Remote Monitoring System

Software Requirements Specification

Version 1

March 7’th, 2011

M.Jeyanthi
Energy Automation Engineer

Prepared for
Nordic India Solutions
 Remote Monitoring system

Revision History

Date Description Author Comments

3-7-2011 Version 1 M.Jeyanthi First Revision

Document Approval

The following Software Requirements Specification has been accepted and approved by the
following:
Signature Printed Name Title Date
M.Jeyanthi Automation Eng.
Dr Satish Nair Managing Director

Software Requirements Specification Page ii

 Remote Monitoring system

Table of Contents

REVISION HISTORY................................................................................................................................................ II
DOCUMENT APPROVAL.........................................................................................................................................II
1.INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................................................1
PURPOSE......................................................................................................................................................................1
1.2 SCOPE....................................................................................................................................................................1
1.3 REFERENCES...........................................................................................................................................................2
1.5 SYSTEM OVERVIEW.................................................................................................................................................2
2. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE...................................................................................................................................3
2.1. KEY TECHNOLOGIES .............................................................................................................................................3
2.3 SECURITY INTERFACE..............................................................................................................................................4
2.4 AUTOMATED SCHEDULING........................................................................................................................................4
3. SYSTEM PERFORMANCE....................................................................................................................................5
4. EXTERNAL INTERFACE REQUIREMENTS.......................................................................................................................5
4.1 User Interfaces............................................................................................................................................... 5
4.2 Communication Interfaces.............................................................................................................................. 5
5. FUNCTIONAL REQUIREMENTS.....................................................................................................................................6
6. LOGICAL DATABASE REQUIREMENTS..........................................................................................................................8
THE DATABASE AND ITS RELATED PROCESSES MUST HAVE THE CAPACITY TO ADMINISTRATE THE DATA TRAFFIC TO AVOID
BOTTLE NECK AND BLOCKING RECORDS............................................................................................................................8

METER TYPE.............................................................................................................................................................. 9
7. OTHER REQUIREMENTS.............................................................................................................................................9

Software Requirements Specification Page iii

 Remote Monitoring system

1. Introduction
An Integrated Software for data collection, data transfer and analysis of energy meter data. The
Software shall be able to handle a wide range of AC & DC measuring devices from different vendors
such as Wattsup, Pentametric etc.

The Software should run on any standard desktop system or compatible computer for stand-alone
applications to support data collection, validation, editing and data analysis. It should also run on network
environment such as Windows Server 2000 / 2003 / 2008.

Nordic expects the entire project has to be based on modern telecommunication facilities available in
India like ETHERNET/GPRS/(TCP/IP) etc. This remote monitoring solution shall accommodate open
architecture and protocols so as to integrate existing meters of Wattsup, Pentametric & other makes. The
System should be adoptable to any make of static meters & GPRS technology. This is for bringing all the
offers on common platform. However the selected agency will have to conduct detailed survey regarding
availability of the particular system for prospective consumers/meters.

Purpose

The primary goal of this document is to provide a complete and accurate list of requirements for the
solar remote monitoring system.
The primary audience of this document includes but not limited to project leaders, designers and
developers of the system. This document may also be of interest to Nordic engineers involved in similar
projects with similar requirements.
Nordic is seeking an integrated system for meter reading, data management and data processing,
analysis & user based reporting system.

1.2 Scope
Nordic is seeking an integrated system for solar power reading, data management and data
processing, analysis & user based reporting system.
The remote monitoring system provides the physical link between the Wattsup Ac energy meter,
Pentametric battery monitor and the remote monitoring software. It is the primary interface by which the
devices can be monitored and data can be populated online. The proposed AMR system includes
application package, system software and tools wherever appropriate. Professional services include
customization of software package, as and when required, implementation and post-implementation
support services.
The primary functions of the Remote monitoring system are as follows:
* Daily automatically scheduled collection of interval data from existing high value consumer meters -
AC meters.
* The system must have proven capability to extend this functionality to further 30 or more meters.
* Storage and management of all meter base data in a central database.
* The data management system shall have the capacity to accept reporting on external factors from the
CESU billing system.

