Point-to-Multipoint Polling in a Monitoring System for an Electric Power Distribution System
First Claim
1. A system for monitoring an electric power distribution system at a plurality of points, the system comprising:
- a plurality of remote monitoring devices, each configured to monitor a property of the electric power distribution system, and each comprising a monitoring device transceiver configured to communicate using a spread-spectrum radio protocol;
an automation controller comprising a controller transceiver configured to communicate using the spread-spectrum radio protocol, the automation controller configured to gather monitored system data from the plurality of remote monitoring devices in a predetermined order by;
determining a next remote monitoring device in the predetermined order,communicatively coupling the controller transceiver to the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device, wherein coupling comprises creating a shared spreading pattern,sending a poll for the monitored system data to the determined remote monitoring device,receiving a response comprising the monitored system data from the determined remote monitoring device, anduncoupling the controller transceiver from the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
An automation controller may wirelessly poll a plurality of remote monitoring devices configured to monitor an electric power distribution system and store monitored system data collected therefrom. The automation controller may be wirelessly coupled to the plurality of remote monitoring devices using a spread-spectrum protocol, such as Bluetooth®. The automation controller may gather the monitored system data using the Distributed Network Protocol (DNP3). DNP3 packets may be communicated as the payload of Bluetooth® packets. The spread-spectrum protocol may limit the number of devices to which the automation controller may be actively connected at one time. Accordingly, the automation controller may couple and uncouple from the remote monitoring devices in a round-robin pattern to collect the monitored system data from all of the remote monitoring devices. The automation controller may provide engineering access and/or collect relay event data using the spread-spectrum protocol and a high-bandwidth protocol.
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Citations
22 Claims
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1. A system for monitoring an electric power distribution system at a plurality of points, the system comprising:
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a plurality of remote monitoring devices, each configured to monitor a property of the electric power distribution system, and each comprising a monitoring device transceiver configured to communicate using a spread-spectrum radio protocol; an automation controller comprising a controller transceiver configured to communicate using the spread-spectrum radio protocol, the automation controller configured to gather monitored system data from the plurality of remote monitoring devices in a predetermined order by; determining a next remote monitoring device in the predetermined order, communicatively coupling the controller transceiver to the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device, wherein coupling comprises creating a shared spreading pattern, sending a poll for the monitored system data to the determined remote monitoring device, receiving a response comprising the monitored system data from the determined remote monitoring device, and uncoupling the controller transceiver from the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. An automation control device for monitoring an electric power distribution system at a plurality of points, the device comprising:
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a processor; a communications port communicatively coupleable to a controller transceiver, the controller transceiver configured to communicate using a spread-spectrum radio protocol; and a memory comprising a data gathering module for gathering monitored system data from a plurality of remote monitoring devices in a predetermined order, the data gathering module configured to; determine a next remote monitoring device in the predetermined order, communicatively couple the controller transceiver with a monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device, wherein coupling comprises creating a shared spreading pattern, send a poll for the monitored system data to the determined remote monitoring device, receive a response comprising the monitored system data from the determined remote monitoring device, and uncouple the controller transceiver from the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium comprising program code for performing a method of accessing remote monitoring devices, the method comprising:
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determining a remote monitoring device to access; instructing a local transceiver to communicatively couple to a monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device using a spread-spectrum radio protocol, wherein coupling comprises creating a shared spreading pattern; communicating with the remote monitoring device using a high-bandwidth protocol, wherein the high-bandwidth protocol is encapsulated in the spread-spectrum radio protocol; and instructing the local transceiver to uncouple from the monitoring device transceiver of the determined remote monitoring device. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22)
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Specification