SA telemetry developer launches its DNP-3 protocol

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February 2004 News

SSE, a leading telemetry company in South Africa, is the first and only South African-based telemetry development company to implement DNP-3 protocol down to level 3.

During the last 10 years SSE grew from a small local company to a medium size high tech company with various branches in southern Africa and exports picking up significantly. One of SSE's strong points is its commitment to new developments which is demonstrated by the fact that SSE invests 8% of its turn-over in developing new products, features and functionality.

DNP-3

DNP-3 is an international de-facto standard used for data communication between RTUs in the electrical industry. Numerous electrical utilities worldwide are using the DNP-3 as communication protocol ... it followed that the demand for SSE products meant that more and more clients, locally and internationally, requested SSE to implement the DNP-3 protocol.

SSE decided a few months ago to implement the DNP-3 protocol in its range of telemetry products. The company realised the complexity developing and implementing a protocol such as DNP-3 and that it would take months if not years to implement. To cut short the development cycle, SSE opted to purchase the complete source code library kit. "We decided on the source code libraries from Triangle Micro Works as we found it to be compatible with other well known companies making use of them. The source code was quite expensive, but the fact that we were purchasing code that is debugged, tested and proven in the field made it more than worthwhile for SSE," says Gert Bezuidenhout, MD from SSE. The bought-out DNP-3 source code libraries have been implemented into the new RTU-10 released recently, with final testing happening now.

Electricity industry

In the past 10 years SSE established itself as a leader in water related telemetry. "We capture the biggest chunk of the water industry in southern Africa. However, over and above other industries, SSE sees the electrical industry as an extremely important sector for future growth in the company, thus implementing DNP-3," says Bezuidenhout.

IEC 870-5-3 protocol

Another international accepted protocol used a lot in the electricity industry is the IEC 870-5-3 protocol. To be even more compliant in the telemetry industry, SSE also decided to implement the IEC protocols. This should be released in a few months time.

Multiple protocols

The SSE RTU will support a number of international as well as advanced SDLP protocols from SSE. Any of the supported protocols can be used at any point in time to communicate with the SSE RTU. The SSE RTU will automatically detect the incoming protocol and respond accordingly.

For more information contact Gert Bezuidenhout, Specialist System Engineering, 012 663 4331, [email protected], www.sse.co.za

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