and Teleprotection networks to withstand a hurricane disaster.
"Predictive system resilience was a key issue" said Clive. "We wanted a 'multiple fault protection' network that would maximize our chances to survive hurricanes, including worst case access to substations and remote RTUs. We also wanted to upgrade our legacy communications infrastructure."
JPS was looking for multiple levels of redundancy on its island-wide fiber optic network in addition to its existing microwave network. It wanted a backbone solution that would support T1, Ethernet, RS-232 and Voice for a variety of applications including SCADA, Teleprotection, Substation Telephones, Revenue Metering and I Distribution Automation. In addition, the new system needed to be fully managed, substation hardened, IEC 61850-3 & IEEE1613 compliant and operate over only one bi-directional fiber strand.
The JumboSwitch portion of the JPS communication network currently transports Ethernet, Serial Data and T1 over two connected fiber optic redundant ring networks: one for the City of Kingston and one for the entire island of Jamaica.
JPS began installing JumboSwitches in early 2008 and network modifications are ongoing.
The JumboSwitch portion of the JPS communication network currently transports Ethernet, Serial Data and T1 over two connected fiber optic redundant ring networks: one for the City of Kingston and one for the entire island of Jamaica.
JPS has currently installed 50 JumboSwitch nodes, 11 in its 2-fiber Metropolitan (Kingston) fiber optic ring network and 39 nodes in its 1-fiber, bi-directional island-wide fiber optic ring network. The Master JumboSwitch unit is located at the main JPS central office in Kingston. Four 4U high JumboSwitch units are installed at the Central Office, Up Park Camp, Rockport and West Kings House, 2U high units are installed at the other locations.
Depending on the location, JPS is currently using three different JumboSwitch interface cards: Ethernet, Turbo-Serial and T1. Ethernet traffic is primarily administration and security (cameras). On the Turbo-Serial card, one RS-232 port is used for SCADA and the other as a backup for teleprotection. The T1's connect to the Microwave network.
