Power, energy and ruggedisation
Lightning protection
Risk assessment and protection of structures and equipment against direct and nearby strikes.
We design, deploy and maintain.
IEC 62305-1 to -4 · NFPA 780
Engineering: the mast foundation and loads checked before steel goes up. The loop, step by step: 1. Mast, dish and borehole on a site plan. 2. Sensor, link, edge and console stand ready. 3. Loads and foundations are checked for the mast. 4. Time and place are fixed to every sample. 5. The edge verifies every signature first. 6. Cable routes and earthing are drawn. 7. Only a confirmed result leaves the edge. 8. Interfaces between parts are specified. 9. The relay forwards sealed packets untouched. 10. Dish aim is set to a tenth degree. 11. Sensors check that the response worked. 12. The drawing set passes review. 13. The alert arrives with its evidence attached. 14. The whole chain is archived for audit. 15. Everything settles back to idle.
01 / 15
Mast, dish and borehole on a site plan
Nexus Observatory/
Design and integration/
UbunjiniyelaDesign packs, bills of materials and drawings.
Engineering, inside Design and integration: lightning protection, grounding and earthing, antenna-supporting structures, foundations and anchors and more. Every item is traced to its specification, from IEC 62305-1 to -4 to NFPA 780, and runs on the open Observatory Protocol.
Plan with usArchitectureThe protocol- Technologies
- 6
- At the frontier
- 0
- Protocol functions
- 4 of 12
- Industries served
- 4
At a glance
Lightning protection
Risk assessment and protection of structures and equipment against direct and nearby strikes. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the lightning, grounding and structures layer holds lightning protection, drawn against IEC 62305-1 to -4 and NFPA 780 and used beside foundations and anchors on the same sites.
Inkinga
Design packs, bills of materials and drawings
Large observing programmes buy from many suppliers. Without one design and one interface contract, every boundary becomes a dispute and every site a one-off. Programmes slip at the interfaces, not in the components, and nobody can say where the delay comes from.
Key facts
- Specification
- IEC 62305-1 to -4 · NFPA 780
- Specification
- ANSI/TIA-222-I · CSA S37:24 (Canada)
- Specification
- IEEE 1100 (powering and grounding electronic equipment) · IEEE 81 (earth resistivity and ground impedance)
- Specification
- Incoterms 2020 (ICC) · ASTM D4169
- Specification
- IEC 62381 (FAT, SAT, SIT)
Components
- “AI tower in a box”
- Overhead line sensor on a distribution span
- Automatic weather station (AWS) to WMO siting practice
- Distribution pole transformer and meter cabinet
- Private LTE mast on a solar skid
- Data hall row pair with cold-aisle containment
- Operations console with a video wall
- Field-service crew vehicle
Interfaces
- Radio
- Fibre · Ethernet
- Time and position
- PTP (IEEE 1588)
Where it works
- Antenna-supporting structures
- Packaging and shipping
In the story below
- The system, part by part
- Assembly
- Installation
- Deployment
- Connections
- Operation
- Failure and recovery
- Scale and federation
- What you get
Scenes · 13
Next steps
Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Design and integrationTalk to salesDesign and integration · Engineering
Design packs, bills of materials and drawings
Large observing programmes buy from many suppliers. Without one design and one interface contract, every boundary becomes a dispute and every site a one-off. Programmes slip at the interfaces, not in the components, and nobody can say where the delay comes from.
What it does
Lightning protection
Risk assessment and protection of structures and equipment against direct and nearby strikes. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the lightning, grounding and structures layer holds lightning protection, drawn against IEC 62305-1 to -4 and NFPA 780 and used beside foundations and anchors on the same sites.
- Specification
- IEC 62305-1 to -4 · NFPA 780
Lightning, grounding and structures
Antenna-supporting structures
Design, modification and analysis of towers, masts and mounts for antenna and ice loads. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the lightning, grounding and structures layer holds antenna-supporting structures, drawn against ANSI/TIA-222-I and CSA S37:24. We build it into every site for engineering against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.
- Specification
- ANSI/TIA-222-I · CSA S37:24 (Canada)
Lightning, grounding and structures
Grounding and earthing
Earth electrodes, ground rings and measurement of soil resistivity and ground resistance. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the lightning, grounding and structures layer holds grounding and earthing, drawn against IEEE 1100 and IEEE 81. We build it into every site for engineering against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.
- Specification
- IEEE 1100 (powering and grounding electronic equipment) · IEEE 81 (earth resistivity and ground impedance)
Design packs and logistics
Packaging and shipping
Protective packaging, incoterms and documents for remote and international delivery. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the design packs and logistics layer holds packaging and shipping, drawn against Incoterms 2020 and ASTM D4169. We build it into every site for engineering against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.
