DLMS COSEM
Client Toolkit
ANDREA Informatique’s Expertise in DLMS.
Andrea Informatique: Pioneering Smart Grid Solutions with the DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit
Andrea Informatique: Pioneering Smart Grid Solutions with the DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit
In the complex endeavor of building a reliable and efficient Smart Grid, DLMS COSEM has emerged as a robust standardization framework, offering an optimal communication protocol for utilities and providers alike. Today, DLMS COSEM is widely recognized as the most accepted standard for meter communication, with its influence extending across various energy sectors within the Smart Grid ecosystem. It provides a unified approach that enables seamless communication between utilities and providers, ensuring a secure and efficient flow of data and information.
At Andrea Informatique, we have been working with DLMS COSEM since 2004. Our extensive expertise in designing and implementing communication stacks has laid the groundwork for the development of our DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit—a comprehensive development platform designed for seamless integration into target hardware. This toolkit goes beyond a simple communication stack; it is a powerful tool that helps all players in the smart metering and smart grid sectors develop reliable, cost-effective equipment efficiently.
A Complete Development Platform for Smart Equipment
Our DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit is more than just a stack—it’s a complete development platform meticulously crafted to integrate communication modules, objects, classes, and more into your hardware. Designed with flexibility in mind, it offers robust APIs that empower developers to build smart equipment quickly and efficiently. By streamlining the development process, the toolkit enables utilities, manufacturers, and system providers to meet the ever-evolving challenges of the Smart Grid.
The toolkit’s flexibility extends to various communication interfaces, ensuring seamless compatibility across different operating systems. This adaptability guarantees smooth communication between applications and the upper layers, providing a reliable and scalable solution for diverse smart metering environments.
Comprehensive Software and Service Package
To further support our clients, Andrea Informatique offers a complete software and service package that goes beyond the basic provision of the Client Toolkit. This package is designed to address the full spectrum of smart metering requirements, offering everything from the toolkit itself to proof of integration, validation services, and access to our PHENIX interoperability testing platform. PHENIX—a powerful and comprehensive generic test tool—enables seamless testing of integration and ensures that systems meet the highest standards of interoperability and reliability.
Additionally, our service package provides full support throughout the critical stages of development, helping to ensure a smooth transition from prototype to field installation. We work closely with our clients to troubleshoot and refine their systems, ensuring success at every step of the process.
Clear and Easy-to-Use APIs for Simplified Integration
The DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit developed by Andrea Informatique features intuitive, easy-to-use APIs that simplify the integration of DLMS COSEM objects and interfaces. These APIs allow developers to replace physical interfaces and interpret COSEM objects, enabling seamless interaction between software and hardware components. This user-centric design helps streamline development, reducing complexity and improving overall efficiency.
Client Implementation Overview: Simplifying Smart Meter Integration
The client implementation graphic illustrates the key components of the DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit, developed to streamline the integration of smart metering solutions into a wide variety of environments. This visual breakdown helps to better understand how the client toolkit interacts with different layers of the system, ensuring seamless communication and compatibility.
At the top layer, we see Client Implementation components such as the Gateway, Concentrator, and AMR (Automatic Meter Reading). These elements represent the various tools and systems that interact with the client-side infrastructure, ensuring effective data flow between smart meters and the central management systems, such as the HES (Head End System).
Moving to the next level, the C++ Interface allows for robust integration with the DLMS COSEM Application Layer (IEC 62056-53), which handles essential security and communication protocols. This layer is critical for managing secure data exchange across various energy meters and smart grid components.
The API for plugging communication modules offers flexibility for a wide range of communication standards, including UDP/IP, NB-IoT LTE, IPv6 G3-HYBRID, IPv6 G3-PLC, and HDLC (IEC 62056-46), as well as Serial/Optical methods. This versatility ensures that the toolkit can be adapted to the specific needs of different markets and systems.
At the bottom of the architecture, the API for Operating System & HAL facilitates smooth interaction with the Hardware Abstraction Layer (HAL), ensuring that the software works seamlessly across various hardware configurations. The OS Abstraction Layer enables integration with various operating systems, making the solution highly adaptable to different environments.
This comprehensive structure simplifies the deployment and management of smart metering systems, allowing providers and utilities to meet their communication and data management needs with ease and reliability.
How DLMS Client Toolkit works ?
Broad Compatibility Across Hardware Platforms
Our Client Toolkit has been optimized for use across a wide range of microcontrollers, including those from Renesas, Microchip, STMicroelectronics, NXP, and many more. It can operate on almost any microcontroller and is fully compatible with popular real-time operating systems like KeilRTOS, FreeRTOS, and ThreadX, or even in a simple loop for less complex applications. This flexibility ensures that our toolkit can be integrated into a diverse array of hardware environments with ease.
Expertise in Embedded Software Development
For many years, Andrea Informatique has been entrusted by numerous customers to develop embedded software applications. In the majority of these projects, we’ve worked with a wide array of components sourced from multiple providers. Our extensive knowledge of the DLMS COSEM protocol allows us to promote and implement this standard across various platforms, working hand-in-hand with component providers to ensure compatibility and performance.
We leverage various communication technologies such as PRIME, G3, Broadband PLC, GPRS, Zigbee, M-BUS (wired and wireless), Serial/HDLC (Optical mode E), IP (wrapper), LoRa, NB IoT, and more, to ensure seamless communication between meters and management systems like DC/GW or AMR.
Tailored Business Model for Success in Smart Metering
In addition to offering advanced technical solutions, Andrea Informatique provides a clear and comprehensive business model, enabling customers to choose the most suitable option for their smart metering projects. This business model is flexible and adaptable, ensuring that our clients can implement their projects with success while optimizing both cost and performance.
Unlock the Full Potential of DLMS COSEM Technology
At Andrea Informatique, we believe in the transformative power of DLMS COSEM technology. Our DLMS COSEM Client Toolkit is your gateway to unlocking the full potential of smart metering, enabling standardized communication, optimized efficiency, and a future-ready Smart Grid. Partner with us to build reliable, scalable solutions that meet the needs of today’s energy markets while preparing for the challenges of tomorrow.
