OPTIMIZATION OF REDUNDANCY AND THROUGHPUT IN AN AUTOMATED METER DATA COLLECTION SYSTEM USING A WIRELESS NETWORK

• US 20080144548A1
• Filed: 12/14/2006
• Published: 06/19/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/14/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elster Electricity LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Elster Electricity LLC (Honeywell International Inc.)
• Inventors: Borleske, Andrew J., Shuey, Kenneth C.
• Granted Patent: US 8,073,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: G01D 4/004 Remote reading of utility meters to a fixed location
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/101 Access control lists [ACL]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: Y02B 90/20 Smart grids as enabling technology in buildings sector smart grids supporting the management or operation of end-user stationary applications in general, or like technologies with no associated climate change mitigation effect Y04S20/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y04S 20/30 Smart metering, e.g. specially adapted for remote reading

Abstract

Techniques for optimization of redundancy and throughput in an automated meter data collection system using a wireless network are disclosed herein. The wireless network comprises a central node, a plurality of bi-directional nodes, and a plurality of transmit-only meters. Each of the bi-directional nodes is in bi-directional wireless communication with the central node and has a wireless communication path to the central node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes serving as relay nodes. The transmit-only meters wirelessly transmit meter data that is then relayed by one or more bi-directional nodes to the central node. Each of the bi-directional nodes is assigned one or more authorized transmit-only meters, and each of the bi-directional nodes is configured to relay meter data only from its authorized transmit-only meters, thereby providing an optimum level of redundancy and throughput in the network.

Claims

1. A wireless network comprising:

a central node;

a plurality of bi-directional nodes in bi-directional wireless communication with the central node, each of the bi-directional nodes having a wireless communication path to the central node that is either a direct path or an indirect path through one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes serving as relay nodes; and

a plurality of transmit-only meters that wirelessly transmit meter data that is then relayed by one or more bi-directional nodes to the central node,

wherein each of the bi-directional nodes is assigned one or more authorized transmit-only meters, and each of the bi-directional nodes is configured to relay meter data only from its authorized transmit-only meters.

2. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the authorized transmit-only meters assigned to each bi-directional node are identified in an inclusion list that is stored at each bi-directional node.

3. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein the inclusion list for each bi-directional node is compiled based on results of a scan process involving a set of transmit-only meters in communication range of the bi-directional node, the results comprising data that enables each of the set of transmit-only meters to be evaluated with respect to its ability to communicate with the bi-directional node.

4. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein each bi-directional node has a single, designated path to the central node.

5. The wireless network of claim 1, wherein each bi-directional node has multiple, dynamic paths to the central node.

6. A method for optimizing redundancy and throughput in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving at a first bi-directional node meter data from a first transmit-only meter;

determining whether or not the first transmit-only meter is one of a set of authorized transmit-only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node; and

determining whether or not to relay the meter data from the first bi-directional node to a central node based on whether or not the first meter is one of the set of authorized transmit-only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising determining whether or not the first transmit-only meter is one of a set of authorized transmit-only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node by examining an inclusion list that is stored at the first bi-directional node that identifies the set of authorized transmit-only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node.

8. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining that the first meter is one of the set of authorized transmit only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node; and

relaying the meter data to the central node.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising relaying the meter data to the central node indirectly through one or more intermediate bi-directional nodes serving as relay nodes.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising relaying the meter data directly to the central node as part of a single data packet that includes meter data from multiple authorized transmit-only meters.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising stripping load profile data from the meter data from the multiple authorized transmit-only meters.

12. The method of claim 6, comprising:

determining that the first meter is not one of the set of authorized transmit only meters assigned to the first bi-directional node; and

determining to not relay the meter data to the central node.

13. A method for optimizing redundancy and throughput in a wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving results of a scan process involving a set of transmit-only meters in communication range of a bi-directional node, the results comprising data that enables each of the set of transmit-only meters to be evaluated with respect to its ability to communicate with the bi-directional node;

selecting, based on the results of the scan process, less than all of the transmit-only meters in the set of transmit-only meters to be authorized meters from which the bi-directional node is authorized to receive and relay meter data; and

assigning the authorized meters to the bi-directional node.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein assigning the authorized meters to the bi-directional node comprises identifying the authorized meters in an inclusion list.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting the inclusion list to the bi-directional node for storage at the bi-directional node.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising dynamically updating the inclusion list based on updated results from a repeatedly performed scan process.

17. The method of claim 13, comprising selecting transmit-only meters that communicate with the bi-directional node with a received signal strength exceeding a threshold level to be authorized meters.

18. The method of claim 13, comprising selecting a pre-determined number of transmit-only meters with a best communication performance relative to one another to be authorized meters.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

selecting a maximum number of bi-directional meters to which each transmit-only meter in the set of transmit-only meters may be assigned as an authorized transmit-only meter; and

if any transmit-only meter in the set of transmit-only meters is assigned as an authorized transmit-only meter to the selected maximum number of bi-directional meters, then refusing to assign that transmit-only meter as an authorized transmit only meter to any other bi-directional meters.

20. The method of claim 13, further comprising ensuring that each transmit-only meter in the set of transmit-only meters is assigned as an authorized transmit-only meter to at least one bi-directional node.