KR20190007330A - Remote meter reading system implementing mixed network management function - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a remote meter reading system for realizing a hybrid network management function, which comprises: modems for collecting data through each communication scheme used by watt-hour meters having different types, and transmitting collected data; relay bridges electrically connected to the modems, mounted with a first network management agent (NMS-Agent) to support each communication scheme of the water-hour meters, collecting state information on the modems, and transferring the collected state information to upper layers; data concentrators mounted with a second network management agent (NMS-Agent) therein to integrally manage the relay bridges in consideration of the communication scheme of the modems managed by the relay bridges; and a server for acquiring network management data from the data concentrators using the communication scheme to perform a net management from upper data concentrators to lower modems.

Description

{REMOTE METER READING SYSTEM IMPLEMENTING MIXED NETWORK MANAGEMENT FUNCTION}

The present invention relates to a remote meter reading system for implementing a mixed network management function, and more particularly, to a remote meter reading system for implementing a mixed network management function by mounting a network management agent (NMS-Agent) having a two-stage structure in a data concentrator (DCU) The network concentrator (DCU) acquires the network management data from the relay bridge that manages the mixed network, and the network management is performed from the data concentrator (DCU) to the end equipment using the method that the NMS server acquires the network management data. It is possible to easily implement the monitoring of the network condition and the fault management even in the case where the network at the upper and lower ends of the data concentrator (DCU) is different. In addition, the NMS server greatly reduces the number of connection targets, The present invention relates to a remote metering system that implements a mixed network management function.

Generally, the components of the remote meter reading system are composed of a meter that transmits electricity usage data of customers through a modem, a data concentration device which collects and stores data of a large number of customers, and a remote meter reading server of the electric company.

The data concentrator is an intermediate role between the customer and the utility company. The data concentrator is connected to the network between the neighbors and the modem, which is connected to the meter and the network interface, and to the utility company's server through the wide area network (WAN).

On the other hand, the most basic function of the remote meter reading system is to collect data stored in communication with an electronic watt hour meter. For this purpose, a protocol for communicating with an electronic watt hour meter such as a server of an automatic meter reading system, a data concentration device, and a modem is mounted.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an automatic meter reading system for implementing a network management function according to the related art.

Referring to FIG. 1, a remote meter reading system for implementing a network management function according to the related art includes an NMS server 200, a plurality of data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2, (10-1 to 10-n).

In this case, the plurality of modems 10-1 to 10-n are composed of PLC modems of the same type using Power Line Communication (PLC)

The data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 or 100-2 manages the modems 10-1 to 10-n by mounting a network management agent (NMS-Agent) (Network Management System) method with the base station 200.

Thus, the conventional NMS server 200 communicates with the network management agent (NMS-Agent) of the data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2 on the TCP / IP network to collect data, Control end devices.

However, the prior art is not able to directly access the lower equipment of the data concentrator (DCU) in the NMS server 200 because the upper network (TCP / IP) of the data concentrator (DCU) There was a problem.

In addition, in the related art, when the modems 10-1 to 10-n use not only PLC modems but also other types of modems (WiSUN modem, TVWS modem, etc.), that is, There is a problem that information on the lower network management agent (NMS-Agent) of the concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2 can not be acquired or controlled.

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2009-0036404

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a network management apparatus and a data relaying method, And network management from the data concentrator (DCU) to the terminal equipment by using the method of acquiring the network management data by the NMS server. The present invention also provides a remote metering system that implements a mixed network management function that enables efficient operation in terms of server load and management because the number of connected objects is significantly reduced even in the case of an NMS server.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automatic meter reading system for implementing a mixed network management function, the system comprising: a modem for collecting data through each of communication methods used by watt- ; A first network management agent (NMS-Agent) is installed in the interior to support the communication method of each of the watt-hours meters, collects status information of the modems, and transmits the collected status information to the upper Transit bridges to deliver; Data concentrators in which a second network management agent (NMS-Agent) is installed to integrally manage the relay bridges in consideration of a communication method of modems managed by the relay bridges; And a server for acquiring network management data from the data concentrators using the upper communication method and performing network management from upper data concentrators to lower modems.