- Specification
- Incoterms 2020 (ICC) · ASTM D4169
Design packs and logistics
Factory acceptance testing
Testing kits and integrated racks before they leave for site. In engineering, part of Design and integration, the design packs and logistics layer holds factory acceptance testing, drawn against IEC 62381. We build it into every site for engineering against that standard, and keep its version and its test results on the site’s record.
- Specification
- IEC 62381 (FAT, SAT, SIT)
Ubufakazi
Traced to its specifications
We trace each part of engineering to its specification: IEC 62305-1 to -4, NFPA 780 and IEC 62381. We keep the versions, configurations and test results of engineering as signed records, so a buyer or an auditor can check what was delivered against what was specified.
- Amazinga
- IEC 62305-1 to -4 · NFPA 780 · IEC 62381 · IEEE 1100
Operations
Every node watched, every incident closed
The operations console shows every node of a network for engineering with its state, its plan and its evidence. An alert arrives with its data and a runbook, acknowledging it opens a work order, and an incident for engineering closes only when the operator records the cause and verifies the fix.
Field service
One crew, from survey to repair
One crew surveys, installs, commissions, calibrates and repairs the sites for engineering, working from each site’s own record. Each visit updates that record, so the next crew knows what is on a site for engineering, when it was last checked and why it changed, and plans spares from that history.
Izibuyekezo
Updates in rings, with rollback
Software and configuration reach a fleet for engineering in rings: one canary site first, then a few, then all, each ring gated on health and data completeness. A failed gate stops the wave, and each node for engineering returns to its last good release without a site visit.
How it scales
One base unit, repeated
A network for engineering starts with one base node and the instruments it reads. A station adds power and radio, a site adds a relay and a fleet repeats the proven site, so capacity for engineering grows by adding units, never by replacing what works.
What you get
Programmes, integration and management
The reference architecture and interface contracts are open. National observing network programmes, systems integration and programme management are contracted. Pricing follows the programme’s scale and phases, with one point of accountability from design to acceptance; the documentation, models and records stay yours at the end.
Talk to salesNext step
Engineering, planned with you
Tell us the sites, the systems engineering must work with and the outcome you need, with a map or a list of addresses if you have one. An engineer replies with a survey proposal, a design and a scope for engineering, and the plan grows from one site to the network you need.
Plan a deploymentOpen the Field Deployment StudioSee Design and integration
More presentations
See it from every side.
Each opens as a full-screen presentation: deeper pages on the same subject, explainers, stories, guided tours of the places, network scenes and the observatories that came before.
All presentationsIn depth
Use case Utility grid-edge private LTE and wildfire weatherUse case Street flood observatoryUse case GBON gap-filler stationISIC section · ISIC O Public administration and defence; compulsory social securityExplainers
Explainer · Government and public safety Government and public safetyWildfire cameras on real terrain, GBON station density, street-flood alert thresholds, CAP alerting with the authority in the loop and the radio horizon of a deployable cell.Explainer · Scientific Scientific, explainedInkundla Design and integrationMany suppliers, nobody accountableInkundla Field servicesSites fail between contractorsStories
Story · Federation across agencies Many agencies, one pictureNo single agency observes everything it needs. Federation lets each keep its own systems and still share: common interfaces, common catalogues and common…Story · Resilient operations When the links failObserving systems matter most on the days infrastructure fails. Designing for that day means local autonomy, stored power, store-and-forward delivery and…Story · Airspace and drones A shared sky below 120 metresFlying beyond visual line of sight turns a drone from a camera on a stick into infrastructure. It needs a command link that holds, an identity others can…Places and networks
Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Open-pit mineGNSS slope monitors on the benches, a blast seismograph at the boundary and a private cell for the fleet, around a benched pit cut into the ground.Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Wildfire forestCamera masts on the ridges, a weather station in the stand and a private cell: the red ground is what the ridge camera can see.Guided tour · Guided 3D tour Transmission corridorLattice towers carry a line across open country; conductor sensors report temperature and sag, and the substation edge brings them into the grid operator’s systems.Network scene · Private 5G · Mining Private 5G in an open-pit mineA private network for haul trucks, drills and slope radar: a mast on the rim, a cell in the pit, the core at the plant, and coverage computed over the benches themselves.Network scene · NTN · Satellite Satellite direct to device in a mountain valleyWhere the valley cell cannot reach, phones on the pass road connect straight to a low-orbit satellite, which relays through its feeder link to a gateway.Heritage observatories
Heritage observatory · United States · 1921 Caltech Seismological LaboratoryA laboratory in Pasadena that gave earthquakes a number. The Richter magnitude scale of 1935 depended on one instrument type in many places, a lesson as relevant to networks today…Heritage observatory · United States · 1961 World-Wide Standardized Seismograph NetworkIn the early 1960s the United States put identical seismographs, calibrated the same way, in more than a hundred places around the world and published the records on film for…Interactive tools
Interactive tool · Plan a site Field Deployment StudioTerrain, devices, coverage, viewshed, power and the best spot for a station, then a deployment request with the plan attached.01Yini
Lightning, grounding and structures.
