RF Code & Geist Manufacturing have worked together to integrate RF Code’s wire-free sensor technology with a line of power distribution units (PDUs) from Geist. The resulting effort is the R170 PDU Sensor Tag for Geist which enables a more affordable power monitoring alternative for Geist Customers than traditional wired approaches requiring expensive-to-install and to maintain Ethernet connections. The solution consists of RF Code PDU sensor tags that easily plug into a Geist Satellite Current Monitoring PDU, RF Code readers and RF software that captures and manages the power monitoring data.

The easy-to-deploy wireless RF Code & Geist solution enables IT racks to be instrumented quickly for power monitoring and eliminates the time and cost associated with expensive wired Ethernet connections. Deploying the joint solution simply involves installing the Geist PDU into the rack and then plugging an RF Code sensor tag into the PDU. All IP address association, configuration, and IP address maintenance is eliminated drastically reducing the cost of PDU power monitoring.

The R170 CDU Sensor Tag simply plugs into the serial port on the Geist PDU. When connected, the R170 PDU Sensor Tag collects vital power usage statistics and transmits the information using RF Code’s patented radio frequency technology to an RF Code Reader which is connected to the Ethernet network. The RF Code Readers decode all of the RF transmitted data which is then collected by RF Code’s applications (Zone Manager, Sensor Manager, and Asset Manager).

The R170 PDU Sensor Tag data collection and reporting cycle involves sets of data at two levels of timeliness. The most critical power information is reported every 10 minutes and while information that is less time critical is reported every hour. These cycles result in the following reporting periods:

• Per-Phase amperage and configuration transmitted every 10 minutes
• PDU model and PDU serial number packets transmitted every 10 minutes
• Per-breaker amperage transmitted every hour
• Per-outlet amperage transmitted every hour
• Feed Line ID and amperage transmitted every hour

The R170 PDU Sensor Tag for Geist provides the following power attributes which are surfaced in the RF Code Zone Manager middleware as well as the Sensor Manager and Asset Manager applications:

• Main PDU Data:
  • PDU Model
  • PDU Disconnected
  • PDUSerial Number
• PDU Phase Data:
  • Phase Configuration
  • Phase Amperage
  • Phase Feed Line ID
  • Tower ID
• PDU Outlet Data:
  • Outlet Phase Source
  • Outlet Amperage
  • Outlet Tower ID
  • Outlet Label
• PDU Feed Line Data:
  • Feed Line ID
  • Line Amperage
  • Line Configuration
• PDU Breaker Data:
  • Breaker Amperage
  • Breaker Phase Source
  • Breaker Feed Line ID

By utilizing the powerful calculated attribute feature of RF Code’s Asset Manager and Sensor Manager applications, power metrics can be produced for the various locations defined such as the rack, the row, and the entire data center. Furthermore all of the power information described above is available for use by Asset Manager and Sensor Manager’s data management features such as:

• Live table views
• Map views
• Interactive graphing
• Scheduled reporting and graphing
• Alerting and thresholds

The following illustrations show the information collected by the RF Code PDU Sensor Tag for Geist being utilized by Sensor Manager and Asset Manager in a variety of different ways: