Julie Song, President at Advanced RF Technologies (ADRF), responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company globally.
Critical infrastructure like energy providers, water utilities and agricultural operations have undergone a significant digital transformation. Across power plants, substations, water treatment facilities, farms, food processing plants and more, thousands of connected devices support the essential services that communities rely on every day.
Unlike some industries where downtime primarily results in lost revenue, wireless blind spots within critical infrastructure can have far-reaching consequences. According to the Cybersecurity & Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), threats to these sectors can create debilitating impacts on the economy, public health and safety. Loss of reliable communications can reduce visibility into critical assets, hinder emergency response times, delay maintenance and repairs and disrupt the delivery of essential services. As wireless technologies become increasingly integral to daily operations, dependable coverage is now fundamental to resilient infrastructure.
Supporting Always-On Operations
The wireless demands of today’s critical infrastructure extend far beyond voice communications. Modern facilities support a fragmented ecosystem of connected technologies, each with different bandwidth, latency and reliability requirements.
Utilities rely on wireless connectivity to power smart grid technologies, monitor substations, inspect transmission lines with drones and collect data from thousands of remote sensors. Water systems depend on connected devices to monitor pressure, detect leaks, track water quality and oversee pumping stations that may be located miles from the nearest population center. Agricultural operations use wireless networks to support precision irrigation, monitor crop and livestock health, automate equipment and track products throughout the food supply chain.
These applications generate data that must be transmitted reliably, often with specific requirements for coverage, availability, latency and bandwidth.
The Rise Of Private Wireless
For organizations with demanding connectivity requirements, private wireless networks are becoming an increasingly important part of a well-balanced connectivity strategy. Unlike public networks, private wireless networks can provide organizations with greater control over network configuration, security, performance, bandwidth allocation and reliability. Critical applications, such as grid control, water system monitoring or emergency alerts, can be prioritized over less-time-sensitive traffic, ensuring that essential operations remain connected when they matter most.
Private networks can also help address the unique geographic challenges facing utilities and other infrastructure providers. While mobile carriers’ larger network is often concentrated in populated areas and major roadways, much of the nation’s critical infrastructure exists in remote locations. Building a private wireless network can allow these facilities to extend reliable coverage where it’s needed, supporting everything from remote substations and pipelines to irrigation systems and renewable energy sites.
For many facilities, private wireless can also strengthen operational resilience. Standard carrier service level agreements (SLAs) may not provide the availability guarantees required for essential services, and outages can carry significant operational, financial and regulatory consequences. By maintaining greater control over their communications infrastructure, organizations can reduce their dependence on external networks while improving reliability for always-on operations.
Building A Strong Wireless Foundation
In addition to their remote nature, energy, water and agricultural buildings are also among the most challenging environments for wireless communications. Reinforced concrete, structural steel, underground infrastructure, long transmission corridors and expansive facilities can all interfere with radio frequency (RF) signal propagation, creating coverage gaps that affect both public and private wireless networks.
As organizations deploy more connected devices, with different bandwidth, latency and reliability requirements, these coverage challenges become increasingly apparent. Workers may lose connectivity while moving throughout a facility, remote sensors may struggle to transmit data consistently or autonomous systems may experience communication interruptions that impact operations.
In-building wireless solutions can help eliminate these gaps by extending dependable coverage throughout facilities. Distributed antenna systems (DAS) can support public and private wireless networks, as well as emergency responder communication enhancement systems (ERCES) from a shared infrastructure. These systems can serve as the connectivity foundation that brings different wireless capabilities into the environments where they are needed most.
For example, a utility may use lower-frequency public spectrum for less important connectivity needs while leveraging higher-bandwidth private spectrum like CBRS for more data-intensive applications—and dedicated UHF/VHF public safety frequency bands for first responder communications. Utilizing a DAS simplifies an otherwise complex deployment while providing the reliable connectivity needed for employees, contractors, IoT devices and mission-critical applications.
Although commercial wireless, private networks and ERCES each serve different purposes, they all contribute to eliminating communication blind spots. Planning these systems together during new construction or major modernization projects can simplify deployment, improve infrastructure efficiency and create a scalable communications platform capable of supporting future technologies. By investing in strong wireless infrastructure, organizations can remove coverage gaps and improve reliability and safety.
Wireless connectivity is no longer simply a convenience for critical infrastructure. It is an operational requirement. As utilities and other essential-service providers continue to digitize, reliable wireless coverage will play an increasingly important role in maintaining visibility, safety and resilience. Organizations that build a scalable wireless foundation today will be better positioned to support the connected infrastructure of tomorrow.
Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?