How a remote site is powered, stored, distributed, cooled, sealed, tested, grounded, held up and kept safe, from a solar-powered sensor to a hybrid microgrid on a guyed mast. Everything that happens on the ground across a site’s life: survey, permits, design packs, logistics, installation, acceptance, training, operations, maintenance, upgrades, decommission and recycling, done safely and recorded as evidence. Each technology below carries what it is, what we do with it, and the standard it is drawn against.
Power, energy and ruggedisation
Grounding and earthing
Earth electrodes, ground rings and measurement of soil resistivity and ground resistance.
We design, deploy and maintain.
IEEE 1100 (powering and grounding electronic equipment) · IEEE 81 (earth resistivity and ground impedance)
Power, energy and ruggedisation
Antenna-supporting structures
Design, modification and analysis of towers, masts and mounts for antenna and ice loads.
We design, deploy and maintain.
ANSI/TIA-222-I · CSA S37:24 (Canada)
Power, energy and ruggedisation
Foundations and anchors
Footings, guy anchors and ballast designed from soil investigation, frost and permafrost.
We design and deploy.
ANSI/TIA-222-I (foundations) · CSA S37:24
Field operations and lifecycle
Factory acceptance testing
Testing kits and integrated racks before they leave for site.
We design and integrate.
IEC 62381 (FAT, SAT, SIT)
Field operations and lifecycle
Packaging and shipping
Protective packaging, incoterms and documents for remote and international delivery.
We deploy.
Incoterms 2020 (ICC) · ASTM D4169
02Architecture
Where it sits, and what it speaks.
Engineering draws on the spectrum below; the highlighted layers carry this area, and the protocol functions it speaks are marked.
5G core functions
10
Network slicing, edge UPF and local breakout
8
IMS, voice and mission-critical services
6
Fronthaul, midhaul and backhaul
8
Fibre and optical transport
8
IP/MPLS, segment routing, SD-WAN and IPv6
8
Network automation and intent
7
Core security and resilience
5
Generation
9
Storage
9
Microgrids and distribution
9
Energy management and monitoring
7
Thermal design and ingress
8
Environmental and EMC testing
7
Lightning, grounding and structures
8
Safety and transport
7
01Joyina Identity, attestation quote, signed policy.
02Admit Admitted for a stated scope, nothing wider.
03Chaza What, where, how and by whom, with calibration.
04Time One clock across the grid, with its error bound.
05Observe Every value with quality and provenance.
06Qualify Tested against the specification, state on record.
07Federate Signed exchange across grids and trust domains.
08Orchestrate Software and configuration by signed plan.
09Correct A correction marks what depends on it and publishes a new version.
10Exchange Products reach people and applications through versioned interfaces.
11Prove Signed proof receipts that an independent verifier can check.
12Exit and decommission An open exit path, and a record that closes.
03On the grid
Every site joins one observing grid.
The open networks on the grid today, over real relief and the geodesic cells we count them into. A site built here enrols into the same grid.
The observing grid
- Open instruments on the observing grid.
04In the field
Where this runs, sector by sector.
Deployment scenarios from the sector research that rely on engineering.
Government and public safetyNational GBON surface and upper-air network
WMO-grade stations reporting through WIS 2.0, funded through the systematic-observations financing pathway.Government and public safetyAlerting integration with the Common Alerting Protocol and cell broadcast
Software-heavy: sensor triggers feed an alert origination tool; the alert authority keeps every decision.Communities and ruralInterim public-safety broadband where no national network exists
Private LTE or 5G for fire and medical services in territories without a national public-safety network.ScientificStream gauges
A low-cost tier beside national gauge networks.ScientificOcean and coastal low-cost buoy arrays
Satellite-backhauled wave buoys accepted in a national programme trial.Defence-adjacent (civil dual-use)Civil observatories supporting northern infrastructure
Weather and ionospheric observatories, communications and power at remote sites that surveillance programmes may share.05Open and enterprise
Open by default. Enterprise by contract.
The open counterpart lives on the main site for anyone to read and run. The enterprise service is designed, deployed and operated with you, under contract.
Open, on the main site
- Reference architecture
- Interface contracts
Enterprise, on this site
- National observing network programmes
- Systems integration
- Programme management
06The rest of the line
Design and integration, area by area.
Design and integrationSystem design
Requirements to architecture, drawn against the standards.Design and integrationMulti-vendor integration
Many suppliers, one interface contract.Design and integrationProgramme delivery
Many sites, one plan and one schedule.Design and integrationAcceptance
Tested against the plan, signed off on evidence.Bring us the site.
Survey, design, deployment and operation for engineering. The form names who receives your details.
Talk to usAsk for a quote