What are the benefits of DLMS/COSEM?
The main benefit of DLMS/COSEM is that it brings interoperability.
Broadly speaking, interoperability means that any meter data management system can talk to any meter, independently of the manufacturer, the type, the energy type measured and the communication media. This also assumes, that on both sides a compatible set of features are correctly implemented.
On the interface model level, the essential elements assuring interoperability are:
- the standardised interface classes and data types;
- the object identification system, providing a standard identifier for each and every object;
- the possibility to retrieve the resources available in the metering equipment by reading the COSEM association objects.
On the COSEM application layer level, interoperability is ensured by the possibility to negotiate the protocol context, the authentication mechanism and the service set available for accessing attributes and methods.
The availability of conformance testing, a first in metering protocols, greatly improves the probability of interoperability by verifying the correctness of the implementation on the interface and the protocol stack levels.