Download PDF

Fusion Connect > Case Studies > Case Study: Trident Network

Case Study: Trident Network

Technology Category

Platform as a Service (PaaS) - Data Management Platforms

Applicable Functions

Product Research & Development

Use Cases

Advanced Metering Infrastructure

The Challenge

Trident Network is a fast growing mid-market company that designs equipment and components that enable commercial & industrial customers to remotely sub-meterwater, electric or gas consumption. Sub-metering allows for monitoring of resource usage on any circuit or pipe inside a facility, creating granular information about resource usage. The key to their new product line is the MeterReader™, which overlays existing OEM meter technology installed in commercial facilities across North America, allowing management of older technology as well as leveraging newerTrident Network sub-metering products.

The Customer

Trident Network

About The Customer

Trident Network is a Texas based Systems Integration-Manufacturer, focused on the energy and water markets delivering next generation AMI and Smart Metering solutions.

The Solution

The goal was to develop a connected product from the first day of company formation. As a new entrant to the market, the company needed to focus its energy and resources on the continuous development of its hardware and the communication components and firmware inside. To this end, Trident Network evaluated several IoT platform vendors as well as software developers that could create a custom solution. During the sales process with Autodesk® SeeControl®, Trident was able to use and test a functional meter reading system from the SeeControl template store and have it customized in one day to their unique needs. From there the decision was easy, as the solution was ready to launch. Since initial testing and rollout of SeeControl, Trident has been able to modify and extend their IoT product several times, without any programming or IT knowledge in house at all. And also without having to bring the system down for feature creation and deployment.

Data Collected

Electricity Meters, Gas Meters, Water Usage

Operational Impact

[Efficiency Improvement - Energy]
The amount of energy used in production processes can be lowered and made more efficient.

Quantitative Benefit

Trident estimates using SeeControl enabled their market launch 10 to 20 times faster than if they had chosen to build a solution or leverage another IoT software vendor.

Related Case Studies.

IoT Solutions for Smart City‎ | Internet of Things Case Study

There were several challenges faced: It is challenging to build an appliance that can withstand a wide range of voltage fluctuations from as low at 90v to as high as 320v. Since the device would be installed in remote locations, its resilience was of paramount importance. The device would have to deal with poor network coverage and have the ability to store and re-transmit data if networks were not available, which is often the case in rural India. The device could store up to 30 days of data.

GPRS Mobile Network for Smart Metering

Around the world, the electricity supply industry is turning to ‘smart’ meters to lower costs, reduce emissions and improve the management of customer supplies. Smart meters collect detailed consumption information and using this feedback consumers can better understand their energy usage which in turn enables them to modify their consumption to save money and help to cut carbon emissions. A smart meter can be defined in many ways, but generally includes an element of two-way communication between the household meter and the utility provider to efficiently collect detailed energy usage data. Some implementations include consumer feedback beyond the energy bill to include online web data, SMS text messages or an information display in consumers’ premises. Providing a cost-effective, reliable communications mechanism is one of the most challenging aspects of a smart meter implementation. In New Zealand, the utilities have embraced smart metering and designed cost effective ways for it to be implemented. The New Zealand government has encouraged such a move to smart metering by ensuring the energy legislation is consistent with the delivery of benefits to the consumer while allowing innovation in this area. On the ground, AMS is a leader in the deployment of smart metering and associated services. Several of New Zealand’s energy retailers were looking for smart metering services for their residential and small business customers which will eventually account for over 500,000 meters when the multi-year national deployment program is concluded. To respond to these requirements, AMS needed to put together a solution that included data communications between each meter and the central data collection point and the solution proposed by Vodafone satisfied that requirement.

NB-IoT connected smart meters to improve gas metering in Shenzhen

Shenzhen Gas has a large fleet of existing gas meters, which are installed in a variety of hard to reach locations, such as indoors and underground, meaning that existing communications networks have struggled to maintain connectivity with all meters. The meter success rate is low, data transmissions are so far unstable and power consumption is too high. Against this background, Shenzhen Gas, China Telecom, Huawei, and Goldcard have jointly trialed NB-IoT gas meters to try and solve some of the challenges that the industry faces with today’s smart gas meters.

British Gas Modernizes its Operations with Innovative Smart Metering Deployment

The UK government has mandated that smart meters are rolled out as standard across Great Britain by end of 2020, and this roll-out is estimated to create £14 billion in net benefits to the UK in consumer energy savings and lower energy generation demand, according to the Oxford Economics report, “The Value of Smart Metering to Great Britain.” While smart-metering systems have been deployed in many countries, the roll-out in Great Britain is unique because it is led by energy retailers, who have responsibility for the Electricity and Gas meters. The decision to have a retailer-led roll out was made by DECC (Department of Energy and Climate Change) to improve customer experience and drive consumer benefits. It has also led to some unique system-level requirements to support the unique local regulatory model.

Transport Platform - Serving the Energy Data Management

The challenge for EWZ was to design the processes so that they could be traced easily and meet the standards for handling exchange processes in line with the market such as automation of bulk data exchange and exchange processes as well as their implementation according to the SDAT and MC-CH industry documents, integration of the very heterogeneous IT landscape, and no in-house development but a tried and tested standard product.

Hydro One Leads the Way In Smart Meter Development

In 2010, Ontario’s energy board mandated that time-of-use (TOU) pricing for consumers be available for all consumers on a regulated price plan. To meet this requirement, Hydro One needed to quickly deploy a smart meter and intelligent communications network solution to meet the provincial government’s requirement at a low cost. The network needed to cover Hydro One’s expansive service territory, which has a land mass twice the size of Texas, and its customers live in a mix of urban, rural, and remote areas, some places only accessible by air, rail, boat or snowmobile. Most importantly, the network needed to enable future enterprise-wide business efficiencies, modernization of distribution infrastructure and enhanced customer service. To meet these needs, Hydro One conceptualized an end-to-end solution leveraging open standards and Internet Protocols (IP) at all communication levels. The utility drew upon industry leaders like Trilliant to realize this vision.

© 2015-2024 IoT ONE Limited | Privacy Policy

Contact us

Let's talk!

Thank you for your message!
We will contact you soon.