Smart utility management system modernization
Highlights
- Connection with IoT sensors via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth
- Remote configuration of meters and devices
- Support for all types of smart meters
- Network management for meters, communication modules, gateways
- Extensive reporting and analytics for utility consumption data
- Integration with multiple HES, AMM, and MDM
Client
The client is Cuculus, a German company that has provided software solutions on smart utility management for governmental institutions and individual users since 2007. One of their core products is the ZONOS platform, an IoT-based solution for the management, processing, and visualization of utility data, enabling efficient administration of energy and water services.
Challenge
The client was looking for a reliable remote software development team with strong knowledge in OpenAPI Specification (OAS), Kafka, Gitlab CI, Linux Server and Java/Kotlin development. Their goal was to improve the IoT platform by integrating new software modules. Cuculus chose SoftTeco to modernize the software and provide ongoing support in the future.
Solution
The ZONOS platform is an IoT-based web solution that connects to smart meters, collects data on electricity, gas, water, and heat consumption. Smart meters are deployed across residential buildings, commercial facilities, and industrial sites. The solution allows utility providers and energy suppliers to manage utility infrastructure and connected devices from various manufacturers within a single system. It handles billions of meter readings every 15 minutes. It supports integration with multiple head-end systems (HES), advanced meter management (AMM), and meter data management (MDM) to provide unified real-time data exchange, centralized meter monitoring, and processing of utility data flows. The solution also integrates with operations support systems (OSS) to monitor network performance, faults, and lifecycle management of devices and infrastructure.
The IoT-enabled system communicates with IoT devices via Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It supports their management with such functions as remote reads, disconnection, load limitation, time of use (TOU) configuration, and prepayment handling. In addition, ZONOS offers extensive reporting, statistics and analytics capabilities. They help utility providers analyze consumption patterns, monitor network performance, predict future energy demand, and assist in operational planning decisions.
How it works
SoftTeco implemented a series of projects for Cuculus, designing and implementing several standalone modules integrated into the ZONOS platform and systems. Our development team consisted of a project manager, a BA, two QAs, four developers, and a team lead. First of all, we developed a smart meter data aggregation system that collects real-time data streams from over 200,000 different smart meters via Kafka. Then, it publishes the transformed data back to Kafka for further consumption by other services. As a result, the IoT-based platform processes large volumes of meter data in real time, reduces system load, and supports energy analytics.
The next step was to create a virtual meter topology builder module for modeling energy metering infrastructure. It allowed users to visualize and manage relationships between meters, networks, and other entities, helping providers better understand how energy is distributed across different assets and locations. In addition, we developed an API integration system that connected the Cuculus platform with the APIs of the customers and utility companies. The system automatically retrieves data from external sources, processes and validates it, performs the required calculations, and sends results back to the connected systems via APIs.
After that, our developers created an energy usage forecasting mobile application to predict future energy consumption based on historical and real-time data. On the backend, the system collects, processes, and prepares energy consumption data from multiple sources (cleaning, aggregation, feature generation). Then, it produces consumption forecasts, which are exposed via APIs for the frontend and other systems. On the frontend, we created an intuitive interface with advanced dashboards and visualizations that allow users to view current consumption trends, forecasted demand, and scenarios compared to different time periods. Users can explore predicted usage over different time ranges and monitor how consumption patterns evolved. As a result, the app helps energy providers to anticipate energy demand, improve planning accuracy, and make fact-based operational and resource allocation decisions.
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Results
For an IoT-based utility management system, we built a smart meter data aggregation solution, developed an energy usage forecasting app from scratch, and added new modules. The solution is currently used across Europe, including Germany, Switzerland, and Belgium, and the client plans to further expand its geographical coverage in the near future.
