Scheduled Read Commands

Note: This section applies to both middleware and native implementations of the Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Itron OpenWay.

Measurement and device event data must be requested from the Itron OpenWay head-end system via Scheduled Read commands. Schedule read commands are used to request meter reads and/or device events for a group of devices for a specified date and time. Scheduled read commands can be created such that recurring requests based on the same command parameters are sent to the head-end system at regular intervals. For example, a command could be configured to request daily (24 hour) scalar meter readings once per day for a specified group of devices. Another command could be configured to request weekly (168 hours) device events once per week for a group of devices.

Scheduled read commands should be created for all devices from which meter readings and/or device events are to be uploaded via Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway. Separate scheduled read commands can be created for specific groups and for specific types of data. For example, for a given group of scalar devices, you might create separate commands to request scalar usage data and to request device events from the same group (both of which can be based on different recurrence patterns). The specifics concerning request specifics and recurrence patterns should be based on the requirements of the implementation.

Attributes used to define a schedule read command include the following:
  • Status: the status of the activity
  • Schedule Read Type: the type of scheduled read

  • Schedule Information: information about the schedule for the read, including:

    • One Time Read: indicates if the request is a one-time request. One-time requests have a defined date/time range during which request and recurrences can take place.
    • One Time Start Date Time: specifies the start time for one-time requests (applicable only if One Time Read is set to “Yes”)
    • One Time End Date Time: specifies the end time for one-time requests (applicable only if One Time Read is set to “Yes”)

    • First Daily Measurement Time: Indicates starting time for measurements for each day. This field, along with the value from IMD Length, will be used to determine when interrogation requests should be made. For example, if the First Daily Measurement Time is set to 08:00AM and IMD Length is set to 12 hours (12:00:00) then there would be two requests made per day:

      • 8:00AM - 8:00PM

      • 8:00PM - 8:00AM

    • Interrogation Buffer: This parameter impacts when interrogation requests are sent. It is entered in the format of hours:minutes:seconds. For example, if set to 1 hour (01:00:00) for our above example, the first request of the day for 8:00AM - 8:00PM would be sent to Itron OpenWay at 7:00PM. The buffer time will decrease if the activity is monitored after 7:00PM, so if the monitor process is executed at 7:30PM the buffer time would only be 30 minutes and if the monitor process were not executed until after 8:00PM there would be no buffer time at all.

    • IMD Length: Defines the number of hours, minutes and seconds of data that should be retrieved for each request. It is entered in the format of hours:minutes:seconds. This number must be divisible into 24 since it will determine how many requests will be made per day (i.e. if set to 8 hours (08:00:00) there will be 3 requests per day). 

    • Disable Extended IMD Length Recovery: By default the schedule read activity will attempt to "catch-up" when interrogation requests have been missed by requesting the entire period from the last interrogation request made. Setting this parameter to "Yes" will turn off this functionality and interrogation requests will only be made in for the exact amount of time defined in the IMD Length 

    • Range of Recurrence: indicates how to define request recurrences. Valid values include “Maximum Recurrence”, “No End Date”, and “Recurrence End Date”

      • Maximum Recurrence: The activity will make a set number of requests, once the set number has been reached the activity will expire. When selected, Maximum Recurrences must also be provided.

      • No End Date: The activity will never expire and will continue to make requests until it is manually transitioned to inactive.

      • Recurrence End Date: The activity will continue to make requests until a specified date. When selected, Recurrence End Date Time must also be provided.

      Note: When “No End Data” is selected, the recurrences of the request continue until a user manually changes the status of the command.
    • Maximum Recurrence: defines the maximum number of recurrences before the command’s status is changed to “Inactive”.
    • Recurrence End Date Time: The date after which no more recurrences are attempted. After this date and time, the command’s status is changed to “Inactive”.
  • Group: the group of devices used by requests for the command
    • Group Type: indicates the type of device group to use for the command. Valid options include Application Group or Configuration Group.
    • Application Group/Configuration Group Name: defines the specific group (based on the group type).
    Note: Groups referenced by Scheduled Read commands and the devices that belong to each are defined in Itron OpenWay head-end system. Each group to be used with these commands must also be defined in either the “Itron — Application Group Lookup” or “Asset Specification” extendable lookup. See the Oracle Utilities Smart Grid Gateway Adapter for Itron OpenWay Configuration Guide for more information about these extendable lookups.
  • Default Read Parameters: specifies details concerning the data to be requested. The read parameters define the exact data that will be requested from the meters. Please consult the Itron OpenWay documentation for the specifics of each parameter.
    • Interrogation Window Hours: the number of hours used to calculate when to submit requests. For example, to submit requests once per day, this should be set to 24. To submit requests once per week (7 days), this should be set to 168. The current date time (or the Latest Request End Date Time) plus this equals interrogation window end date time.

  • Override Read Parameters: an alternative set of parameters that can be defined. To leverage this group each parameter must be provided, no parameter is allowed to be left blank.  This set of parameters will be used when the request end time is equal to the First Daily Measurement Time. For example, a schedule read with a First Daily Measurement Time of 12:00AM and an IMD Length 12 hours (12:00:00) would make the following requests each day:

    • 12:00AM - 12:00PM

    • 12:00PM - 12:00AM

    The Override Read Parameters would be used for the 2nd request where the request end time of 12:00AM matches the First Daily Measurement Time of 12:00AM.  If an extended request is made to "catch up" (i.e. it makes a request that is larger in duration than the configured IMD Length), and the request start and request end date time includes the First Daily Measurement Time then the Override Read Parameters will be used.

  • Outbound Communication Exception Handling Overrides: parameters used to control retry attempts and expiration for the outbound communication. These parameters take precedence over their outbound communication counterparts

  • Last Read Details: details concerning the most recent read request sent for the command. This information is used to calculate the time for the next request (based on the Interrogation Window Hours parameter).
    • Latest Request Start Date Time: the start date and time of the last request
    • Latest Request End Date Time: the end date and time of the last request
    • Recurrence Count: the number of recurrences of the last request

About Ad Hoc Requests

While scheduled read commands are typically configured to create recurring requests for meter reads and device events, users can also submit ad hoc requests for a specific date and time range based on the parameters of a currently active scheduled read command. This is useful if meter read data or device events are needed before the next request for a command would be submitted based on the command’s recurrence settings.

Ad hoc requests are created as separate one-time request commands, with a start and end time based on parameters supplied by the user when initiating the ad hoc request. The group and read parameters for ad hoc requests are the same as those for the command used to send the ad hoc request.

Error Handling

If errors occur when processing scheduled read commands, errors are logged as follows:

  • If there is a single error it will create a single log entry

  • If there is more than one error, the log entry will perform a count of devices and create a single error message stating the number of devices that were in error.