Definition
DGA (Dissolved Gas Analysis) is used to determine insulation fault trends such as transformer overheating and discharge. Online monitoring devices periodically sample components like hydrogen, methane, and acetylene and send them to the main station, achieving a shift from "offline oil sampling for testing" to continuous monitoring. In unmanned substations, new energy aggregation stations, and railway traction stations, data is often sent to PMS or provincial platforms via cellular IoT SIM cards.
Data quality depends on device calibration, oil sampling loop sealing, and environmental temperature compensation. On the communication side, accurate timestamps are required to facilitate correlation analysis with load and tap-changer operation events.
Technical Features
The volume of DGA data is relatively moderate but requires real-time alarm capabilities. It is recommended to use private networks or VPNs to prevent monitoring data from being tampered with. Firmware upgrades and remote parameter adjustments should have dual-person approval and rollback plans.
SimtoLink can provide industrial-grade card-wide temperature support and remote shutdown strategies, enabling full life-cycle traceability with asset numbers; for multi-station batch projects, using a data pool reduces costs.
Use Cases
Assessment of old main transformer capacity upgrades, high-load summer periods, tracking after short-circuit shocks in nearby areas, etc. When comparing with oil chromatography laboratory data, units and baselines must be unified.
In operations and maintenance, a closed loop for device failure replacement and oil sample inspection should be established to avoid the blind spot of "normal online, abnormal offline."
Deployment and Operation Recommendations
During the project implementation phase, enterprises should bind the IoT SIM card numbers to device serial numbers, installation locations, power supply methods, and maintenance responsible persons one-to-one, and sync this information into the asset and operation system to form a traceable link from card issuance, modification, activation, suspension to eventual cancellation. For equipment involving cross-province allocation or cross-border delivery, roaming charges, real-name registration policies, and local data compliance requirements should be evaluated in advance. It is recommended to choose solutions with predictable costs that support remote network switching or eUICC, reducing the frequency of on-site disassembly, and reserving spare cards and emergency replacement processes to shorten fault recovery time. For terminals received in bulk, it is recommended to perform sampling network verification covering connectivity and charges before activating the entire batch, to reduce rework costs.
In terms of cybersecurity, it is recommended to configure dedicated APN or VPDN tunnels for production or critical infrastructure terminals, converge north-south traffic to enterprise-controllable boundaries, and link with identity authentication, bastion host remote maintenance, and operation auditing; for remote control and parameter writing capabilities, hierarchical authorization, time windows, and dual-person review should be set. Regular drills for weak network and primary/backup link switching should be organized, recording latency, packet loss, and recovery time as technical references for MLPS (Multi-Level Protection Scheme) assessment, industry regulatory inspections, or internal risk control reviews. For third-party outsourced operations, minimum permissions, session recording, and key custody responsibilities should be clarified to avoid account sharing.
In daily operations, card management platforms should be used to continuously track online rates, abnormal traffic, dormant terminals, and data plan utilization, integrating alarms with the ITSM work order system to achieve automatic ticket assignment and closure. SimtoLink can split data pools for enterprises by factory, line, or business domain, providing bulk device suspension/resumption, API integration, and billing allocation capabilities, supporting visibility, control, and sustainable cost reduction at large-scale points, while aligning card management insights with project budgets and cost centers to improve transparency.