* The Remote monitoring solution should be web enabled and accessible via intranet through secured
communication links for accessing the Dashboard.

* The solution shall have the capacity to calculate various billing factors from the interval data-stream

Software Requirements Specification Page 1

 Remote Monitoring system

through an easy-to use calculation engine without the need for additional software development.

1.3 References
Sections of this document are based upon the IEEE Guide to Software Requirements Specification
(ANSI/IEEE Std. 830-1984). The SRS templates of Dr. Orest Pilskalns and Jack Hagemeister have also
be used as guides in developing this for Nordic India solutions.

1.5 System Overview

The proposed system shall provide a suite of applications for remote monitoring of meters, meter data
management, processing, customized reporting & analysis tools.

This platform will provide Nordic with the ability to centrally manage the interval data collected by the
meter reading module and to provide that data and its derivatives to the customer with some specified
options. Each of the customers should have user login and password, created and managed by Nordic
administrator. All data is to be stored in the headquarter server and disk mirroring of the same is to be
done at the location specified by Nordic.

Software Requirements Specification Page 2

 Remote Monitoring system

2. System Architecture
The System Architecture shall utilize a standard multi-tier architecture. This architecture shall include at
least the following separate tiers.

A central database for the storage and management of all meter readings, customer profile, and meter
configuration data.

An application tier which provides processing power to accomplish automated scheduled, and ad-hoc
requests from the client tier.

• Viewing of meter configurations such as serial number, relay status, data interval etc.
• Scheduling of automatic meter readings and data transfer.
• Editing and estimation of meter data.

2.1. Key Technologies

The system shall be based around the following key technologies which will ensure a consistent operating
platform, which is scalable for future growth and integration of new technologies.

2.1.1 Database Tier

The database tier shall utilize the MySql 6.

2.1.2 Application Tier

The delivery of application content shall be managed by the Microsoft.NET framework and Google API.
All applications related to the operation of the system shall utilize the Microsoft.NET framework for
interoperability.

2.1.3 Optional Web Tier

Any web applications which interface with the system shall utilize the .NET framework, and
Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) latest version.

2.2 Security
The system shall provide an integrated security system which allows administrators to create users and
grant those users permission to see/use the required data.

User permissions shall be set at the following functional levels:

 Administer User Security

 Administer system settings such as:
Customer creation
Customer profile maintenance

Software Requirements Specification Page 3

 Remote Monitoring system

Report Configurations
Manage Solution Tasks

 Edit Configuration data at various levels:

• Customer Configuration
• Account Configuration
• Meter Configuration
• Service Point Configuration
• Remote interrogation
• Billing exports
• Access Reports through the GUI
• Failed Logins

The system shall disable a username-password combination after a number of failed login attempts and
report it to the Administrator. The number of login attempts shall be settable by administrators as a
system setting.

2.3 Security Interface

The system provides the following security features:

• Access to the system must be authorized by and authenticated by individual Login ID &
Password.
• The system will capture logs of user activities and user logins.
• The system will protect the integrity and confidentiality of the data by allowing authorized staff
access only.

The system has the ability to log all access to the system.

All passwords shall be encrypted

2.4 Automated Scheduling

Scheduling of routine tasks such as data collection and export to the billing system shall be handled
automatically by the AC meter. For DC meter semi automatic process shall be taken place. Cycles shall
be user-defined schedules to which meters and tasks can be assigned. When a cycle time or date is
reached, the meter will automatically send data to the remote server and the server should be able to
receive that whenever a connection is established for all meters assigned to that schedule. Anyway DC
meter will not hold this option.

