Is there a way to know how much bandwidth a opto22 system may consume?

PAC Project
1

I currently have a project wherein 3 unmanned site are using opto 22. Our client wants to know how much a bandwidth will it require.

This became a concern since several IP camera’s will be transmitted through microwave communication along with the Opto22 data’s.

Hoping for any help
Thank you

2

Lots of variables here…
To help/start to narrow things down a little…

Are all three sites going through the one link?
How much I/O at each site?
Is there a controller at each site?
What is each site talking back to? PAC Display? groov? Other?
Is the central site maned 247365 or ‘shutdown’ overnight? (In other words, is the data flow continuous each day?)
Whats the poll rate of the master station to the remote site?
How many variables or I/O points is being requested?
Are there any batch jobs run, like midnight backups, emails, FTP, receipe etc?

I think you get where we are headed.
Its a bit like asking, I have three teenagers, how much Internet will they use… :wink:

(BTW, its a great question and one that the IT guys asked me at the hospital where I worked, and one that our GSM/LTE/CELL modem customers ask pretty often - we have answers, but we need some context to give a vaguely accurate one).

3

That’s right, but here are some rules of thumb.

  1. The cameras are going to be using megbits of data rate.
  2. The Opto stuff will probably only be using maybe 100-250 kilobytes.
  3. You need to know what the maximum data throughput of your microwave link is and assume you’ll actually get a reliable 50% of that. This depends greatly on the installation of the link and the quality of the equipment.
  4. The cameras can be limited on the data streaming, so make sure you only have it stream what you actually need. Many cameras are capable now days of 20 megabit rate, so if this is the case, you better have a solid 50 megabit rate on your link. However, if you limit the cams to 3-6 meg per camera, you’ll greatly reduce the required rate.
  5. WISP (wireless internet service providers) equipment using wifi bands (non-licensed) can carry up to and beyond 1 gigabit these days, but installing a link that does that reliably is the important part. Using wifi equipment, you’ll need a -50 ss or better to attain 100+ mega bit links that stay 100+ mega bit all the time. This requires a line of sight rf path, no exceptions and a 3.6 or 5.8 or higher band to get there.
  6. If you can get on your microwave link equipment or if you have a layer three switch/router, you look at the interface connections and there will be a data rate listing there. Turn off or disconnect the cameras and take a look while the Opto stuff is running and likewise do so with the cameras.
4

Hi ben,
Good day!
Apologies for the late reply

This is the system architecture of the system. This is just a rough illustration, i think you get the idea:wink:

222.jpg5690×2254 2 MB

Are all three sites going through the one link?
-no, the new design is that the one remote site is connected to one monitoring site
How much I/O at each site?
-8
**Is there a controller at each site? **
-yes, SNAP-PAC R2
What is each site talking back to? PAC Display? groov? Other?
-PAC Display Only. Getting all the data
Is the central site maned 247365 or ‘shutdown’ overnight? (In other words, is the data flow continuous each day?)
-24/7 Operation, no shutdown.
Whats the poll rate of the master station to the remote site?
-1 second Poll rate
How many variables or I/O points is being requested?
-3 Analog, 10 DI, 1 DO, 1 Serial Comm
Are there any batch jobs run, like midnight backups, emails, FTP, receipe etc?
-None

I tried to emulate the system and using Wire Shark to sniff the amount of Packets being transmitted.
I am Getting Around 20 Kbps of total Transmissions. I do not know if this is correct and i need to confirm the correct bandwidth consumption.

Hoping for your feedback.

5

IP camera parameters? Resolution is high definition or standard? How much is the FPS of the camera?
Above said the bandwidth of the OPTO22 system is not larger than a IP camera (standard resolution).

6

For the comms between your controller and I/O units, there are several ways to minimize the bytes on the wire. For example, you can have a regularly scheduled read/cache of ALL the inputs on an I/O unit (maybe the once per second you mentioned), vs. reading points individually when they happen to be needed in the logic. You can do this using commands like “Move I/O Unit to Numeric Table” or “Get I/O Unit as Binary Value.”

7

In the case above, there is no communication between the controller and the I/O, and the bandwidth of the communication between the display and the controller.

8

All, in this app, the overwhelming consideration is using and installing the correct “microwave” equipment (probably wifi equipment). The Opto comms are several magnitudes less than even one camera. So unless you do the wifi equipment correctly and properly configure the cameras (based on the throughput of the wifi), this may or may not work.
If the wifi is capable of even 25 meg throughput, then with 1 or 2 cams running 5-6 meg each, you will not have any problems assuming the wifi is correctly applied and installed.
I guess my point is, the Opto22 equipment comms rate is not your problem, essentially the rate on the Opto comms will not make a beans worth of difference.
I currently have a system I deployed in Linn, MO that runs the water system and it has an R2 in 4 locations each with a touch screen tablet that can access the Pac Display screens for each other well site at 0.5 second poll rate, has a Groov at one, and all of this is running across wifi. With a comm rate of 50 meg, I could add half a dozen cams and still not have any problems. Btw, this system has run flawlessly for 4 years.