The present invention can easily implement network status monitoring, fault management and the like even if the networks at the upper and lower ends of the data concentrator are different. In addition, since the number of connection targets is greatly reduced from the viewpoint of the NMS server, There is a technical effect that makes it possible.

FIG. 1 shows a configuration of an automatic meter reading system for implementing a network management function according to the related art.
FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a remote meter reading system implementing a wired / wireless hybrid network management function according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2B illustrates a configuration of a remote meter reading system implementing a wired / wireless mixed network management function according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a remote meter reading system implementing a wired / wireless hybrid network management function according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

2A, the remote meter reading system for implementing a wired / wireless hybrid network management function according to the present invention includes an NMS server 200, a plurality of data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2, Bridges 300-1 to 300-4 and a plurality of modems 10-1 to 10-n, 20-1 to 20-n and 30-1 to 30-n. Hereinafter, And a mutual connection structure are described.

The NMS server 200 serves as a server in a conventional remote meter reading system. For example, the NMS server 200 manages configuration information of a meter reading device such as an electronic watt-hour meter and a modem installed for meter reading, acquires meter reading data, And serves to provide usage information of each customer.

In addition, the NMS server 200 plays a role of a server of a network management system (NMS), for example, in a data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 or 100-2 on a TCP / IP network (NMS-Agent) and NMS (Network Management System) to collect data and control end equipment (such as electronic watt-hour meters).

Hereinafter, a typical network management method through a network management system (NMS) will be briefly described.

In general, a network management system (NMS) supports Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) and is connected to a plurality of network devices by a network supporting TCP / IP.

At this time, the network devices manage their status information in a predetermined format that can be managed using SNMP, such as Management Information Base (MIB), and the request of the network management system (NMS) If so, it notifies its status information to the network management system (NMS).

Then, the network management system (NMS) analyzes the performance of the corresponding equipment from the status information transmitted from each network equipment, and provides information to the manager.

Here, the Management Information Base (MIB) refers to a database that contains information on elements to be managed by each target equipment in a management model based on TCP / IP.

Each information managed at this time is called an object. The MIB has a hierarchical tree structure of these objects. The MIB is classified into five functional fields according to SMI rules.

In other words, the MIB is composed of 1) a configuration management function that maps the physical devices on the network to the overall physical structure, 2) performance that provides statistical data necessary for performance analysis such as availability, response time, usage amount, error amount, 3) Fault management function that provides search, extraction and resolution of problems 4) Security management function that performs information control and protection functions 5) Usage status by each node And an accounting function for measuring the amount of money.

Next, the data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2 transmit the meter reading data of the electronic watt-hour meter on the customer side to the modems 10-1 to 10-n and 20- 1 to 20-n, 30-1 to 30-n).

The data concentrators 100-1 and 100-2 also include a network management agent NMS-Agent in the NMS server 200 and the relay bridges 300-1 to 300- -4) and NMS (Network Management System).

The plurality of relay bridges 300-1 to 300-4 are connected to the first relay bridge 300-1, the second relay bridge 300-2, the third relay bridge 300-3, 300-1 to 10-n, 20-1 to 20-n, and 30-1 to 30-n having different types, respectively. (NMS-Agent), which is connected to the modems 10-1 to 10-n, 20-1 to 20-n and 30-1 to 30-n, (For example, electronic watt-hour meters), and transmits the collected status information to the DCUs 100-1 and 100-2.

In order to manage the first PLC modem 10-1 to the nth PLC modem 10-n, the first relay bridge 300-1 includes a power line communication (PLC) Network management agent (NMS-Agent) is supported.

In order to manage the first WiSUN modem 20-1 to the nth WiSUN modem 20-n, the second relay bridge 300-1 includes a network management agent NMS-Agent ) Is mounted.

The third relay bridge 300-3 is a network that supports a power line communication (PLC) method in order to manage the first PLC modem 10-1 to the nth PLC modem 10-n. Management agent (NMS-Agent) is mounted.

In order to manage the first TVWS modem 30-1 to the nth TVWS modem 30-n, the fourth relay bridge 300-4 includes a network management agent (TVWS) NMS-Agent).

