Protocol conversion for real-time energy management systems

Many approaches have been suggested in the field of protocol conversion and more recently several formal methods have been proposed. In the field of electricity metering and control the protocol conversion process is essential in enabling the communication in distributed systems and between the many different networks and protocols that co-exist on these networks. This paper suggests a three step process in order to implement a protocol converter; (1) Development of a protocol stack specification (2) Implementation of a formal description technique for the conversion process; (3) Development of programming specifications for the protocol converter. The resultant protocol converter allow for the efficient reading and controlling of multiple remote utility meters while maintaining a high degree of transmission integrity.