Radio teleswitch
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
to allow electricity suppliers to switch large numbers of electricity meter
Electricity meter
An electricity meter or energy meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered device....
s between different tariffs, by broadcasting an embedded signal in broadcast radio signals. Radio Teleswitches are also used to switch on/off consumer appliances to make use of cheaper baseload tariffs, such as economy 7
Economy 7
Economy 7 is the name of a differential tariff provided by United Kingdom electricity suppliers that uses base load generation to provide cheap off-peak electricity during the night....
.
Operation
Each of the user companies (The RTS Users, or Service Providers) have their own database on the Central Teleswitch Control Unit (CTCU), which is a HP IntegrityHP Integrity
HP Integrity is series of Hewlett-Packard server computers produced by Hewlett-Packard since 2003, based on the Itanium processor architecture...
computer running OpenVMS
OpenVMS
OpenVMS , previously known as VAX-11/VMS, VAX/VMS or VMS, is a computer server operating system that runs on VAX, Alpha and Itanium-based families of computers. Contrary to what its name suggests, OpenVMS is not open source software; however, the source listings are available for purchase...
on IA-64 for reliability and clustering technology to minimise downtime. The database defines how each group of teleswitches belonging to the user-company will control the loads and meter registers connected to it. The CTCU uses the database and certain rules to generate and control a continuous string of messages which it forwards to the BBC for transmission. Although each message will be received by all installed teleswitches, the unique user and group-codes carried by the message ensure that only teleswitches carrying the same combination of codes will act on it.
History
The Radio Teleswitch Service (RTS) has its origins in the energy management projects initiated in the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
by the Electricity Council
Electricity Council
The Electricity Council was a governmental body set up in 1957 to oversee the electricity supply industry in England and Wales. The Council's responsibilities included:...
in the early 1980s. Three projects investigated the feasibility of using the telephone network, the distribution network and national radio for large scale energy management purposes. The radio teleswitch project was chaired by Walter Waring deputy chairman of Eastern Electricity
Eastern Electricity
Eastern Electricity was an electricity supply and distribution utility serving eastern England, including East Anglia and part of Greater London...
and supported by the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
. The idea of phase modulating control and data signals onto the low frequency carrier wave
Carrier wave
In telecommunications, a carrier wave or carrier is a waveform that is modulated with an input signal for the purpose of conveying information. This carrier wave is usually a much higher frequency than the input signal...
used for broadcasting the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programmes was tested. The BBC was satisfied that there was no discernible distortion of its broadcast service and no infringement of its Royal Charter
Royal Charter
A royal charter is a formal document issued by a monarch as letters patent, granting a right or power to an individual or a body corporate. They were, and are still, used to establish significant organizations such as cities or universities. Charters should be distinguished from warrants and...
. The technique won the Queen's award for technology
Queen's Awards for Enterprise
The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation or sustainable development. They are the highest official UK awards for British businesses...
while its application for controlling consumer tariffs and loads was approved by the Home Office
Home Office
The Home Office is the United Kingdom government department responsible for immigration control, security, and order. As such it is responsible for the police, UK Border Agency, and the Security Service . It is also in charge of government policy on security-related issues such as drugs,...
. The project was funded by the CEGB
CEGB
The Central Electricity Generating Board was the cornerstone of the British electricity industry for almost 40 years; from 1957, to privatisation in the 1990s....
and the mainland electricity boards who were each allocated one of 16 message channels. One channel was reserved for testing and the final one was allocated to Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
when it joined the project.
The Central Teleswitch Control Unit (CTCU) has recently been updated to replace the obsolete hardware with brand new, modern, fully supported equipment. The old DEC MicroVAX machines have been replaced with HP Integrity 2600s. The operating system has also been upgraded to OpenVMS 8.3.
All communications lines have also been updated and internet access has been introduced in addition to the dial in access by modem.
The update has markedly improved the performance and stability of the system.
The new system went live at the end of January 2008.
Service Role
For convenient and practical operation of the system the Users needed to set up or appoint an organisation to take overall responsibility for managing the delivery of the service. The organisation needs to hold nominal ownership of the system and IPR and as an agent to enter into and manage contracts necessary for the delivery of the service. The managing agent also provides co-ordination and liaison roles between all the parties concerned.Formal Agreements
The Electricity AssociationElectricity Association
The Electricity Association was an association of major electricity companies in the United Kingdom.It closed on September 30, 2003, and its services were replaced by three other industry bodies:* Association of Electricity Producers...
(EA), which was previously known as the Electricity Council, entered into a renewed formal agreement with the BBC in 1996 as an agent of the users. The EA had also negotiated an agreement with the National Grid Company (NGC) concerning the servicing of the CTCU. Since 2004 the functions of EA regarding this contract have been taken over by the Energy Networks Association
Energy Networks Association
Please note: The Energy Networks Association in Australia and the Energy Networks Association in the United Kingdom are not connected.-Energy Networks Association—Australia:...
.