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| 1xRTT |
1xRTT, the core CDMA2000 wireless air interface standard, is also known as 1x, CDMA2000, and IS-2000. 1x stands for one times the number of 1.25MHz channels. RTT stands for "radio transmission technology". |
| AerFrame™ |
AerFrame is a seamless, standards-based, end-to-end communications and management infrastructure developed by Aeris specifically for M2M applications. AerFrame consists of a set of ruggedized communication services and a set of open-standard device management services. |
| AMI |
Advanced Metering Infrastructure or AMI is the communications solution that creates a network between remote meters and utility operations centers, and allows real-time collection of data and information. |
| AMR |
AMR stands for Automated Meter Reading, a state-of-the-art technology that enables utility companies to read electric meters remotely. |
| Asset Tracking |
The use of cellular networks to track and collect data from remote wireless devices attached to either fixed or mobile assets. |
| Automatic Crash Notification |
Automatic Crash Notification, or ACN, is a system whereby an emergency call center is automatically and immediately alerted if there is a serious car accident, notifying the appropriate agencies and dispatching emergency services. |
| Automotive OEM Telematics |
Automotive OEM telematics refers to applications based on embedded telematics hardware that is installed at the factory by the car company and is generally integrated into the vehicle data bus. Common examples of OEM telematics are: Automatic Crash Notifications (ACN), remote engine diagnostics, remote door unlock, roadside assistance, stolen vehicle tracking, live traffic alerts, and personal calling. |
| AVL |
AVL or Automatic vehicle location is the system that determines the geographic location of a vehicle and transmits this information to a tracking center. |
| Base Load |
The minimum amount of electric power delivered or required over a given period at a constant rate. |
| Broadband Services |
Broadband services are data services over cellular networks that enable M2M (machine-to-machine) communications over IP (Internet Protocol) sessions. Aeris offers CDMA 1xRTT and EVDO, and GSM GPRS and EDGE broadband services. |
| Cargo Container Tracking |
A significant portion of goods are transported via intermodal cargo containers. With such a heavy dependence on these containers, the ability to wirelessly track the location and container status is critical, helping to decrease their total cost of ownership and increase efficiency. |
| Cellular M2M |
Cellular M2M is a term for Machine-to-Machine communications using CDMA or GSM wireless technologies. This technology is increasingly used in the utilities, telematics, transportation, and security and alarm industries. |
| Commercial Telematics |
Commercial Telematics enables fleets of vehicles to be managed, including freight trucks, service vehicles, emergency vehicles, construction equipment, and public transportation vehicles. It also is used to track mobile remote assets, such as construction equipment and trailers. It also includes Remote diagnostics. |
| Consumer Aftermarket Telematics |
Consumer aftermarket telematics are applications based on hardware devices which are installed after the vehicle is produced and are not usually integrated into the vehicle bus. Examples of most common aftermarket telematics services are: stolen vehicle tracking, remote engine start, driver monitoring, internet connectivity, and geofencing. |
| Consumer Telematics |
Consumer Telematics, encompassing both consumer aftermarket telematics and automotive OEM telematics, involves the integration of wireless communications and location aware devices into automobiles to provide location based services and safety and security services. |
| Cooperative Utility or "Co-op" |
A type of utility in which the customers are also the owners. Co-ops are common in rural areas that are expensive to serve because of the long distances between users. |
| Demand |
The level that electricity or natural gas is delivered to users at a given point in time. Electric demand is expressed in kilowatts. |
| Demand Interval |
The time period during which flow of electricity is measured (usually in 15-, 30-, or 60-minute increments.) |
| Demand Response |
Demand Response is the ability to provide peak load capacity through demand management (load control) programs. This methodology focuses on curtailment of loads during peak demand times thus avoiding the requirement to find new sources of generation capacity. |
| Demand Side Management (DSM) |
The planning, implementation, and monitoring of utility activities designed to encourage consumers to modify patterns of electricity usage, including the timing and level of electricity demand. |
| Direct Control Load Management |
The magnitude of customer demand that can be interrupted at the time of the seasonal peak load by direct control of the system operator by interrupting power supply to individual appliances or equipment on customer premises. This type of control usually reduces the demand of residential customers. |
| Distribution Provider |
Provides and operates the "wires" between the transmission system and the end-use customer. |
| eCallDirect™ |
eCallDirect provides real-time wireless voice and data connectivity to support applications that address emergency situations, such as automobile accidents, home security break-ins, or personal emergencies. Operating in CDMA networks, eCallDirect supports Mobile Terminated (MT) and Mobile Originated types of calls. |
| EDGE |
Enhanced Data rates for GSM Environment (EDGE) is a digital mobile phone technology that allows increased data transmission rates and improved data transmission reliability. |
| Energy Demand Management |
Actions that influence the quantity or patterns of use of energy consumed by end users, such as actions targeting reduction of peak demand during periods when energy-supply systems are constrained. Also known as Demand Side Management (DSM). |
| Energy Management Practices |
