power outage notification (PON)

An alert that is sent over the network when a meter loses power. When a meter loses power, it is no longer able to forward messages from other meters. In the case of a widespread outage in a radio frequency (RF) Mesh system, meters that can be heard by the cell relay (at levels 2, 3 and sometimes 4) will report loss of power upstream. The meter sends three short PON messages, powered by the energy stored in the meter's capacitors.