Ambient Smart Grid™
The Ambient Smart Grid™ Communications Network
The Ambient Smart Grid™ communications solution is a modular network overlaid on the medium-voltage and low-voltage segments of the power distribution system allowing real-time insight into the operations of the electrical distribution grid while supporting any IP-based application. High-speed backhaul connections (which go to the Internet or to private networks) connect the Ambient Smart Grid™ network at any point along the medium voltage circuit allowing for IP data traffic to be carried, via a choice of multiple technologies including BPL, Wi-Fi, cellular, and/or low bit rate power line carrier (PLC).
To date, no single solution or technology exists which provides the necessary flexibility in a cost-effective solution enabling a comprehensive digital communications network, incorporating standards-based technologies. Ambient’s Smart Grid™ communications platform was developed specifically to fill this void and meet the utility’s needs by integrating various technologies within the Ambient platform.
Making up the Ambient platform are nodes configured to act as individual data processors and collectors that receive and transmit the Ambient Smart Grid™ communications signal from other networked devices including other nodes, couplers or end-user devices. Ambient's node can directly interface with any device with a serial or Ethernet port, and can deliver high-speed communications data using existing and developing technologies including BPL, Wi-Fi, Cellular, low bit rate PLC or any combination of these communications protocols. Our node is a modular device that can be configured for different roles within the network. Nodes can repeat (regenerate) the signal, and accept backhaul connections (fiber, Ethernet, etc) or various end-user connections. Within the Ambient network, each node is individually addressed and can be remotely accessed to detect system status (such as power and low battery conditions) and perform management functions. Ambient’s nodes are built for use in the exposed electrical distribution grid and meet the necessary certifications.
Couplers are another key component of Ambient’s network for select applications. Couplers transfer the communications signal to and from medium voltage and low voltage power lines in a BPL or PLC network, and also serve to read, in real-time, the current of the electrical distribution grid. Since a single coupler cannot span this entire range of options, we have developed inductive couplers for medium voltage overhead and underground lines and inductive and capacitive couplers for low voltage applications.
To manage the large numbers of nodes, devices, and customers on a smart grid network, Ambient has developed a network management system, trademarked as AmbientNMS™. AmbientNMS™ has a simple to use, browser-based interface and supports auto-discovery of network resources, VLANs, provisioning, multiple networks, event logging, data collection, alerts, reporting, and multiple levels of users and security. The AmbientNMS™ will continue to be enhanced with additional features and functionality.
Concerns with data security and data integrity are considered and addressed at all levels of the system. Safety and compliance with regulatory requirements are top priorities throughout the design, development, manufacture and deployment of all of our equipment. Our nodes are tested, and certified as complying to applicable United States and Canadian safety standards for information technology equipment. Our overhead couplers are tested to ANSI Standards for electrical power insulators and are designed for safe non-contact installation with either hot sticks or rubber gloves.
Friday, June 27, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
MainNet Introduces Future-proof, Open Protocol Smart Metering and Smart Grid Platform
FALLS CHURCH, Virginia, June 24 /PRNewswire/ -- MainNet Communications, a leading provider of Smart Metering (AMI) and Smart Grid solutions to utility companies, announced today the introduction of Solo(TM), its new end-to-end AMI platform.
The Solo platform is a future-proof system that includes meters with under-the-glass meter interface modules (MIMs); a secure, reliable, two-way broadband communication over power line and two-way wireless mesh communication network to the meter and home area network (HAN); and back-office software tools for AMI and a variety of other Smart Grid applications.
"With Solo, utility companies can now enjoy a cost-effective, flexible and reliable AMI solution which will meet all their Smart Grid requirements today and for years to come," said Joe Marsilii, MainNet's CEO.
The Solo hybrid communication network combines MainNet's field-proven Ethernet-based power line communication system with an IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee RF Mesh network to ZigBee-enabled meters. This network also serves as the infrastructure for additional Smart Grid applications, including in-home load switches, thermostats and smart appliances; reading of other utility meters (e.g. water and gas), and much more. The communications network is based on open protocols and allows the utility to add applications by connecting any ZigBee-based or Ethernet- based device to the network, including distribution automation switches, sensors and other devices from a wide variety of standards-based products. The Solo hybrid communication units are housed in MainNet's compact, lightweight, weatherproof (IP67) and UL certified module.
In December, 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 which among other things called for a modernization of the electric distribution network "... to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure that can meet future demand growth... a Smart Grid".
The Act went further to define key characteristics of a Smart Grid which include:
- Integration of distributed resources and generation.
- Incorporation of demand response, demand-side resources and energy
efficiency resources.
- Deployment of "smart" technologies (real-time, automated, interactive
technologies) for metering, communications concerning the grid
operations and status and distributed automation.
- Integration of "smart" appliances.
- And, provision to consumers of timely information and control options.
These characteristics translate into the requirement for a single platform to control and communicate, two-way, in real-time, with a host of applications including the electric meter, customer appliances, distribution network elements and distributed generation facilities. But also necessary is a platform that will last for 15 or more years and have the capacity for additional applications. Using a broadband standards based communications which include IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) and IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee), MainNet meets these utility requirements for Smart Grid of today and the future.
"Our customers have expressed excitement about Solo and have confirmed that it is the ultimate response to their needs. MainNet is proud to add this revolutionary solution to its Smart Grid offerings. Solo, it's all you need!", added Costa Apostolakis, MainNet's COO.
Solo is available for pilot installations and will be installed in several customer sites in the next few weeks. It will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2008.
The Solo platform is a future-proof system that includes meters with under-the-glass meter interface modules (MIMs); a secure, reliable, two-way broadband communication over power line and two-way wireless mesh communication network to the meter and home area network (HAN); and back-office software tools for AMI and a variety of other Smart Grid applications.
"With Solo, utility companies can now enjoy a cost-effective, flexible and reliable AMI solution which will meet all their Smart Grid requirements today and for years to come," said Joe Marsilii, MainNet's CEO.
The Solo hybrid communication network combines MainNet's field-proven Ethernet-based power line communication system with an IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee RF Mesh network to ZigBee-enabled meters. This network also serves as the infrastructure for additional Smart Grid applications, including in-home load switches, thermostats and smart appliances; reading of other utility meters (e.g. water and gas), and much more. The communications network is based on open protocols and allows the utility to add applications by connecting any ZigBee-based or Ethernet- based device to the network, including distribution automation switches, sensors and other devices from a wide variety of standards-based products. The Solo hybrid communication units are housed in MainNet's compact, lightweight, weatherproof (IP67) and UL certified module.
In December, 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence & Security Act of 2007 which among other things called for a modernization of the electric distribution network "... to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure that can meet future demand growth... a Smart Grid".
The Act went further to define key characteristics of a Smart Grid which include:
- Integration of distributed resources and generation.
- Incorporation of demand response, demand-side resources and energy
efficiency resources.
- Deployment of "smart" technologies (real-time, automated, interactive
technologies) for metering, communications concerning the grid
operations and status and distributed automation.
- Integration of "smart" appliances.
- And, provision to consumers of timely information and control options.
These characteristics translate into the requirement for a single platform to control and communicate, two-way, in real-time, with a host of applications including the electric meter, customer appliances, distribution network elements and distributed generation facilities. But also necessary is a platform that will last for 15 or more years and have the capacity for additional applications. Using a broadband standards based communications which include IEEE 802.3 (Ethernet) and IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee), MainNet meets these utility requirements for Smart Grid of today and the future.
"Our customers have expressed excitement about Solo and have confirmed that it is the ultimate response to their needs. MainNet is proud to add this revolutionary solution to its Smart Grid offerings. Solo, it's all you need!", added Costa Apostolakis, MainNet's COO.
Solo is available for pilot installations and will be installed in several customer sites in the next few weeks. It will be commercially available in the third quarter of 2008.
Monday, June 09, 2008
High-speed Internet coming to rural area - via BPL !!!
High-speed Internet coming to rural area
By David Lazenby
The Cullman Times
The Cullman Electric Cooperative has launched a pilot project to give some rural residents a fast track on the Information Superhighway
Brian Lacy, the co-op communications coordinator, said the broadband over powerline (BPL) Internet service will be offered to its members served by the Berlin substation starting later this month.
Lacy said the service may benefit as many as 1,800 individuals who currently can only get Internet access through satellite service — and that’s only if they have a clear view of the southern sky from their homes.
Cullman Electric Cooperative is doing the project in conjunction with an Alabama-based Internet service provider known as IBEC, an acronym for International Broadband Electric Communications.
Last month, the power board did a survey of residents in the affected region of east central Cullman County to determine the desirability of BPL Internet access.
“We have done a survey to try to gauge the interest,” Lacy said.
Melissa Cartee, the co-op’s vice president of member services and community development, said notification was sent by mail Monday to co-op members for whom the service will be made available this month.
Regardless of the results of the survey, Lacy said the co-op is committed to providing the BPL service.
“We’re going to put it out there,” Lacy said. “The people who live out there are right now really limited in what their choices are. That’s one of the reasons the co-op is looking at this in the first place.”
Cartee concurred. “It’s not just a pilot program to see if it’s going to work or not, but it’s a pilot program to determine how fast we’re going to continue on with it,” she said.
Scott Lee, the CEO of IBEC, said he does not think of the project as a pilot program. He said it would be better described as “a demonstration for the full deployment.”
For now, Cullman Power Board is not following in the co-op’s footsteps. General manager Mike Manning said currently the power board does not have plans to provide BPL service to the more than 8,200 homes it serves.
“We may choose to at a later time,” said Manning, who added BPL technology is still in development.
Lacy touted the ways BPL is more convenient than other avenues of Internet access such as those that require access to phone line and cable outlets.
“It comes through the plugs in your house,” Lacy said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the attic or if you’re in the basement. If you have an outlet, and you plug your modem in, you have high-speed Internet access there.”
“It gives a lot more flexibility from the standpoint of portability,” Lee said.
Lacy said the only additional infrastructure needed to provide the service is regulators attached to area power polls that boost the Internet signal. This work, he said, would be done by the IBEC at no cost to the co-op.
Lacy said if the program is successful, the co-op plans to expand the service to other rural parts of the county that previously had few options for obtaining broadband access.
“If it’s something that turns out to be a good thing, and it’s feasible and something we feel will be to our members’ benefit, then we would move forward and start working on bringing it to other portions of our service territory,” he said.
Although Lee said IBEC’s initiative is geared toward rural residents, BPL may one day be provided county-wide.
“If everything goes well with this deployment, we will be scheduling additional substations by August and if we get rolling in a year, year and a half, we could have all Cullman Electric (Cooperative) deployed, which covers about 40,000 homes,” Lee said.
A broadband Internet consumer facts portion of the Federal Communications Commission’s Web site, www.fcc.gov, states that “BPL speeds are comparable to DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) and cable modem speeds.”
To use the service, Lacy said residents will be required to pay $99 fee to purchase and activate a BPL modem. Lacy said an installation crew would deliver the modem with instructions.
According to IBEC’s Web site, ibec.net, monthly service fees start at $29.95. Lacy said co-op members who use the service will be allowed to pay the fee through their monthly power bill.
Cartee said word-of-mouth from the co-op’s survey has generated interest in the service that resulted in several calls and e-mails to her office from interested customers.
“We think this is something that our membership has anxiously awaited for and we are anxiously awaiting for them to have it available,” Cartee said.
One county resident excited about the offering in Baileyton Councilor Joe Golden, who discussed the initiative and its subsequent phone survey at a June 2 Council meeting.
Golden said he would like to see the program extended to Baileyton.
“We’re trying to get across to the people there if you get a telephone call about this, give them positive feedback on it so we can possibly get this extended to us,” said Golden who said he also spoke to a co-op employee about getting Baileyton involved in the pilot program.
Previously Golden said he attempted to get high speed Internet at Baileyton through Charter Communications, the cable provider to the Baileyton area.
“They are absolutely not giving us anything to look forward to,” said Golden, who also contacted phone companies about providing DSL service to Baileyton. “We’ve sort of been in limbo,” Golden said.
Cartee said, “Rural America can’t get anything in some areas other than dial-up, so that’s what they’re interested in.”
“There is a huge, huge demand for broadband in rural America,” said Lee, who compared the desire to the demand for electricity in rural America in the 1930s.
Lyne Koker, Charter Communications’ director of governmental affairs, said currently, the company does not have plans to offer broadband Internet service to the area it serves in Cullman County.
Like the BPL service being offered by the co-op, Koker said Charter Communications Internet service starts at $29.95.
Officials with Time Warner Cable, another area broadband Internet service provider, could not be reached for comment Monday.
By David Lazenby
The Cullman Times
The Cullman Electric Cooperative has launched a pilot project to give some rural residents a fast track on the Information Superhighway
Brian Lacy, the co-op communications coordinator, said the broadband over powerline (BPL) Internet service will be offered to its members served by the Berlin substation starting later this month.
Lacy said the service may benefit as many as 1,800 individuals who currently can only get Internet access through satellite service — and that’s only if they have a clear view of the southern sky from their homes.