Involvement, as a part of the building's normal operations, in energy efficiency programs that are designed to reduce the energy used by specific end-use systems. This includes the following: EMCS, DSM Program Participation, Energy Audit, and a Building Energy Manager. |
| Energy Savings |
A reduction in the amount of electricity used by end users as a result of participation in energy efficiency programs and load management programs. |
| EVDO or EV-DO |
EVDO, short for "Evolution, Data Only" or "Evolution, Data Optimized", is a standard for high speed wireless broadband in CDMA networks. |
| Fleet Management |
The most basic function in all Fleet Management systems is the vehicle tracking component. This can be GPS or cellular network based. |
| Fleet Monitoring |
Fleet monitoring is the process of systematically monitoring attributes of fleet vehicles over wireless communication networks and recording the results as data to be analyzed in real-time or historically on a central computer system. |
| Fleet Tracking |
Fleet tracking is the process of systematically monitoring the location of fleet vehicles over wireless communication networks and recording the results as data to be analyzed in real-time or historically on a central computer system. |
| GPRS |
GPRS, or General Packet Radio Service, is a packet-based wireless communication service that delivers data rates up to 114 Kbps and continuous connection to the Internet for mobile phones, devices, and computers on GSM networks. |
| GPS Vehicle Tracking |
With GPS vehicle tracking, a dispatcher can instantly see where the fleet is and re-route a driver to a new call or business service opportunity in the same area, saving on time, gas, money, and overtime. |
| Grid Solutions |
Grid Solutions, also known as Intelligent Grid or Smart Grid Solutions, are power management systems that use cellular technologies to remotely monitor utility power grid systems, optimize transmission efficiency, and provide superior service. |
| Home Automation |
Home automation is the use of computer and cellular technologies to remotely control basic home functions and features such as HVAC, lighting, and security systems. |
| Interconnection |
Any one of the three major electric system networks in North America: Eastern, Western, and ERCOT. |
| Investor Owned Utility (IOU) |
A utility owned by private investors as opposed to one owned by a public trust or agency; a commercial, for-profit utility as opposed to a co-op or municipal utility. |
| Kilowatt (KW) |
A unit of power equal to 1000 watts. 746 kW equals one horsepower. A kW is equal to one kilojoule per second. |
| Load |
An end-use device or customer that receives power from the electric system. |
| Load Control Program |
A program in which the utility company offers a lower rate in return for having permission to turn off the air conditioner or water heater for short periods of time by remote control. This control allows the utility to reduce peak demand. |
| Load Management |
Steps taken to reduce power demand at peak load times or to shift some of it to off-peak times. This may be with reference to peak hours, peak days or peak seasons. The main thing affecting electric peaks is air-conditioning usage, which is therefore a prime target for load management efforts. Load management may be pursued by persuading consumers to modify behavior or by using equipment that regulates some electric consumption. |
| Load Shed |
Load shed, normally used in industrial, large commercial, and utility operations, is monitoring electric usage continuously (usually by automated instrumentation) and shutting down certain pre-arranged electric loads or devices if a certain upper threshold of electric usage is approached. |
| M2M |
M2M is an acronym for Machine-to-Machine communications using CDMA or GSM wireless technologies. This technology is increasingly used in the security and surveillance, telematics, transportation, and utilities industries. |
| M2M Applications |
M2M supports many applications in vertical markets such as utilities, telematics, transportation and security and alarm. |
| M2M Communications |
M2M Communications is an acronym for Machine-to-Machine communications using CDMA or GSM wireless technologies. This technology is increasingly used in the utilities, telematics, transportation, and security and alarm industries. |
| M2M Experts |
M2M Experts are companies that provide services to make the customer's M2M experience as seamless as possible. Custom network infrastructure is designed and developed to provide QoS routing, lower latency, and custom network solutions. Provisioning and billing systems are customized to M2M applications, thus making deployment faster, simpler, lower cost and easier to manage. These companies troubleshoot network level problems through support experts, including issues with devices, signals, switches, etc. |
| M2M Infrastructure |
Integrated hardware and software assets, typically possessed and managed by a centralized authority, that support M2M communications. Different components include the central network and operational center computer systems, network routers, interconnection devices and wiring centers, the underlying cellular system, and the remote device and application. |
| M2M Integration |
Preconfigured hardware modules can be integrated to enable data and voice applications for M2M and telemetry solutions in utility monitoring, fleet management, asset tracking, security and alarm reporting, wireless vending and wireless point-of-sale terminal applications, among others. Preconfigured modules provide a simplified supply chain and reduced costs, enabling M2M applications to be monitored remotely. |
| M2M Services |
Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications is a very specialized form of data transmission. Effective M2M communications needs a network designed specifically to serve its unique requirements; intelligent enough to adapt to specific needs of different M2M applications and reliable enough to deliver data every time. |
| Megawatt (MW) |
A megawatt is a unit for measuring power that is equivalent to one million watts (equivalent to one joule per second).
