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Paul Bott is a Professional Engineer with over 37 years experience in design, engineering, and construction of communications systems. He has directed numerous projects managing the skills of high-performance engineers and technicians to achieve successful project completion.

Paul consults and associates with top professionals in the industry employing the highest quality products and skills to design and implement leading-edge technologies.


Credentials

  • Registered Professional Engineer - Electrical, Arizona
  • FCC General Radiotelephone Operator License Lifetime, Ship Radar Endorsement
  • Licensed Contractor, Arizona K67 Low Voltage Communication
  • Amateur Radio License - General Class, Licensed for 37 years

Awards & Memberships

  • Edison Award - Paul was a significant contributor on the Arizona Public Service Company team that was awarded the prestigious Edison Award for 2008. The team was recognized for implementing new on-line monitoring of large high-voltage power transformers.
  • IEEE Member- Power and Energy Society with focus on Intelligent Grid and SCADA deployment.
  • Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) - UTC is a global trade association dedicated to creating a favorable business, regulatory, and technological environment for companies that own, manage, or provide critical telecommunications systems in support of their core business, 25 Year Core Member, pending Associate Member.

Professional Skills:

  • Translating customer needs into technical requirements and alternative cost-effective solutions
  • Proof-of-concept evaluation and testing to confirm technology performance and establish credible project proposals
  • Project cost estimation and economic evaluation of alternatives and life-cycle costs
  • Project management, cost control, and resource utilization
  • Implementation of computer-aided-engineering/design, work management and communications maintenance systems and tools
  • Operation and support of high-reliability telecommunications and data networking systems
  • Global working knowledge of utility physical infrastructure, networks, and hardware.

Recent Projects

network  Arizona Public Service Company - Phoenix, Arizona

Project: Find effective solutions to expand and extend APS' data network to small offices and power facilities in locations where FCC microwave frequency licenses were not available, or not cost-justified.

Deliverables: Evaluated, field tested, validated compliance with utility standards and successfully deployed 20 Unlicensed 5.8 GHz digital IP & TDM microwave radio links with up to 100 Mbps capacity for power utility communications connectivity applications to support business and power LAN/WAN, VOIP, SCADA, protection, and control functions. Unlicensed links cost substantially less and performed as well or better than traditional licensed microwave in similar applications.

network  Arizona Public Service Company - Phoenix, Arizona

Project: Find effective solutions to expand and extend APS' distribution automation data network to numerous metropolitan and remote power grid devices ensuring adequate security, reliability, and controlling costs.

Deliverables: Evaluated, tested, and successfully deployed pilot project of 30 unlicensed 900 MHZ low-capacity (100 Kbps to 1 Mbps) digital radio units in short-range (< 1K feet) and medium-range (10 miles + ) point-to-point and multi-point applications to provide SCADA connectivity, automated metering data collection, and automated distribution control functions.

network  Arizona Public Service Company - Phoenix, Arizona

Project: Identify and resolve coal-handling locomotive radio remote control problems assumed to be interference at APS' Cholla power plant. Restore safe, reliable, and efficient coal-handling operation with most economical solution.

Deliverables: Investigation indicated that upgraded locomotives could pull more coal cars, thus extending distance from train operator with radio remote control unit on last car to the controller in locomotive. This resulted in marginal receive signal levels at the controller, occasionally dropping out completely and immediately initiating an emergency stop condition locking all the train brakes and delaying movement for as much as 30 minutes per occurrence. Vendor's recommendation was to add a $250,000 repeater to extend range of remote control units. Analysis determined that while some nearby interference did exist, with adequate receive signal levels, the controllers were very robust and functioned reliably. A small 15 dB preamplifier in each locomotive, costing about $250, provided 10 dB+ in operating margin and flawless remote control on any possible length of train at the plant.