System and method for connected metering

A method comprising:

• receiving, at a universal metering cabinet, at least two data streams, each of the at least two data streams received from one of at least two sensors, and the each of the at least two data streams comprises multiple disparate input types having a different connectivity protocol, wherein the at least two data streams comprise analog data or digital data based on a type of the at least two sensors, and wherein the at least one input/output (I/O) interface is operable to receive data from the sensors via digital links;
• transforming the data from the sensors into compatible data by data cleansing or data wrangling, and processing the multiple disparate input types, wherein processing the multiple disparate input types includes converting, using a customizable programmable interface, the connectivity protocol of each of the at least two data streams into a same uniform connectivity protocol, converting an analog I/O to a digital I/O, and converting both the analog I/O and the digital I/O to a universal I/O:
• and transmitting, to a server using a communication unit coupled to the customizable programmable interface, a combined data stream comprising the at least two data streams, the combined data stream having the same uniform connectivity protocol, wherein the customizable programmable interface is configured to multiplex the processed multiple disparate input types into the combined data stream and wherein the same uniform connectivity protocol includes the universal I/O.

A universal metering cabinet apparatus, comprising:

• at least one input/output (I/O) interface configured to receive at least two data streams, each of the at least two data streams received from one of at least two sensors, and the each of the at least two data streams comprises multiple disparate input types having a different connectivity protocol, wherein the at least two data streams comprise analog data or digital data based on a type of the at least two sensors, and wherein the at least one input/output (I/O) interface is operable to receive data from the sensors via digital links;
• a customizable programmable interface coupled with the at least one I/O interface and configured to:
• transform the data from the sensors into compatible data by data cleansing or data wrangling, and process the multiple disparate input types, wherein processing the multiple disparate input types includes converting the connectivity protocol of each of the at least two data streams into a same uniform connectivity protocol, converting an analog I/O to a digital I/O, and converting both the analog I/O and the digital I/O to a universal I/O;
• and a communications unit coupled to the customizable programmable interface and configured to transmit, to a server, a combined data stream as batched data comprising the at least two data streams, the combined data stream having the same uniform connectivity protocol, wherein the customizable programmable interface is configured to multiplex the processed multiple disparate input types into the combined data stream and wherein the same uniform connectivity protocol includes the universal I/O.