Software Requirements Specification Page 4

 Remote Monitoring system

3. System Performance
3.1 Availability
Critical tasks such as data collection, data tabulation and transmission of data to other systems are
designed to be completed within a specified window time period. Other tasks such as system
maintenance, report generation, system backup, archiving and housekeeping can be completed within
normal working hours on weekdays.

3.2 Reliability
Backup and redundant modules and procedures should be in place. Therefore if one PC is off production,
the system can still perform the specified functionality in time.

3.3 Sizing & Scalability

The system initially supports 2 meters. Vendor shall demonstrate the capacity to support at least 30
meters if required.

4. External Interface Requirements

4.1 User Interfaces
The system shall provide a GUI interface for customers to manually selecting the graphical
representations and report generation of the data. Whenever data fails any of the validation checks, the
system shall report and continue processing the data. If the data exceeds the defined range, then
instructions should be provided to investigate and decide how to repair the data. The system shall allow
for at least the following functions to be performed in the user interface.

• User selectable parameter based Graphical representation.

• User defined columns of report generation.
• Editing of individual values and statuses in the user profile.

Reporting tools shall offer users the option of exporting reports to disk using a variety of standard
windows formats including, at least, PDF, Word and rich text format. When running a report by date
span, the system shall provide users with the option to enter specific start and stop dates.

4.2 Communication Interfaces

The proposed system shall support the following media for the AC meter reading:

• ETHERNET
• GSM /GPRS network
• TCP/IP networks

Software Requirements Specification Page 5

 Remote Monitoring system

5. Functional Requirements
When data is retrieved from the meters, it shall be converted to a Standard reference time so that the
database has the same reference time regardless of the mixture of metering hardware.

The system shall process the retrieved metering data and perform the necessary tasks to ensure the
metering data is valid and is ready for analysis, tabulation & graphing. It should offer following features

During communication with the meter, the system shall verify the following parameters:

• Verify that the device ID of the meter matches the device ID stored in the system
• Verify that the clock of the meter is within a maximum tolerance compared to the standard time
of the collection system.
• Verify that the AC meter parameters are in the predefined sequence with no prefix or suffix of
additional information carried.
• Verify that that the received data contains the following sequential columns of values in every
data transmission.

1. W - Watts
2. V - Voltage
3. A - Amps
4. WH - Watt Hour
5. Cost - Per unit
6. Wh/Mo [ Wh per month]
7. Cost/Mo [ Cost per month]
8. Wmax - Watts Maximum
9. Vmax - Voltage maximum
10. Amax - Amps maximum
11. Wmin - Watts minimum
12. Vmin - Voltage Minimum
13. Amin - Amps Minimum
14. PF - Power Factor
15. DC -
16. PC - Power Cycle
17. Hz - Frequency
18. VA - Volt Ampere

The DC meter will have the following parameter in each of the following files. Hence the application
should fetch data from such tables of MySql and publish accordingly.

1. Cumulative Periodic Data

2. Bat1Discharge Profile
3. Bat1CycleEfficiency
4. Periodic Data

Software Requirements Specification Page 6

 Remote Monitoring system

And each of these files will have the following corresponding columns of data. The application
should show all the columns of each of these files based on the customer’s preference.

Cumulative periodic data can be any of these following columns of data recorded once per day to
have the cumulative values. It is purely based on the customer preference. If no columns are
chosen, then it will be NULL.

