Page 14 - +update customer newsletter

Product Updates Enhanced network diagnostics – introducing the new CU-P4x GPRS communication unit The CU-P4x, which became available at the end of 2013, is the latest generation of Landis+Gyr’s series of modems. The communication device has been developed to signifcantly increase the reliability of data transfer in the GPRS mobile network, overcoming intermittency issues and coverage weaknesses. New features were introduced with the release of the CU- P4x to include new diagnostic functions of the modem that signifcantly increase the reliability of the meter data transfer in the mobile network. One of these, the Communication Journal, collects information critical to network diagnostics to minimize issues if a cell area experiences outages or a smart meter drops out of the network. The ‘journal’ logs key data, such as the time and date, received signal strength and cell location area codes. The feature enables retrieval of up to a week’s worth of historical information by the mobile network operator from a modem remotely or on-site. Utilities will be able to use the information to diagnose issues causing data transfer failures to consistently improve their service levels. The other diagnostic feature, the Long Term Pass/Fail Counter, is used to detect rare, or occasional, problems by counting, as opposed to logging, these occurrences. Long-term statistics for different events that could cause any sort of malfunction are recorded. Alex Ngi, Product Manager ICG Communication Devices, Landis+Gyr EMEA explains, “The latest functionality built into the CU-P4x is in addition to the device’s simple redesigned hardware 14