Itron OpenWay Smart Grid Diagnostics to Streamline Workflows

Improved reliability of 2M+ AMI meters for Itron at SDG&E Sempra Energy streamlining service workflows end-to-end.

Itron, a leader in AMI and smart grid solutions, contracted TaylorMade Software to assist SDG&E with complex diagnostics on over 2 million electric and gas smart meters deployed throughout San Diego and Orange County. Our work spanned embedded systems, RF communication, GIS mapping, and enterprise IT systems.

The troubleshooting process involved querying and analyzing meter health using advanced SQL in both Oracle and SQL Server. We integrated RF LAN sniffing tools and Zigbee diagnostics to isolate network communication failures. GIS-based visualization tools were enhanced to overlay outage and fault patterns geographically, significantly improving field crew dispatch efficiency.

We also built internal utilities using C# and .NET to automate diagnostics, interrogate endpoints, and correlate device-level telemetry with backend WCF services and data warehouse analytics. The combined result was a streamlined diagnostics workflow from embedded meter firmware to blade server endpoints, recognized by Itron and SDG&E management as pivotal to system-wide reliability improvements.

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