Abstract: A utility meter assembly having a base that is secured to a front cover. The assembly includes a dual locking system having a first locking position and a second locking position. In the first locking position, the front cover is removably secured with the base. In the second locking position, the front cover is permanently secured with the base to prevent separation of the two components unless one or both components are destroyed.

Abstract: An electric meter includes a housing, a first set of connection paths, and a second set of connection paths. The first set of connection paths couple to a meter socket and are electrically coupled to a first electrical connection path between first phases of an electric distribution power source, a distributed energy resource device, and a load. First electrical metrology components of the first electrical connection path are positioned within a first segment of the housing. The second set of connection paths couple to a meter socket and are electrically coupled to a second electrical connection path between second phases of the electric distribution power source, the distributed energy resource device, and the load. Second electrical metrology components of the second electrical connection path are positioned within a second segment of the housing that is non-overlapping with the first segment of the housing.

Abstract: A deployed node may automatically switch from one configuration to another configuration. The node includes a first firmware image that corresponds to a first configuration and a second firmware image that corresponds to a second configuration. The node executes the first firmware image to run the first configuration. At some point, the node determines that a switch to the second configuration is appropriate and switches to the second configuration by activating the second firmware image. The switch does not require intervention by a central system or any manual intervention. In some instances, the configurations are associated with different communication protocols.

Abstract: A system for generating and applying a secure token in a resource distribution network is provided. For example, a headend system generates a payment-based token based on a payment made for a meter. The payment-based token indicates a credit value to be applied to the meter. The credit value can range from a negative credit value limit and a positive credit value limit. The payment-based token is further generated based on a meter identifier. The headend system transmits the payment-based token to the meter via at least a mesh network. After receiving the payment-based token, the meter validates the payment-based token to determine that the payment-based token is generated for the meter. The meter further determines the balance associated with the meter based on the credit value specified in the payment-based token. Based on the balance, the meter connects or disconnects premises associated with the meter from a resource supply.

Abstract: A meter collar includes a connection path to form an electrical connection between a distributed energy resource (DER) meter and line voltage wirings of an electric distribution system and a second connection path to form an electrical connection between the DER meter and neutral wires of the electric distribution system, a DER device, and a load. Further, the meter collar includes a third connection path within the meter collar to form an electrical connection between the DER meter and output voltage wirings of the DER device. Furthermore, the meter collar includes mating connectors electrically connected to a first end of a corresponding connection path to accept mating connectors of the DER meter. The meter collar also includes mating connectors electrically connected to a second end of the corresponding connection path to mate with the line voltage wirings, the neutral wires, and the output voltage wirings.

Abstract: Techniques are disclosed for using a distributed ledger with a utility network. The utility network includes a set of utility collectors that are connected to a backhaul network. Each of the set of utility collectors includes a memory configured to store a copy of a distributed ledger. The utility network includes personal area networks (PANs). Each of the set of utility collectors is connected to a corresponding PAN and is configured to act as a PAN coordinator for a corresponding set of utility devices on the corresponding PAN. A utility collector requests to join a distributed ledger system. The utility collector receives an approval indicating that the set of utility collectors approve of the request to join the distributed ledger system and a current state of the distributed ledger. The utility collector instantiates a copy of a distributed ledger based on the current state, thereby joining the distributed ledger system.

Abstract: Technologies for autonomously determining location information of a network node in a mesh network are provided. For example, a mesh network includes primary nodes whose locations are known and secondary nodes whose locations are to be determined. A secondary node is configured to identify in-range primary nodes among the primary nodes that are in the communication range of the secondary node, and determine whether the number of the in-range primary nodes is above a threshold. If the number of the in-range primary nodes is above the threshold, the secondary node further determines a distance between the secondary node and each of selected in-range primary nodes, and calculates a location of the secondary node based on the distances and the respective locations of the selected in-range primary nodes. The secondary node further transmits the calculated location to a headend system over the mesh network.

Abstract: Load control device, system and method for controlling a state of operation of at least one electrical load by receiving remote load control commands from at least one remote command centre with at least one receiving means of the load control device; and/or generating local load control commands with at least one local control unit of the load control device; and processing a stack of the remote load control commands and/or the local load control commands with at least one command processing unit of the load control device; and implementing an effective load control command containing at least one instruction for the effecting of the load control operations based on the stack for effecting load changing operations influencing the state of operation of the at least one electric load with at least one load interface unit of the load control device based on the at least one instruction.

Abstract: In some aspects, a channel hopping sequence for communication on a mesh network is generated. The hopping sequence may include multiple channels assigned to respective positions in the hopping sequence. In some cases, a first channel is assigned to a first position such that the first channel may transmit communications in a first transmission mode, such as a low-bandwidth transmission mode. In addition, an additional channels adjacent to the first channel is also assigned to the first position such that the combination of the first channel and additional channel may transmit communications in a second transmission mode, such as a high-bandwidth transmission mode. In some cases, a whitelist is determined based on the assigned channels. The whitelist may indicate channels that do not conflict with the assigned channels during transmission of a communication. In addition, channels may be assigned to the hopping sequence based on the whitelist.

