Patent Application
20060135119
The present invention relates to wireless networks for collecting data, and more particularly, to systems and methods of geographically visualizing fixed wireless network layouts and performance characteristics for such networks.
The collection of meter data from electrical energy, water, and gas meters has traditionally been performed by human meter-readers. The meter-reader travels to the meter location, which is frequently on the customer's premises, visually inspects the meter, and records the reading. The meter-reader may be prevented from gaining access to the meter as a result of inclement weather or, where the meter is located within the customer's premises, due to an absentee customer. This methodology of meter data collection is labor intensive, prone to human error, and often results in stale and inflexible metering data.
Some meters have been enhanced to include a one-way radio transmitter for transmitting metering data to a receiving device. A person collecting meter data that is equipped with an appropriate radio receiver need only come into proximity with a meter to read the meter data and need not visually inspect the meter. Thus, a meter-reader may walk or drive by a meter location to take a meter reading. While this represents an improvement over visiting and visually inspecting each meter, it still requires human involvement in the process.
An automated means for collecting meter data involves a fixed wireless network. Devices such as, for example, repeaters and gateways are permanently affixed on rooftops and pole-tops and strategically positioned to receive data from enhanced meters fitted with radio-transmitters. Typically, these transmitters operate in the 902-928 MHz range and employ Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum (FHSS) technology to spread the transmitted energy over a large portion of the available bandwidth.
Data is transmitted from the meters to the repeaters and gateways and ultimately communicated to a central location. While fixed wireless networks greatly reduce human involvement in the process of meter reading, such systems require the installation and maintenance of a fixed network of repeaters, gateways, and servers. Identifying an acceptable location for a repeater or server and physically placing the device in the desired location on top of a building or utility pole is a tedious and labor-intensive operation. Furthermore, each meter that is installed in the network needs to be manually configured to communicate with a particular portion of the established network. When a portion of the network fails to operate as intended, human intervention is typically required to test the effected components and reconfigure the network to return it to operation.
Thus, while existing fixed wireless systems have reduced the need for human involvement in the daily collection of meter data, such systems require substantial human investment in planning, installation, and maintenance and are relatively inflexible and difficult to manage. Therefore, there is a need for systems and methods for providing a geographic visualization of the wireless network layout and network information to simplify the maintenance and future planning of the network.
The present invention is directed to systems and methods of providing a geographic view of nodes in a wireless network as well as network information. In accordance with an aspect of the invention, a geographic view rendering tool receives geographic locations data for the nodes and renders a geographic view displaying the nodes at their corresponding geographic locations. The geographic locations data may include, for example, a set of longitude and latitude coordinates or a center point of a digital land parcel.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the geographic view may be displayed overlaying a digital map such that the geographic view displays an accurate position of each node on the digital map. The digital map may be, for example, an aerial photograph, a topographic map, an elevation map, a street map, or a land parcel.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the geographic view rendering tool receives network information and renders the geographic view displaying the network information. The network information may include, for example, node connections data, communication success rates for the nodes, and occurrences of communications events at the nodes. The network information may be shown by displaying the nodes and/or their connections in a variety colors and icons. A query may be submitted requesting that network information be displayed based on a specified criteria, and the geographic view may be rendered accordingly.
In accordance with another aspect of the invention, the view may be manipulated to display one or more sub-networks. Each such sub-network may include, for example, a group of nodes that are all associated with a particular network component such as, for example, a collector, transformer, feeder or substation. The sub-networks may be distinguished, for example, by color coding the connections between the nodes with each sub-network.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following detailed description of illustrative embodiments that proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose of illustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings exemplary constructions of the invention; however, the invention is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:
Exemplary systems and methods for gathering meter data are described below with reference to
Generally, a plurality of meter devices, which operate to track usage of a service or commodity such as, for example, electricity, water, and gas, are operable to wirelessly communicate with each other. A collector is operable to automatically identify and register meters for communication with the collector. When a meter is installed, the meter becomes registered with the collector that can provide a communication path to the meter. The collectors receive and compile metering data from a plurality of meter devices via wireless communications. A communications server communicates with the collectors to retrieve the compiled meter data.