Cullman Electric Cooperative is doing the project in conjunction with an Alabama-based Internet service provider known as IBEC, an acronym for International Broadband Electric Communications.
Last month, the power board did a survey of residents in the affected region of east central Cullman County to determine the desirability of BPL Internet access.
“We have done a survey to try to gauge the interest,” Lacy said.
Melissa Cartee, the co-op’s vice president of member services and community development, said notification was sent by mail Monday to co-op members for whom the service will be made available this month.
Regardless of the results of the survey, Lacy said the co-op is committed to providing the BPL service.
“We’re going to put it out there,” Lacy said. “The people who live out there are right now really limited in what their choices are. That’s one of the reasons the co-op is looking at this in the first place.”
Cartee concurred. “It’s not just a pilot program to see if it’s going to work or not, but it’s a pilot program to determine how fast we’re going to continue on with it,” she said.
Scott Lee, the CEO of IBEC, said he does not think of the project as a pilot program. He said it would be better described as “a demonstration for the full deployment.”
For now, Cullman Power Board is not following in the co-op’s footsteps. General manager Mike Manning said currently the power board does not have plans to provide BPL service to the more than 8,200 homes it serves.
“We may choose to at a later time,” said Manning, who added BPL technology is still in development.
Lacy touted the ways BPL is more convenient than other avenues of Internet access such as those that require access to phone line and cable outlets.
“It comes through the plugs in your house,” Lacy said. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re in the attic or if you’re in the basement. If you have an outlet, and you plug your modem in, you have high-speed Internet access there.”
“It gives a lot more flexibility from the standpoint of portability,” Lee said.
Lacy said the only additional infrastructure needed to provide the service is regulators attached to area power polls that boost the Internet signal. This work, he said, would be done by the IBEC at no cost to the co-op.
Lacy said if the program is successful, the co-op plans to expand the service to other rural parts of the county that previously had few options for obtaining broadband access.
“If it’s something that turns out to be a good thing, and it’s feasible and something we feel will be to our members’ benefit, then we would move forward and start working on bringing it to other portions of our service territory,” he said.
Although Lee said IBEC’s initiative is geared toward rural residents, BPL may one day be provided county-wide.
“If everything goes well with this deployment, we will be scheduling additional substations by August and if we get rolling in a year, year and a half, we could have all Cullman Electric (Cooperative) deployed, which covers about 40,000 homes,” Lee said.
A broadband Internet consumer facts portion of the Federal Communications Commission’s Web site, www.fcc.gov, states that “BPL speeds are comparable to DSL (Digital Subscriber Lines) and cable modem speeds.”
To use the service, Lacy said residents will be required to pay $99 fee to purchase and activate a BPL modem. Lacy said an installation crew would deliver the modem with instructions.
According to IBEC’s Web site, ibec.net, monthly service fees start at $29.95. Lacy said co-op members who use the service will be allowed to pay the fee through their monthly power bill.
Cartee said word-of-mouth from the co-op’s survey has generated interest in the service that resulted in several calls and e-mails to her office from interested customers.
“We think this is something that our membership has anxiously awaited for and we are anxiously awaiting for them to have it available,” Cartee said.
One county resident excited about the offering in Baileyton Councilor Joe Golden, who discussed the initiative and its subsequent phone survey at a June 2 Council meeting.
Golden said he would like to see the program extended to Baileyton.
“We’re trying to get across to the people there if you get a telephone call about this, give them positive feedback on it so we can possibly get this extended to us,” said Golden who said he also spoke to a co-op employee about getting Baileyton involved in the pilot program.
Previously Golden said he attempted to get high speed Internet at Baileyton through Charter Communications, the cable provider to the Baileyton area.
“They are absolutely not giving us anything to look forward to,” said Golden, who also contacted phone companies about providing DSL service to Baileyton. “We’ve sort of been in limbo,” Golden said.
Cartee said, “Rural America can’t get anything in some areas other than dial-up, so that’s what they’re interested in.”
“There is a huge, huge demand for broadband in rural America,” said Lee, who compared the desire to the demand for electricity in rural America in the 1930s.
Lyne Koker, Charter Communications’ director of governmental affairs, said currently, the company does not have plans to offer broadband Internet service to the area it serves in Cullman County.
Like the BPL service being offered by the co-op, Koker said Charter Communications Internet service starts at $29.95.
Officials with Time Warner Cable, another area broadband Internet service provider, could not be reached for comment Monday.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
