Hydropower dams have been helping our society with electricity production for a long time now. In the past there have been several serious dam accidents in many parts of the world and the continuous work with dam safety is very important to Swedish hydropower industry. There are many measurements that must be recorded and analysed in order to guarantee safe operations and there are several ongoing digitisation projects that focus on that area of interest. This master thesis project was done in cooperation with Vattenfall R&D and its main focus was measuring of the water level in open stand pipes with wireless sensors using LoRa radio technology. This aspect is important since this water level represents the uplift pressure that acts on gravity dams and how it varies over time. The goal of this thesis was to accumulate knowledge about wireless transmission from sensors and to analyse and evaluate the proposed, LoRa-based system. This goal was met by conducting a literature study about wireless transmission from sensors and different aspects of the LoRa-technology, performing practical test of the proposed system and finally by doing a risk analysis with focus on potential attack paths into the system. The study showed that even though LoRa is a quite new technology, it has matured fast enough to be of interest for dam safety monitoring applications and it also provides relatively high level of security in the most cases. There are unfortunately several methods of jamming or disrupting the system, which could be potentially used by a malicious entity. The motivation level for this kind of attack was deemed to be low since the data transferred is of no interest for a third party. Apart from such potential attacks, LoRa is a technology that is well suited for applications in the hydroelectric sector that do not require large transmission capacities because of its low energy usage and the ability to connect to several sensors placed at larger distances. Several minor problems were discovered during the practical tests that were conducted during this project but those were solved quickly in dialogue with the supplier, Iot AB and the manufacturer, Keller. The nature of those tests was quite improvised since a standardised test procedure for such innovative solutions is lacking. Nevertheless, those tests were concluded with satisfying results. The test installation of the system at the power plant was performed well and all parts of the system functioned as expected. The results pointed to the conclusion that the system was functioning correctly and there is a good potential for a wide implementation despite its potential security risks. Teknisk-naturvetenskapliga fakulteten, Uppsala universitet. Utgivningsort U ppsal a/Visby. H andledare: Christi an Bernstone, Äm nesgranskare: Urban Lundin, Exami nator: Petra Jönsson
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-451350 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Creators | Stanowski, Michael |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Elektricitetslära |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
| Relation | UPTEC ES, 1650-8300 ; 21034 |
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