System 110 further comprises collectors 116. Collectors 116 are also meters operable to detect and record usage of a service or commodity such as, for example, electricity, water, or gas. Collectors 116 comprise an antenna and are operable to send and receive data wirelessly. In particular, collectors 116 are operable to send data to and receive data from meters 114. In an illustrative embodiment, meters 114 may be, for example, an electrical meter manufactured by Elster Electricity, LLC.
A collector 116 and the meters 114 for which it is configured to receive meter data define a subnet/LAN 120 of system 110. As used herein, meters 114 and collectors 116 maybe considered as nodes in the subnet 120. For each subnet/LAN 120, data is collected at collector 116 and periodically transmitted to a data collection server 206. The data collection server 206 stores the data for analysis and preparation of bills. The data collection server 206 may be a specially programmed general purpose computing system and may communicate with collectors 116 wirelessly or via a wire line connection such as, for example, a dial-up telephone connection or fixed wire network.
Generally, collector 116 and meters 114 communicate with and amongst one another using any one of several robust wireless techniques such as, for example, frequency hopping spread spectrum (FHSS) and direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS). As illustrated, meters 114a are “first level” meters that communicate with collector 116, whereas meters 114b are higher level meters that communicate with other meters in the network that forward information to the collector 116.
Referring now to
In accordance with an aspect of the invention, communication between nodes and the system 200 is accomplished using the LAN ID, however it is preferable for customers to query and communicate with nodes using their own identifier. To this end, a marriage file 208 may be used to correlate a customer serial number and LAN ID for each node (e.g., meters 114a) in the subnet/LAN 120. A device configuration database 210 stores configuration information regarding the nodes. For example, in the metering system 110, the device configuration database may the time of use (TOU) program assignment for the meters 114a communicating to the system 200. A data collection requirements database 212 contains information regarding the data to be collected on a per node basis. For example, a user may specify that metering data such as load profile, demand, TOU, etc. is to be collected from particular meter(s) 114a. Reports 214 containing information on the network configuration may be automatically generated or in accordance with a user request.
The network management system (NMS) 204 maintains a database describing the current state of the global fixed network system (current network state 220) and a database describing the historical state of the system (historical network state 222). The current network state 220 contains data regarding current meter to collector assignments and other network information for each subnet/LAN 120. The historical network state 222 is a database from which the state of the network at a particular point in the past can be reconstructed. The NMS 204 is responsible for, amongst other things, providing reports 214 about the state of the network. The NMS 204 may be accessed via an API 220 that is exposed to a user interface 216 and a Customer Information System (CIS) 218. Other external interfaces may be implemented in accordance with the present invention. In addition, the data collection requirements stored in the database 212 may be set via the user interface 216 or CIS 218.
The data collection server 206 collects data from the nodes (e.g., collectors 116) and stores the data in a database 224. The data includes metering information, such as energy consumption and may be used for billing purposes, etc. by a utility provider.
The network configuration system 202, network management system 204 and data collection server 206 communicate with the nodes in each subnet/LAN 120 via a communication system 226. The communication system 226 may be a Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum radio network, a mesh network, a Wi-Fi (802.11) network, a Wi-Max (802.16) network, a land line (POTS) network, etc., or any combination of the above and enables the system 200 to communicate with the metering system 110.
The request 320 is received by network management system 204, which, upon receiving the request, retrieves network information 322 from current and/or historical network state databases 220 and 222. Upon its compilation, the network information 322 is forwarded to graph rendering tool 310. The network information 322 may include, for example, node connections data, communication success rates for the nodes, and occurrences of communications events at the nodes. A communications event may be, for example, a node tampering incident, a node health related alarm, a low battery indication, a maintenance indication, a disconnection, a reconnection, a power outage, a power restoration, or a communications problem.
In addition to the network information 322, geographic location data 324 is also provided to the rendering tool 310 via network configuration system 202. The geographic location data 324 may include longitude and latitude coordinates for the nodes. Otherwise, if digital land parcels are available for the area, the geographic location data 324 may include digital data 324a such as the center point of a digital land parcel at which a node is located. The geographic location data 324 may be provided by a user via client 146 or by a third party such as, for example, a geo-coding service or tool. Upon receiving the geographic location data 324, the rendering tool 310 associates each node with a corresponding geographic location.
