Visiting Satel at Salo

Week 49

Satel sign in Salo

On 3.12.2019 Tuesday we went for a visit to Satel factory in Salo. The visit started with a meeting.

The agenda for the day was: 

1. Project status
2. Brief team presentation
3. IEC 60870-5-101 presentation
4. SatelProof with oscilloscope demo
5. Satel walkaround 

Our project status is mostly consisting of radio router functionality testing and learning the usage of the Satel router configuration program. The next step is to begin doing measurements with an oscilloscope, with different bitrates and data lengths. We are also learning how to use the NS-3 simulator in the process.

We presented our team to newly met Satel colleagues.

After doing our side of the meeting, it was time to continue with the days agenda. Next up was the presentation of IEC 60870-5-101. This protocol presentation was mainly about SCADA and it's usage.

Description for SCADA: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCADA

The presentator had created a C-language based code for us to use. The code basically allows us to make a SCADA(master) and a slave. The slave sends data every second and also impulsively. The master then receives the data. With the code we can send data spontaneously and also in intervals between the radio routers. We can also modify the code for our needs and after our physical testing is done we can implement it in our simulation code (NS-3).

After the SCADA and program presentation was over we moved on to an oscilloscope demo with Satel radiorouters. In the presentation we were shown how to measure the delay between sending and receiving with two routers. The demo was done by plugging one router into a computer and the other one with a loopback. (Loopback just sends the sent data right back from the other router to the sender) The oscilloscope used had 3 channels and we were able to see the pulses of when the data was sent, when the data hit the loopback and when the data was received back to the sender. We were given a little tool to plug in the serial cable, which will make it easier for us to analyze the delays with an oscilloscope ourselves. Our next job is going to be to test different data sizes and bitrates and see how it affects the delays.

Picture of oscilloscope measurement demo

The last part of the agenda was a little walk-around in the manufacturing area of the factory. It was really interesting to see how the radio routers are made, configured and tested. Almost everything Satel uses for testing is made by themselves or modified for their use. Sadly we did not take any pictures of the manufacturing area.

All in all it was very nice to visit the factory and have a glimpse on the manufacturing side of things.