Abstract: A system for autonomously validating the topology information of an electrical power distribution system is provided. For example, the system includes a group of meters previously determined to be connected to the same transformer of an electrical power distribution system. The group of meters is configured to perform family check periodically or upon request and to identify orphan meters in the group. The identified orphan meter can contact a community device communicatively connected to meters in more than one group to request a community check. The community device performs the community check by contacting meters in other groups of meters and obtain their family signature data. The community device further determines whether the orphan meter belongs to a new family based on the voltage data of the orphan meter and the family signature data of other groups. The orphan meter can report the community check results to a headend system.

Abstract: A system for discovering the topology and phase of an electrical power distribution system is provided. For example, a group of meters connected to an electrical power distribution system can process sensor data obtained at the meters and generate descriptors based on the processed data and transmit the descriptors to a headend system. The headend system can, after receiving the descriptors from the various meters in the system, group these meters to generate a grouping by applying clustering algorithms to the descriptors of these meters. The headend system can further compare the current grouping with past groupings to determine a confidence level of the current grouping and assign a segment identifier or a phase identifier or both to one or more of the meters based on the confidence level.

Abstract: A system for switching between different communication modes by network nodes according to a time-division schedule to transmit and receive data packets is provided. For example, a transmitting node is configured to determine a scheduled communication mode of an upcoming time division according to a time-division schedule, and transmit a data packet in that time division when the scheduled communication mode matches a selected communication mode supported by both the transmitting node and a receiving node. The receiving node operates in a scheduled communication mode specified for a current time division by the time-division schedule and determines whether a header of the data packet is detected in the current time division. If not, the receiving node switches to a second scheduled communication mode specified for the subsequent time division by the time-division schedule to detect the header of the data packet in a subsequent time division.

Abstract: A utility meter assembly having a base that is secured to a front cover. The assembly includes a dual locking system having a first locking position and a second locking position. In the first locking position, the front cover is removably secured with the base. In the second locking position, the front cover is permanently secured with the base to prevent separation of the two components unless one or both components are destroyed.

Abstract: Techniques for generating simulated waveforms for an electric meter include operating a meter in simulation mode without an external load device connected to the meter. Simulated waveforms are generated for a number of channels based on waveform component values. The waveforms are generated at a rate that corresponds to a sample rate of an analog to digital converter (ADC) of the meter. In simulation mode, the waveforms are provided to a meter firmware interface, instead of the waveform data obtained from the ADC.

Abstract: A method for determining degradation of a capacitor in an electric meter includes, charging the capacitor to a predetermined voltage value during a charging period using charging circuitry of the electric meter, discharging the capacitor, during a discharge period, from the predetermined voltage value using discharging circuitry of the electric meter, measuring, during the discharge period, a first capacitor voltage value at a first time and a second capacitor voltage value at a second time later than the first time using capacitor measurement circuitry of the electric meter, determining, by a processor of the electric meter, a capacitance value of the capacitor based on the first voltage value, the second voltage value, the first time, and the second time, comparing the determined capacitance value to a capacitance threshold value, and determining that the capacitor is in a degraded condition when the calculated capacitance value is below the capacitance threshold value.

Abstract: In some implementations, formation of loops between nodes in an RPL network may be avoided. A node that receives a neighbor-discovery message may determine, based on a parent-child status, whether the neighbor-discovery message was received from a parent of the node. If the neighbor-discovery message was received from the parent, the node may transmit an error code to the parent. In addition, the node may determine, based on a comparison of reliability rankings, whether the neighbor-discovery message was received from a node with relatively high reliability, such as a potential grandparent node. If the neighbor-discovery message was received from a high-reliability node, the node may transmit an error code to the high-reliability node. Furthermore, the node may reduce network traffic by withholding a neighbor-detection message from a child node. The node may transmit a response to neighbor-detection messages received from the child node.

Abstract: Technologies for implementing edge intelligence for utility communication networks are provided. For example, a system includes a mesh network and a utility fog configured to manage the mesh network. The utility fog includes a secure utility system configured for executing a private utility application and a first edge intelligence device configured for executing a first subset of software applications. Each software application is configured to manage endpoints in the mesh network or process data collected by the mesh network. The mesh network includes the endpoints and an edge intelligence device configured for executing a second subset of the software applications that is different from the first subset of software applications.

Abstract: A system for detecting the topology and phase information of an electrical power distribution system is provided. For example, the system includes a group of meters connected to an electrical power distribution system and can communicate with each other through local network connections such as a mesh network. Each of the meters is configured to generate and transmit voltage data to a correlator of the group of meters. The correlator calculates the correlations between each pair of meters in the group based on the voltage data received and further transmits the calculated correlations to a mapper through the mesh network. The mapper determines the topological or phase relationship between at least the group of meters based on the received correlations.

Abstract: Systems and methods are disclosed for facilitating communications in heterogeneous networks that include different data networks. A gateway device is configured to communicate with a first network using a TSCH protocol and with a second network using a channel hopping CSMA protocol. The gateway device can determine, during a first part of a TSCH timeslot, whether a message is received from the first network. If no message is received, the gateway device switches to the second network during a second part of the timeslot. If the gateway device receives a message from the second network, the gateway device may continue to receive the message. The receipt of the message in the second network may continue into a subsequent TSCH timeslot or may be interrupted if certain conditions are met.