How do data get from the MUC data concentrator to the downstream system or to a database?
To deliver metering data to customer systems or, respectively, control centres, firmly defined protocol specifications are used in current solvimus solutions. They are based on XML, CSV, Modbus or BACnet, and have been created in cooperation with our customers.
But it is becoming more and more clear that, when using an extremely wide variety of communication channels, the communication protocol must meet very specific requirements which also need a response on our side in order to ensure maintenance for them (making product updates).
Accordingly, we have been thinking about how to become more flexible when dealing with this problem, and improve our ability for catering to customer specific requirements.
The secret lies in: Dynamic meter data connectivity.
In order to route the data to application-specific communication channels, we have two solutions on offer for Linux-based products apart from the interfaces which are already available:
- Application-specific conversion of data by higher-level transformation languages including, e.g., XSLT
- Extended script-based approaches
This allows, for instance, to adapt the data arrangement (e.g., the sequence and quantity of data), or the data format (e.g., time stamps with date and times of day, or the scaling of metering values) specifically to a given application.
The software itself uses an internal interface in order to make metering data available to the script or to the XSLT processor on our device, thus allowing the conversion and/or forwarding of data. This makes it unnecessary to find a specific solution, or adapt the software itself, and this also makes maintenance simpler with regard to updates for customer-specific solutions.
As a matter of course, we will be pleased to help our customers with project-based assistance which, as compared to adapting the software itself, will only involve a reduced cost amount.
The configuration can finally be used either within a customer specific adaptation of a product (branding), or it will be transferred to a standard product by the customer himself.
