Case Study: Connecting Remote Utility Assets with 4G/LTE Edge Products

Modernizing the power grid or gas pipeline network doesn't mean replacing every asset; it means connecting them. This case study explores how a regional utility provider used industrial edge products to upgrade their aging infrastructure. By replacing slow, expensive leased lines with rugged 4G/LTE edge products, they gained real-time visibility into remote reclosers and regulators. We examine how these devices handle legacy protocols (like DNP3), ensure critical infrastructure security, and provide the reliability needed for smart grid operations.

The modern utility grid is under immense pressure. Decentralized renewables, EV charging loads, and extreme weather events require a "Smart Grid" that can react in real-time. But the reality on the ground is often 30-year-old infrastructure.

You have thousands of reclosers, voltage regulators, and gas flow meters sitting on poles or in remote fields. They work perfectly, but they are disconnected. They are "dark" assets.

To modernize, you cannot afford to rip and replace billions of dollars of equipment. Instead, you need to retrofit intelligence. You need industrial edge products.

This case study details how a power utility used rugged, cellular edge products to bridge the gap between their aging field assets and their modern SCADA control room, achieving smart grid visibility at a fraction of the cost of new infrastructure.

A mid-sized electric cooperative managed over 500 pole-mounted reclosers across a vast rural territory. They faced a dual crisis:

1. Connectivity Costs: They were using old copper leased lines and proprietary radio networks to monitor these sites. These lines were becoming prohibitively expensive to maintain and unreliable in bad weather.

2. Data Blindness: Because the bandwidth was so low, they only got basic "heartbeat" data. They couldn't see real-time voltage, harmonics, or fault currents. When a storm hit, they had to send a truck just to see if a breaker was open or closed.

They needed a modern solution to connect these legacy serial devices to their IP-based SCADA system. They needed a rugged edge product.

The utility deployed the Robustel R1520 Global, a rugged industrial edge product designed for utility applications. This device acted as the secure bridge between the 1990s hardware and the 2026 network.

The reclosers used the DNP3 Serial protocol over an RS232 port. The new SCADA system spoke DNP3 IP.

• The Fix: The edge product connected to the recloser's serial port. Using its built-in serial-to-IP encapsulation features, it wrapped the legacy DNP3 data into TCP/IP packets.

• The Result: The SCADA system could now poll the 30-year-old recloser as if it were a modern Ethernet device. The edge product made the legacy hardware "look" modern.

Instead of repairing copper lines, they switched to cellular.

• Wide Coverage: The cellular edge product leveraged existing 4G LTE networks, which covered 99% of their territory.

• Reliability: The device features Dual-SIM slots. It primarily connects to Carrier A (e.g., Verizon) but instantly fails over to Carrier B (e.g., AT&T) if the primary tower goes down during a storm. This redundancy is critical for utility connectivity.

Connecting critical infrastructure to the internet is a massive risk.

• The Defense: The utility used a Private APN on their SIM cards. This meant their traffic never touched the public internet.

• The Encryption: On top of that, the edge product established an IPsec VPN tunnel back to the control center. This defense-in-depth approach ensured that their grid control commands were encrypted and invisible to hackers.

By deploying industrial edge products across their fleet, the utility transformed their operations.

• Real-Time Visibility: They went from polling once every 15 minutes to real-time alerts. They could now see fault currents remotely, allowing them to diagnose outages before the truck even left the depot.

• Cost Savings: They cancelled their expensive copper leased lines, saving over $20,000 per month in telecom fees. The edge products paid for themselves in the first year.

• Improved SAIDI/SAIFI: With better data, they could isolate faults faster. Their "System Average Interruption Duration Index" (SAIDI) improved by 20%, resulting in happier customers and fewer regulatory penalties.

We cannot overstate this: a consumer router would die here. These edge products are mounted in uninsulated NEMA boxes on top of utility poles.

• Temperature: They endure -30°C winters and +60°C summers.

• Voltage Spikes: They are exposed to massive electromagnetic interference (EMI) from the power lines.A true rugged edge product (like the R1520) has the wide-temp components, isolated I/O, and industrial power filtering to survive where plastic routers melt or fry.

You don't need to wait for a massive federal grant to modernize your grid. You can start today by connecting your existing assets.

Rugged, cellular edge products are the fastest, most cost-effective way to bring legacy infrastructure online. By acting as a secure bridge for DNP3 and Modbus devices, these edge products turn "dumb" metal into smart assets. For water, gas, and electric utilities, the path to intelligence starts at the edge.