Industrial 3G router with OpenVPN and IPsec

Nov. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Automation applications are being increasingly used with Ethernet systems. The resulting trend is to fully integrate system components into central controls and to monitor production from the management level so that performances may be enhanced. But this trend has also revealed a second trend in the vertical integration of remote components: wireless data transfer via mobile networks.

Remote or extensive complexes such as offshore wind farms and solar parks are frequently located in areas where no telephone or Internet lines exist. So remote maintenance and control are difficult to implement. As a consequence, the experts for radio data transmission solutions at Welotec GmbH in Laer, Germany have added industrial UMTS routers to their range – for all applications where data needs to be transferred wirelessly over great distances. Configuration is user-friendly, password-protected and quickly completed.


Fast and reliable communications
Thanks to the integrated Ethernet ports (RJ45), routers may be connected to any computer or peripheral device that also possesses an Ethernet port. The various 3G routers http://www.welotec.com/en/industrial-communications/produ... also possess either a RS-232 or RS-485 interface. Routers are available either with one or four Ethernet ports. They thus enable control centres to communicate with mobile end devices and mobile end devices to communicate with each other as if they were located within a single local area network (LAN). The usual IPsec, L2TP, PPTP, OpenVPN and GRE standards are employed to create tunneled VPN connections. The routers also come with integrated Web servers and firewalls.

Depending on the product version, 2G (GPRS/EDGE) or 3G (UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA) are available as the means of communication. The units are the first of their kind to be available with High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA) achieving upstream data rates of 5.76 MBit/s. They are thus suitable for all applications in which large quantities of data need to be transmitted from mobile devices to control systems. The mobile routers' HSPA protocol is capable of downlink rates of up to 7.2 MBit/s. And if the UMTS/HSDPA and HSUPA links should become unreliable, the routers will automatically switch to the "slower" EDGE technology (236 KBit/s) or to GSM/GPRS levels in order to ensure permanent connections.

Versatile in use
Cellular routers could theoretically be connected all over the world and so they are very versatile in their applications. The high data transfer rates achieved with HSUPA means that anti-burglary video monitoring is now also possible via 3G routers. Additional applications may be found in the monitoring and controlling of solar, biogas and wind-farm installations, in water management and at extensive company premises such as those frequently encountered in the processing industries.

Data communication and automation are the keys for an efficient and safe production and further industrial processes as well as for lower costs and an improved product quality. Welotec stands for innovation in industrial and process automation as well as in the field of industrial communication – from the individual product up to the competitive solution.

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Welotec stands for innovation in industrial and process automation as well as in the field of industrial communication – from the individual product up to the competitive solution.