02-2 Welcome standard and tool
The goal is reached -
Welcome standard and tool
The Good News of the year
In February 2002 the long awaited breakthrough took place: IEC released the International Standards IEC 62056-42, -46, -53, -61 and -62. These standards define the channel and the data part of the DLMS/COSEM meter data exchange.
The DLMS User Association updated the Blue Book (edition 5) and the Green Book (edition 3). Their content is now equivalent to the standards. The Blue Book mirrors IEC 62056-61 and -62, while IEC 62056-42, -46, -53 and the DLMS-part of IEC 62056-21 can be found in the Green Book.
Faithful readers of these DLMS News could follow the development of the conformance test tool CTT. Such a test contributes to interoperability and will further bring system integration and maintenance costs down.
During a Working Group meeting in April 2002, the CTT has been released, and the Working Group will change its name to “Maintenance”. The DLMS User Association is now capable to publish lists with conformant products and to fulfil Art. 2 of the statutes: " … defining criteria to apply for a Protocol conformance label. The owner of the label shall be the Association …".
The CTT is now a commercial product and available through EuroDCS, a Goerlitz (Germany) company, which will also maintain the tool. The DLMS User Association has established the rules for conformance testing and will control the test specification, the test tools and the whole process.
The following statements are the conclusion of the work done since the founding of the DLMS User Association in 1997:
- DLMS/COSEM is the first and only protocol for meter data exchange, which comes together with a conformance test (including meter models)
- DLMS/COSEM is the first and only set of standards valid for reading of electricity, gas, heat and water meters (standardized in IEC, CENELEC and CEN)
- DLMS/COSEM comes with a standardized view of the meter from outside (implementation is up to the manufacturers)