In this case, the network management agent (NMS-Agent) built in the relay bridges 300-1 to 300-4 is similar to the network management function of the NMS (Network Management System) described above in a large context, Is characterized in that the detailed protocols according to the communication protocols are independent and the OID (Object Identification) unique to each communication method is not overlapped except for the common MIB (Management Information Base).

Meanwhile, the first data concentrator 100-1 has a connection structure for managing the first relay bridge 300-1 and the second relay bridge 300-2. In this case, The first relay bridge 300-1 and the NMS-Agent 300-2 of the second relay bridge 300-2, which communicate with different types of modems in different ways, The first integrated network management agent (NMS-Agent) must be installed in order to integrate and manage the first integrated network management agent.

Similarly, the second data concentrator 100-2 has a connection structure for managing the third relay bridge 300-3 and the fourth relay bridge 300-4. In this case, the second data concentrator 100-2 has a connection structure for managing the third relay bridge 300-3 and the fourth relay bridge 300-4, The third relay bridge 300-3 and the network management agent NMS-Agent of the fourth relay bridge 300-4, which communicate with different types of modems in different ways, A second integrated network management agent (NMS-Agent) must be installed in order to integrate and manage the second integrated network management agent.

As described above, there is a problem that the upper network (TCP / IP) of the data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 and the lower network (PLC, Wi-SUN, TVWS) To solve this problem, the relay bridges 300-1 to 300-4 are installed at the lower ends of the data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2.

That is, the network management agent (NMS-Agent) is installed in each of the data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 and the relay bridges 300-1 to 300-4, The NMS server 200 transmits various end devices (such as electronic watt-hour meters) connected to the modems 10-1 to 10-n, 20-1 to 20-n, and 30-1 to 30- And the like.

In addition, the network management agent (NMS-Agent) of the present invention for managing the remote meter-reading modem performs state management for the system itself of the network management agent (NMS-Agent) , State of subnetwork and determination of optimal path, and so on.

Hereinafter, a process of performing network management between the data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2 and the NMS server 200 will be briefly described.

The DCUs 100-1 and 100-2 may transmit a trap message to the NMS server 200 when the DCUs 100-1 and 100-2 are powered on, And a first step of informing the user of the status.

Next, the DCUs 100-1 and 100-2 receive trap data when an event occurs from the relay bridges 300-1 to 300-4, And transmitting the received trap data to the NMS server 200.

For example, the first relay bridge 300-1, the second relay bridge 300-2, the third relay bridge 300-3, and the second relay bridge 300-2, among the fourth relay bridge 300-4, The second relay bridge 300-2 transmits corresponding trap data (for example, node state change, device registration request, etc.) to the first data concentrator 100 -1), the first data concentrator 100-1 stores it therein, and transmits the received trap data to the NMS server 200, so that the NMS server 200 transmits The electronic watt-hour meters connected to the first WiSUN modem 20-1 to the nth WiSUN modem 20-n of the second relay bridge 300-2 can be managed.

The DCUs 100-1 and 100-2 monitor their respective states (e.g., cpu state, memory state, etc.), store the monitored results, 200 through the first and second integrated network management agents NMS-Agent and the second integrated network management agent NMS-Agent, respectively, 300-4) is periodically collected, managed and stored.

Finally, when receiving the network management data request signal from the NMS server 200, the data concentrator (DCU) 100-1 and 100-2 processes the data of the received request signal, To the NMS server (200).

In the first embodiment of the present invention, the network management method of the NMS server through the connection structure of the two data concentrators (DCU) and the four relay bridges has been described, but this is merely an example, Considering the communication method to be connected, it is possible to variously modify the number of the data concentrator (DCU) and the number of the relay bridges, the connection structure, and whether or not the integrated network management agent (NMS-Agent) is mounted. An embodiment is described in Fig. 2B.

FIG. 2B illustrates a configuration of a remote meter reading system implementing a wired / wireless mixed network management function according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 2B, in the second embodiment of the present invention, the remote meter reading system implementing the wired / wireless hybrid network management function includes an NMS server 200, a plurality of data concentrators (DCU) 100-1 and 100- 2, a plurality of relay bridges 300-1 to 300-3, and a plurality of modems 10-1 to 10-n, 20-1 to 20-n and 30-1 to 30-n .

Hereinafter, the connection structure and the like between the components will be described, focusing on differences from the first embodiment of FIG. 2A.

