Enhancing energy management systems with advanced RTU capabilities

Multiported remote terminal units (RTUs) instantaneously provide data to area and regional masters and/or neighboring utilities without the time delay associated with master-to-master communication or the cost of multiple RTUs. Thus RTUs improve capabilities and contribute to reducing the cost of energy management system (EMS) implementation. The development of advanced protocols to reduce RTU expense and use more of the capabilities of the RTU microprocessor as the number of RTUs and the number of points per RTU expanded is discussed. The applications made possible by the resulting local area network architecture are described, and some future applications are examined.<>