Battery cycle efficiency profile has the following data columns:

1. Date Time
2. Valid
3. Cycle Hours
4. Discharge Ampere Hours
5. Charge ampere Hours
6. Net Ampere Hours
7. Charge efficiency
8. Self discharge
9. 5 cycle charge efficiency
10. 5 cycle self Discharge

Battery discharge profile will have the following data for each battery. The device can monitor
up to two batteries and three shunt currents per DC meter device.
1. Day of month
2. Percentage Full
3. Filtered volts
4. Filtered Amps

Periodic data will store the following parameters based on the user defined interval of time.
1. Date time
2. Ampere 1 AHrs from full
3. Ampere 2 AHrs
4. True amp 3 A hrs
5. Amp 1 Watt hrs
6. Amp 2 Watt hrs
7. Tmax – Maximum Temperature
8. Tmin – minimum Temperature
9. Filtered Volt 1 Volts
10. Filtered Amp 1 amps
11. Filtered Volt 2 Volts
12. Filtered Amp 2 amps
13. Batt 1 % full
14. Batt 1 got charged
15. Volt 2 % full
16. Batt 2 got charged

Software Requirements Specification Page 7

 Remote Monitoring system

The system shall provide interactive graphical representation which allows users to graph and
analyze energy meter Data across time in a flexible way. It shall be possible to display
interactive graphs in any of the bellow mentioned formats:

• Line graph
• Area Graph
• Bar Graph
• Pie Chart
• Individual Points
• Combination Line and Bar Chart

6. Logical Database Requirements

The primary function of the system is the collection, management, and exploitation of load profile
data. As such, the data storage and management of the system is a key function. The database shall
support the storage of metering data, and shall enable Nordic to easily associate metering data with
meters, customers, and service points within the business network.

The system must store all data in a relational-type database which also has the capacity to
manage the objects. The preferred database for this application would be MySQL 6.

The database and its related processes must have the capacity to administrate the data traffic to avoid
bottle neck and blocking records.

The database technology must be able to support data massive load.

The administration system of the database must be multi-user and allow the access to the client's
software’s simultaneously (minimum of 100 users).

6.1. Database Content

6.1.1 Configuration Data
The system shall store all configuration data required to read a meter, and to associate that meter with a
service point, a customer, an account, and a premise. This shall include the profile for the settings of each
individual meter as well as the data required to relate the commercial data of each one of them. This data
shall include the following:

6.1.2. Customer Data

The data required to uniquely identify the customer including contact details customer name,
address, etc.

6.1.3. Account Data:

Software Requirements Specification Page 8

 Remote Monitoring system

Data required relating a service point or service point channel to a customer or account, and a
link to any time of use or other data required for billing.

6.1.4. Meter Configuration Data

Any data required to accurately read data from a recorder or meter. This data will include:

Meter type
• Serial Numbers
• Meter Passwords
• Communications system information and telephone numbers
• System Configuration data as specified by users
• Read Cycles
• Logs

6.1.5. Meter Data

The system shall have the capacity to store all data collected from meters at intervals.

The system shall support scheduled or pre-specified meter reading. The system shall allow
operator to define at least 100 different reading cycles. And associate each individual meter to a
reading cycle at any frequency down to 10 minutes as per Google API.

It shall be possible to associate each meter with at least four reading cycles

7. Other Requirements
7.1 Summary of Required Software Configuration

The Network License will be installed at office of Nordic. Each Network system configuration is
designed to 2 meters.

For a Web server, the available data to customer will be up to three months. Powerful databases
are required to support more data and customers.

Each Network System will consist of:

• One Main server, which host server data, Web data

• One web server, which will be installed in CCU for public data access
• Required ETHERNET/ TCP/IP communication lines for connecting meter.

Software Requirements Specification Page 9

 Remote Monitoring system

The supplier must work closely with Nordic and their IT engineers to recommend solution on
issues like server redundancy, disk array/mirror, disaster recovery, etc.

7.2 SYSTEMS SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT TABLE. THERE ARE

THREE NETWORK LICENSE STATION

ITEMS QTY SPECIFICATION SUPPLIED BY

Software License
Network License 3 Meter data collection Nordic
Web License 1 Web Presentation Supplier
MySQL 1 At least 50 Users license,Nordic
Required for system operation
AMR Center Hardware and Software
Main Server 2 Nordic
Workstations 3 Nordic
Web Server 2 Supplier

Software Requirements Specification Page 10