Two networks that already exist
An offshore wind farm already moves data, through networks built around machines and vessels rather than people. Two of them matter here.
The plant network. Turbines report their status to the operator’s supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system and take commands from it. The IEC 61400-25 series of standards covers “communications for monitoring and control of wind power plants”. IEC describes it as dealing with communications between wind power plant components, such as turbines, and actors such as SCADA systems, using a client-server model. The series models three things separately: the information a wind power plant holds, how that information is exchanged, and how both map onto a standard communication profile.
The maritime network. Vessels serving the site are ships at sea, so their distress and safety radio falls under the IMO’s Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS), the integrated satellite and terrestrial system described on the ships at sea page. VHF radio with digital selective calling, defined for the maritime mobile service in ITU-R Recommendation M.493, is part of that kit.
What regulators ask of the site
In UK waters, the Maritime and Coastguard Agency’s guidance note MGN 654 sets out what developers of offshore renewable energy installations should consider for navigation and emergency response. Among other things, it asks for an assessment of whether the structures could cause radio frequency interference, such as shadowing, reflections or phase changes, on frequencies used for positioning, navigation and timing or for communications, including GMDSS and AIS. It considers three cases: vessels passing at a safe distance, vessels that work close to the installation, and vessels that work inside it, such as support and survey vessels.
The mitigations it lists include continuous watch by multi-channel VHF, including digital selective calling, and monitoring by radar, AIS, CCTV or other agreed means. MGN 654 also requires an agreed Emergency Response Cooperation Plan with the agency’s search and rescue branch before construction starts, updated for the operational phase.
These arrangements are about safety at sea. They are not designed to move a technician’s inspection report.
The data technicians produce
A maintenance visit produces its own records: permits to work, isolation confirmations, inspection findings, photos, parts used, checklists and handovers between crews. These need to reach other people quickly, sometimes on the same turbine or the same vessel, and then reach the maintenance system ashore.
Whether a phone has a usable signal at a given turbine depends on the site, its distance from shore and what the operator has installed, so apps for this work cannot assume a connection. One answer is an offline-capable app that saves records on the device and uploads them later. That protects the record but leaves the next person waiting: a supervisor on the vessel cannot see a finding made in the nacelle until both devices sync with shore.
Where device-to-device software fits
Device-to-device software adds the missing short hop. Phones and tablets near each other, for example two technicians in the same turbine, can exchange records directly over Bluetooth LE without any network, within Bluetooth’s limited range. A shared checklist can live as a replicated document that merges when devices meet. Records bound for shore stay queued with store-and-forward delivery until a device reaches a link, for example on the vessel or back in port, and that device can act as the gateway to the maintenance system.
A few rules keep this safe to rely on:
- Keep the backend as the system of record. Local exchange speeds up the handover; the maintenance system still decides what is final.
- Track handover and acceptance separately. A finding that reached the supervisor’s tablet is not the same as one the maintenance system accepted.
- Keep it apart from plant control. Staff devices exchanging work records should not depend on, or reach into, the SCADA network unless the operator has decided they may.
- Leave safety on approved radio. Distress and emergency communication stays on the maritime radio and procedures the site’s emergency plan defines.