First, the NMS server 200 communicates with the first data concentrator 100-1 and the second data concentrator 100-2 in a NMS (Network Management System) manner and has a connection structure for managing them.

Also, the first data concentrator 100-1 communicates with the first relay bridge 300-1 through a NMS (Network Management System) method and has a connection structure for managing the first relay bridge 300-1.

In this case, in order to manage the first PLC modem 10-1 to the nth PLC modem 10-n, the first relay bridge 300-1 uses a power line communication (PLC) And a network management agent (NMS-Agent) that supports the network management agent.

As described above, the first data concentrator 100-1 has a connection structure in which only one first relay bridge 300-1 supporting power line communication (PLC) needs to be managed. Therefore, a general network management agent (NMS -Agent).

In addition, the second data concentrator 100-2 communicates with the second relay bridge 300-1 and the third relay bridge 300-3 in a NMS (Network Management System) manner and manages a connection structure for managing them .

In this case, in order to manage the first TVWS modem 30-1 to the nth TVWS modem 30-n, the second relay bridge 300-1 may internally include a TVWS (TV White Space) Agent (NMS-Agent) is installed.

Meanwhile, in order to manage the first WiSUN modem 20-1 to the nth WiSUN modem 20-n, the third relay bridge 300-3 includes a network management agent NMS- Agent) is mounted.

Due to such a structure, in the second data concentrator 100-2, the third relay bridge 300-3 and the fourth relay bridge 300-3, which communicate with different types of modems in different ways, (NMS-Agent) must be installed in order to integrate and manage NMS-Agent (NMS-Agent).

In summary, in the case of the second embodiment, the network management of the NMS server is performed through the connection structure of two data concentrators (DCU) and three relay bridges, unlike the first embodiment described above, (NMS-Agent) embedded in the DCU, when the relay bridge uses one communication method, the general network management agent (NMS-Agent) uses two or more different communication methods (NMS-Agent) that can integrate them.

Accordingly, the present invention can be realized by mounting a network management agent (NMS-Agent) having a two-tiered structure in a data concentrator (DCU) and a relay bridge and transmitting network management data from a relay bridge for managing a wired / wireless hybrid network to a data concentrator DCU), and the network management data from the data concentrator (DCU) is acquired by the NMS server to perform the network management from the data center equipment (DCU) to the end equipment, so that the network status monitoring and fault management can be easily implemented In addition, the NMS server greatly reduces the number of connected objects, thereby providing an advantage of efficient operation in terms of server load and management.

While the present invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be the most practical and preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit of the invention.

100-1: a first data concentrator (DCU)
100-2: Second Data Concentrator (DCU)
200: NMS server
300-1 to 300-4: First to fourth relay bridges
10-1 to 10-n: the first PLC modem to the nth PLC modem
20-1 to 20-n: first WiSUN modem to nth WiSUN modem
30-1 to 30-n: First TVWS modem to nth TVWS modem

Claims (4)

Modems for collecting data and transmitting collected data through respective communication methods used by watt-hour meters having different types;
A first network management agent (NMS-Agent) is installed in the interior to support the communication method of each of the watt-hours meters, collects status information of the modems, and transmits the collected status information to the upper Transit bridges to deliver;
Data concentrators in which a second network management agent (NMS-Agent) is installed to integrally manage the relay bridges in consideration of a communication method of modems managed by the relay bridges; And
And a server for acquiring network management data from the data concentrator using the upper communication method and performing network management from upper data concentrators to lower modems. Meter reading system. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network management agent (NMS-Agent)
(MIB) of a network management system (NMS), and the OIDs (Object Identification) unique to the communication methods of the watt-hours meters are not overlapped with each other. Meter reading system. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first network management agent (NMS-Agent)
A remote control system for realizing a mixed network management function, which supports a power line communication (PLC) system, a Wi-SUN system or a TVWS (TV White Space) system in consideration of a communication method of the modems. The method of claim 1, wherein the second network management agent (NMS-Agent)
(NMS-Agent) so that the relay bridges can be managed by merging the relay bridges when there are two or more relay bridges as network management targets and the relay bridges use two or more different communication methods. And the remote meter reading system implementing the mixed network management function.

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