Generally, rendering tool 310 uses network information 322, geographic location data 324, and digital data 326 to render geographic view 328, which displays each node in the network layout at its corresponding geographic location. In addition to displaying the nodes, geographic view 328 may also display the network information 322. For example, geographic view 328 may display connections between the nodes, including paths between various network elements. Specifically, geographic view 328 may display a path from each meter to its registered collector. Additionally, geographic view 328 may distinguish “orphaned” nodes which are not connected to any other node in the network. Such orphaned nodes may be displayed with a uniquely shaped icon. For example, connected nodes may be displayed with a circular icon, while orphaned nodes may be displayed with a triangular icon.
Geographic view 328 may also display a number of sub-networks within the network layout. Each sub-network may include a group of nodes that are all associated with a particular network component such as, for example, a collector, transformer, feeder or substation. The sub-networks may be distinguished by color coding the connections between the nodes within each sub-network. Geographic view 328 may also display communication success rates for the nodes. For example, the icon for each node may be color coded according to its corresponding communications success rate. Geographic view 328 may also display visual alerts to indicate the occurrence of a communications event. For example, when an event occurs at a particular node within a specified time period, a plus (“+”) icon may be displayed adjacent to the node.
In addition to current network information, geographic view 328 may be rendered based on historical network information stored in database 222 and also historical digital maps or other topographical information. Geographic view 328 may be displayed in accordance with geographic information systems (GIS) standards, thereby enabling the view to integrate well with third party tools that support rich GIS functionality. For example, such tools may be used to easily identify meters within a specified distance from another meter. The integration also allows the manipulation of a large display area, zooming in and out as necessary to examine the details.
View 400 includes three collectors, the “2664” collector, the “2665” collector, and the “2666” collector. Each collector has a corresponding sub-network, which includes all meters that are registered to the collector. The connections between the meters within each sub-network are color coded. For example, connections between the meters in the “2664” sub-network may be displayed in yellow, connections between the meters in the “2665” sub-network may be displayed in blue, and connections between the meters in the “2666” sub-network may be displayed in red. View 400 may be manipulated to show more or less detailed views of the network layout. For example,
Geographic view 328 may be displayed overlaying a digital map such as, for example, an aerial photograph, a topographic map, an elevation map, a street map, or a land parcel. For example,
The map view is also useful to identify instances of meter theft or vandalism. In particular, the map view may be used to identify a meter that is stolen and then installed at a different location. For example, if an outlying meter is originally connected to a collector through several intermediate nodes, and is later directly connected or connected through fewer intermediate nodes, then this can be easily determined from the map view. Specifically, the map view may show an unexpected long line from the meter to the collector or to a new repeater node. Likewise, if a meter is moved further from a collector, then the map view may change to show a connection through several new repeaters. Furthermore, if the meter is moved so far away that it registers with a new collector, then the map view may change to show a long connection from the previous meter location to the new collector, thereby making the tamper self-evident.
Rendering tool 310 may be queried to generate a view 328 that includes network information based in specified criteria, and the view 328 may be rendered accordingly. For example, if a meter is stolen and then installed elsewhere, then the malfunction may be identified by querying for connections that are no longer than a specified distance. Additionally, the query may request meters that have communication characteristics that are significantly different from those of other meters located in close proximity.
Geographic view 328 may be used to facilitate the future planning and management of the network layout. For example, geographic view 328 may be used to easily and rapidly identify when several meters in close proximity to one another are experiencing communications problems. It may be then determined that new collectors and/or repeaters are needed in close proximity to those meters. Also, if an existing deployment of meters is to be expanded, then geographic view 328 may be used to identify locations at which new collectors and/or repeaters should be located. Specifically, geographic view 328 may be used to determine, based on maximum number of hops and the distances involved, whether an existing collector network would be capable of supporting the new meters at the new locations. Additionally, if new collectors and/or repeaters are needed, geographic view 328 may be used to determine their expected ranges.
While systems and methods have been described and illustrated with reference to specific embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that modification and variations may be made without departing from the principles described above and set forth in the following claims. Accordingly, reference should be made to the following claims as describing the scope of disclosed embodiments.
