OpenPAYGO™ Metrics: the game-changing format for Paygo devices to transmit usage data

Solaris Offgrid (PaygOps) is excited to unveil its latest development: OpenPAYGO™ Metrics, a standard API format for transmitting usage-based data in a compact and efficient way that adjusts to the connectivity restrictions of the Paygo market.

OpenPAYGO™ Metrics provides a standardised format for Paygo devices to send usage metrics to a server and get back information about the devices’ activation status. Taking into account the limitations of connectivity in the market, OpenPAYGO™ Metrics is a tool especially optimised for transmitting data over slow connections and connections that have high costs while maintaining simplicity.

“After helping several manufacturers adopt a single token system (OpenPAYGO™ Token) that works with all their software platforms, we're extending our suite of solutions with a new tool, allowing them to do the same thing for usage metrics on their connected devices", says Benjamin David, CTO at Solaris Offgrid.

As part of Solaris Offgrid’s continued efforts to address industry-wide needs through the adoption of flexible standards, OpenPAYGO™ Metrics is free, open-source and interoperable, meaning that manufacturers may access the API documentation without cost and configure any Paygo device in their offer to send usage-related metrics to PaygOps or any other operations management platform, making it the most cost-effective option there is available, as it ultimately will allow distributors to achieve efficient use of data regardless of the constraints of the network configuration.

Thus, the specification not only responds to the lack of a standard format in the industry to send and receive usage data, but it also tackles the data waste in poorly optimised formats and the high costs of sending data over slow connections. It is flexible and operates with any kind of data that may be retrieved from any Paygo device, be it the amount of energy that an SHS lamp consumes, pressure metrics on a biodigester, water debit from a water pump and so on.

An illustrative use case would be a device that operates with a budget of 750KB of data per month over a 2G network, with sessions rounded to the nearest 1KB. Using that specification, through OpenPAYGO™ Metrics, the device can make one request per hour to transmit 30 updates of five key metrics (i.e. battery voltage, battery current, panel voltage, output 1 current, output 2 current), as well as a few alarms. The device will get in return an OpenPAYGO™ Token, securely updating its activation status. This request, including all data, headers and the response, fits in less than 1KB, meaning that doing it every hour for the whole month is still below the 750KB monthly data budget while providing a 2 min data resolution on 5 key metrics.

OpenPAYGO™ Metrics is the third tool to integrate the OpenPAYGO™ Suite, the free and open-source ecosystem founded by Solaris Offgrid, renowned across the industry for forging interoperability between Paygo devices and platforms through the widely used OpenPAYGO™ Token and OpenPAYGO™ Link. To learn more about OpenPAYGO™ Metrics, visit our dedicated page.

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About Solaris Offgrid:

Solaris Offgrid supports distributors of essential services to build strong customer traction and greater relations with investors through flexible and inclusive Paygo solutions, designed for last-mile operations. Adopting a bottom up approach in the design of its solutions and creating synergies with a strong network of partners to solve last-mile challenges, the company has already deployed Paygo solutions in more than 30 countries through PaygOps, Solaris Offgrid in-house software solution built “In the Field, for the Field” and its product development services. Leading reference in the off-grid solar market, PaygOps is engineered to deliver modular and interoperable solutions to address off-grid energy access challenges and distribution complexity. For more information on PaygOps, please contact [email protected].