Abstract—Process control systems for Hydrocarbon Process Automation Applications (HPAA) are implemented in oil and gas fields, plants, refineries, and tank farms in the form of a Local Area Network (LAN) to support control functions. These systems are composed of sensors, actuators, and logic solvers networked together to form a control system platform. Reliable networking plays a key role in supporting such a system infrastructure. The existing network designs consist of multiple, parallel networks with limited interconnectivity supporting different functions. The concept of consolidating HPPA networks on a converged Internet Protocol (IP) and utilize Wide Area Network (WAN) for real time operation was not explored in detail in the past. This paper explores this concept by simulating a WAN network based on Best Effort Quality of Service settings. Simulation and empirical experimentation were conducted to assess the feasibility of such a conceptual design and it showed positive outcomes. HPPA can benefit from a converged IP WAN by minimizing network components and wiring; and provide an integrated control system platform at the end user's desktop.
Index Terms—Bandwidth, best effort (BE), converged IP, quality of service (QoS), peer-to-peer, traffic mix, WAN.
Soloman M. Almadi is with Saudi Aramco (e-mail:Almadism@aramco.com).
Ramzi El-Haddadeh is with Brunel Business School.
Masaud Jahromi is with Ahlia University.
Cite: Soloman M. Almadi, Ramzi El-Haddadeh, and Masaud Jahromi, "Design Requirements for Best Effort Backbone IP Network," International Journal of Information and Electronics Engineering vol. 3, no. 3, pp. 242-246, 2013.