Radio in the utilities industry

Whilst the history of the utility industry's involvement in radio communications does not stretch back 100 years, it does date back for nearly half that. In that time the utility industry has been a champion and pioneer of many significant developments in the use of radio. Radio has been and is essential to the industry, and it is inconceivable that the industry could now survive without it. The industry needs radio to efficiently control a mobile workforce, provide quick responses to emergencies, provide telemetry links to remote locations and increasingly to deliver high levels of customer service. The paper looks at: how the use of radio has evolved within the utility industry, considering mobile radio, telemetry and fixed links, and frequency management, at the use of radio in a typical utility, and finally at the trends for the future.