PowerStream Chooses Wide-Area Communications Solution

RuggedCom Inc. has been chosen by PowerStream, the second largest municipally-owned electricity distribution company in Ontario, to deliver a wide area communications solution for monitoring privately owned distributed generation installations.

RuggedCom's WiMAX solution, RuggedMAX, will provide PowerStream with a method of communicating with generators spread across its 800-km sq. territory. The 1.8 GHz wireless connection will be used in the monitoring of private solar generating assets 250 kW and larger.

RuggedMAX is a utility-grade mobile WiMAX platform designed for the harsh environment of an electric substation by complying with standards such as IEEE 1613 and IEC 61850-3. RuggedMAX supports a unique standalone network architecture, which can operate without the need for an ASN gateway, ultimately reducing end-to-end latency and improving system reliability.