Energy control networking company, Echelon (ELON) has unveiled a new control operating system (COS) software for its smart meter portfolio.
With the software, smart meters from Echelon and from its open smart grid protocol (OSGP) meter partners can now be upgraded in the field to serve as multi-parameter grid sensors and billing devices.
The company noted these meters separate billing data from grid power quality data like voltage, frequency and power factor so that they can be read on independent time cycles.
Echelon product management and marketing senior vice president Varun Nagaraj said the company is the first to offer smart meters that provide utilities the ability to access only the power quality data they need, and when they need it.
"This approach will simplify the ‘big data’ challenge and let the utilities improve service reliability and maximize the life of grid assets," he added.
Some of the new capabilities in the COS software includes the ability for meters to measure, store, and transmit peak power per phase and allowing Echelon Meters to set up 4×16 channels of load profile data; each of which can be configured independently for interval, size and collection settings, the company noted.
RGi project manager Poul Berthelsen said in order to avoid a data deluge from collecting power quality information every 15-minutes, the utility only collect power quality measurements from the low voltage grid after it detect or have customer reports of problems in the network.
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"However, with a separate data set dedicated for power quality history and troubleshooting data collected on a different cycle than the billing data, we’ll be able to review the previously captured data immediately and decrease the time and cost that it used to take for us to conduct analysis in the field," he added.
Echelon has also expanded its smart meter portfolio by introducing the modular MTR 0600 Series for utilities in emerging markets to replace their existing meters and upgrade them in the field with a communications and control module that allows them to plug into the rest of the Echelon energy control networking platform.
