Bausch Datacom gets order for 14.300 InduBox GPRS modems from Intracom Telecom Solutions for Bid Call ND-193 of Greece's electricity company Public Power Corporation (PPC).

april 29, 2013 - Bausch Datacom will supply 14.300 modems for Bid Call ND-193 of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) in Greece.

In Greece Bausch Datacom NV/SA, will cooperate as a subcontractor with the Société Anonyme Telecom Solutions  to deliver 14.300 Smart GPRS Modems for the Bid Call under the number ND-193 Declaration Auction of the project "Installation of Telemetering System for Major LV Customer Meters".

The project involves the engineering, design, construction and installation, in the area of Athens, of the total 'Measurement Data Telemetering and Processing System' (Primary and Back-Up), with a capacity to communicate with 100.000 meters. Moreover, the project includes the supply, installation and integration of the electricity meters along with GSM/GPRS modems of 60.000 major Low Voltage customers and the provision of all relevant services for a period of 5 years. 

The consortium entered a winning bid of 19,830 million Euros and consists of Intrakat / Intracom (installation and maintenance), EDMI (meters), IBM (Control room and management infrastructure), Fröschl (AMR), Protasis (AMR) and Bausch Datacom (modems).

For the installed base of 14.300 Itron (Actaris) ACE6000 meters Bausch Datacom will provide the InduBox GSM, connected to the meter by a serial RS-485 or RS-232 interface. The GPRS modem needs to function in a default GPRS mode, able to switch to GSM CSD data and vice versa. This functionality cannot disturb the transparent communication between the meters and the remote Telemetering System. The modems will be installed during 2013 and 2014.

 
Bausch Datacom will supply 14.300 modems for Bid Call ND-193 of the Public Power Corporation (PPC) in Greece.

Bausch Datacom has developed specific modem firmware in OpenAT in the Sierra Wireless SL6087 GSM module. The basic ‘socket server' application allows the modem to be connected by RS-232 or RS-485 to the meter and to communicate by IP number and port number using GPRS. In this way a transparent communication with the host system can be maintained! The modem is default in a GPRS mode but can be switched remotely to GSM data and vice versa. When there is a power failure and the modem restarts it should be default in GPRS mode. It needs to be possible to query the signal strength (RSSI, bit error rate...) remotely and also change baudrate, communication mode (GPRS/Sckserver/GSM) and modem firmware (FOTA).

The basic ‘socket server' application allows the modem to be connected by RS-232 or RS-485 to the meter and to communicate by IP number and port number using GPRS.

For mass deployment and management of the InduBox modems, Bausch Datacom developed the Praxis Modem Management System. Praxis consists of 3 system blocks: the Modem Firmware, the Server Software and the Client Software.
The MMS Modem Firmware of the new InduBox GSM IV, VIII and IX modems is an OpenAT application supporting the grouping and mass deployment services offered by the MMS Client and Server software. For example every 15 minutes the InduBox modem will measure the reception level (rssi) of the signal sent by the closest GSM Base Transceiver Station (BTS) as well as the received bit error rate (ber). In fact, the InduBox modem will keep statistics of 'rssi' and 'ber', time of watchdog restart, number and time of switching between CSD and GPRS, settings of the RS-232, RS-485 and config ports (baudrate, parity, stopbits), GPRS settings (APN...), IMEI code etc...These statistics are stored internally in the modem and will be retrieved on a daily base by 'Praxis', the MMS Server software.
The MMS Server Software will monitor directories for files to import (e.g. from the AMR/MDM system), it will monitor the Database for jobs to be done (entered by the Bausch Client Software), perform scheduled tasks (time-based) and it will get statistics kept by the InduBox modems. The server includes a DataBase to keep all necessary and unique information of each InduBox modem.
The MMS Client Software, running on a Windows PC, provides a GUI wich allows grouping/selecting of modems by telecom operator, operational mode (GSM, GPRS), software version, filtering (based on data in the modem database)...Secondly it provides for scheduled and grouped updating of modem firmware - FOTA over FTP -, switching between different AMR metering scenario's (Socket Server Mode, Socket Client Mode, Socket Dual mode, CSD mode, GPRS mode) and setting of a different baudrate (between modem and meter) or entering another modem configuration (APN name,...). And finally on a daily base it wil get the modem statistics out of the database and export a daily file with signal strength of the modems in the field for use in the AMR/MDM system.

For mass deployment and management of the InduBox modems Bausch Datacom developed the 'Praxis' Modem Management System. Praxis consists of 3 system blocks: the modem firmware, the Server Software and the Client Software. 

If you are interested to have more information about this project, please contact sales@bausch.be or give us a call at (0032)16 46 12 88.