*2.1.2 Concentrator side*

Messages can also be concatenated at the concentrator side prior to transmission. This is the appropriate site for message concatenation [13, 14] because concentrators have more powerful hardware and process data more efficiently than meters do. In concentrator-side concatenation, meters send packages to the concentrator, the concentrator subsequently aggregates the data into one package, and the compressed message is finally sent to the MDMS. Concentrator-side concatenation not only reduces the volume of messages but also stabilizes the system.

However, despite the advantages of concentrator-side concatenation, existing devices on the market are incapable of supporting such concatenation. Currently, concentrators on the market are capable of executing only simple integrations, and these products all follow the PRIME standard of WAN communication [15].