Examples: One megawatt is equivalent to the energy produced by about 10 automobile engines.
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| MicroBurst® |
MicroBurst is a cellular network technology offered by Aeris Communications that is designed specifically to optimize M2M (machine-to-machine) wireless control and data acquisition. |
| MMO and MVNO |
MVNO is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator. MMO is a M2M Mobile Operator. While both combine and offer network coverage from multiple cellular operators, MMOs, such as Aeris Communications, enhance the coverage and offer value-added services by utilizing their own network infrastructure. |
| Municipal Utility or "Muni" |
A utility owned by a city to supply utility services to residents in that city. Generally, surpluses in revenues or over-expenditures are contributed to the city budget. |
| Off-Peak |
Those hours or other periods defined by NAESB (North American Energy Standards Board) business practices, contract, agreements, or guides as periods of lower electrical demand. |
| On-Peak |
Those hours or other periods defined by NAESB (North American Energy Standards Board) business practices, contract, agreements, or guides as periods of higher electrical demand. |
| Outage Monitoring |
A utility management process that utilizes cellular technologies to remotely monitor power grids and alert the power company in real-time when they occur. |
| Peak Demand or Peak Load |
Electric load that corresponds to a maximum level of electric demand in a specified time period. |
| Potential Peak Reduction |
Represents the load that can be reduced either by the direct control of the utility system operator or by the consumer in response to a utility request to curtail load. |
| Security Monitoring |
A security system process that utilizes cellular technologies to remotely monitor commercial and residential alarm systems in real-time and notify a control center as soon as an incident occurs. |
| SCADA - Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition |
A system of remote control and telemetry used to monitor and control the transmission system. |
| Smart Energy |
The use of renewable resources to create electricity and to heat and cool buildings, as well as more efficient use of energy through conservation and high efficiency technologies. |
| Smart Grid |
A smart grid integrates new innovative tools and technologies from generation, transmission and distribution all the way to consumer appliances and equipment. A modernized grid would create a digital energy system that will:
- Detect and address emerging problems on the system before they affect service,
- Respond to local and system-wide inputs and have much more information about broader system problems,
- Incorporate extensive measurements, rapid communications, centralized advanced diagnostics, and feedback control that quickly return the system to a stable state after interruptions or disturbances.
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| Smart Utility |
The use of advanced sensing, communication, and control technologies by utility companies to generate and distribute electricity more effectively, economically and securely. |
| SMS |
SMS, an acronym for Short Message Service, is a process to send short data messages to and from mobile phones and devices. |
| SMSDirect™ |
SMSDirect, developed and offered by Aeris, is a specialized form of cellular SMS (Short Message Service) that is optimized for M2M (machine-to-machine) wireless control and data acquisition over CDMA networks. |
| Telematics |
Telematics, also called mobile telematics, involves integrating wireless communications and (usually) location tracking devices into automobiles for remote engine diagnostics, stolen vehicle surveillance, roadside assistance, etc. |
| Telematics M2M |
Telematics M2M involves integrating wireless communications and (usually) location tracking devices with supporting applications into automobiles for remote engine diagnostics, stolen vehicle surveillance, roadside assistance, etc. |
| Telematics Network Operator |
Manages wireless telecommunications network specializing in telematics solutions as a productized service for customers. |
| Telematics Service Provider |
An organization that provides manufacturers of cars and commercial vehicles with a range of telematics services including vehicle tracking, cargo tracking, mobile data and safety applications. |
| Telemetry |
Telemetry is the wireless transmission of monitoring data to indicate or record measurements at a distance from the measuring instrument. Telemetry may also include two‐way communications for the purpose of remote machine management and control. |
| Vehicle Tracking |
Vehicle Tracking is the use of wireless technologies to monitor the location and condition of commercial and private vehicles. |
| Wireless M2M Communications |
M2M is an acronym for Machine-to-Machine communications using CDMA or GSM wireless technologies. This technology is increasingly used in the utilities, telematics, transportation, and security and alarm industries. |
| Wireless Monitoring |
The use of cellular networks to track and collect data from remote wireless devices attached to either fixed or mobile assets. |
| Wireless Network Operator |
Manages wireless telecommunications networks as a service sold to customers. |
| Wireless Service Provider |
Combines wireless data connectivity and underlying support services, including specialized protocols and network services, technical support and monitoring, application development assistance and installation assistance, into a product offered to customers. |
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