DEVELOPMENT OF A UTILITY PAYMENTS OPTIMIZATION MODEL ON THE EXAMPLE OF SUBMITTING GAS METER VALUES IN UKRAINE
29.09.2021 21:53
[1. Інформаційні системи і технології]
Автор: Katamai I.-M.B., software engineering student, Department of Software Engineering, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk;
Kornuta Y.V., software engineering student, Department of Software Engineering, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk;
Bandura V.V., associate professor, Ph. D, Department of Software Engineering, Ivano-Frankivsk National Technical University of Oil and Gas, Ivano-Frankivsk
Problem statement. The relevance of the study is related to the need to optimize the filing of utility bills, in particular gas meter values. Now meter values are submitted by sending photos of meters to inspectors in various messengers. That is why an application that optimizes this process has been developed.
Analysis of the latest researches and publications Many domestic and foreign scholars have been engaged in the study of utility payment services, namely F. Ahmad, M. Nasr, E. Safwat [1], who conducted a case study for electricity utility, namely e-government framework utilities payment, José A. Delfino, Ariel A. Casarin, who assessed the impact of the reforms in the telecommunications, electricity, natural gas and sanitation services in Argentina [2], D. S. Sembrat, O. D. Nykytenko, who studied the implementation of automation systems in apartment buildings [3].
The purpose is to develop models for submitting and accounting of user data (meters and their values) in utilities sector and algorithms for their implementation in the form of software for managing this data.
Presentation of basic material. The GasMeterAccounting service – an application for submitting gas meter values by users and confirming the processing of these values by inspectors – has been developed. This application allows storing users’ personal data in the database (the scheme is shown in Fig. 1), logging in to the system using JWT tokens [4] , uploading photos of their meters for automatic processing using Microsoft Computer Vision (API for accessing advanced algorithms that process images and return information based on visual features, which interest the user) [5]. On the part of the inspector, it is possible to confirm the submitted meter value in order to calculate the amount of payment for gas on the basis of the active rate. Until the inspector confirms the specified value, the user can edit it if necessary.
Fig. 1 – GasMeterAccounting database structure
It is worth pointing out that only the images that meet certain criteria are recognized, namely: the file size must be less than 50 MB (6 MB for the free tier) and dimensions at least 50 x 50 pixels and at most 10000 x 10000 pixels; the file must be in one of the following formats: JPEG, PNG, BMP, PDF, and TIFF [6].
Conclusions. Therefore, the described system allows to facilitate the process of submission and processing of meter values, as well as to reduce the number of contacts between inspectors and users, which is especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic.
References:
1. Ahmad, Fiaz, et al. "A proposed e-government framework utilities payment: a case study for electricity utility." Ubiquitous Computing and Communication Journal (2011).
2. Delfino, Jose A., and Ariel A. Casarin. The reform of the utilities sector in Argentina. No. 2001/74. WIDER Discussion Paper, 2001.
3. Сембрат, Д. С., and О. Д. Никитенко. Автоматизована система обліку та нарахування комунальних платежів в багатоквартирному будинку. Diss. ВНТУ, 2019.
4. https://jwt.io/
5. https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cognitive-services/computer-vision/overview
6. https://docs.microsoft.com/uk-ua/azure/cognitive-services/computer-vision/overview-ocr