Project
Gas AMI Network Monitoring
Client
Pacific Gas & Electric
Location
Oakland, CA
Project Overview
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), one of the largest utility providers in the United States, serves 5.5 million electric and 4.5 million natural gas customers throughout California. As part of an Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) modernization initiative, PG&E planned to install new gas modules and other vendor devices/sensors that would utilize their existing electrical AMI network for backhaul. Additionally, they aimed to upgrade all 7 million electric meters to collect data every 15 minutes instead of every hour. Prior to implementing these new devices or modifying the meter programs, PG&E needed to monitor the usage and activity of their current AMI electric network and establish a baseline for its daily operations.
Layline's Role
PG&E engaged Layline’s AMI SMEs and software developers to design, develop, and test an application to predict, monitor, and assess the impact of new devices and/or meter programs on their network. The project required several key roles and responsibilities. Firstly, it required effective project management to oversee the entire process. AMI SME consultants were to be engaged to provide their expertise. The team would design and develop software prototypes using production data, ensuring that the application was robust and functional. Additionally, they would need to enable and support the paths to production for the new application, ensuring a smooth transition. Finally, the team would develop and execute comprehensive testing of the application to ensure its reliability and performance.
Challenges
Building a quantitative system engineering model presented several challenges. The Layline team required data from production Access Points but faced difficulties in obtaining reliable, scalable, and accurate data without disrupting other scheduled jobs and data pulls. This necessitated continuous re-prototyping of the application whenever a data set was disqualified. Additionally, the development team needed to determine how to establish a baseline for the existing network and monitor the busyness of the Access Points. Finally, the system had to provide real-time updates on the busyness and utilization of all Access Points.
Solution
To address the client's needs, the Layline Automation team built out a server configuration lab and configured a production line to streamline the OS and application installation process. The team successfully life cycled 670 SCADA servers across the entire PG&E territory. This involved decommissioning the old servers and scheduling all related work meticulously. The team developed a comprehensive process and conducted quality control (QC) in the lab to ensure the highest standards were met.
