SMART METERS

ABSTARCT
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information such as consumption
of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor. Smart meters communicate the
information to the consumer for greater clarity of consumption behavior, and electricity
suppliers for system monitoring and customer billing. Smart meters typically record energy
near real-time, and report regularly, short intervals throughout the day.[7] Smart meters
enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Such an
advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that
it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier. Communications
from the meter to the network may be wireless, or via fixed wired connections such
as power line carrier (PLC). Wireless communication options in common use include cellular
communications, Wi-Fi (readily available), wireless ad hoc networks over Wi-Fi, wireless
mesh networks, low power long-range wireless (LoRa), Wize (high radio penetration rate,
open, using the frequency 169 MHz) ZigBee (low power, low data rate wireless), and Wi-
SUN (Smart Utility Networks).

Overview
The term Smart Meter often refers to an electricity meter, but it also may mean a device
measuring natural gas, water or district heating consumption. Similar meters, usually
referred to as interval or time-of-use meters, have existed for years, but "Smart Meters"
usually involve real-time or near real-time sensors, power outage notification, and power
quality monitoring. These additional features are more than simple automated meter
reading (AMR). They are similar in many respects to Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI)
meters. Interval and time-of-use meters historically have been installed to measure
commercial and industrial customers, but may not have automatic reading. Research by the
UK consumer group, showed that as many as one in three confuse smart meters
with energy monitors, also known as in-home display monitors. The installed base of smart
meters in Europe at the end of 2008 was about 39 million units, according to analyst firm
Berg Insight. Globally, Pike Research found that smart meter shipments were 17.4 million
units for the first quarter of 2011. Vision gain determined that the value of the global smart
meter market would reach US$7 billion in 2012. As of January 2018, over 99 million
electricity meters were deployed across the European Union, with an estimated 24 million
more to be installed by the end of 2020. The European Commission DG Energy estimates the
2020 installed base to have required €18.8 billion in investment, growing to €40.7 billion by
2030, with a total deployment of 266 million smart meters. By the end of 2018, the U.S. had
over 86 million smart meters installed. In 2017, there were 665 million smart meters
installed globally. Revenue generation is expected to grow from $12.8 billion in 2017 to $20
billion by 2022. Smart meters may be part of a smart grid, but do not themselves constitute
a smart grid.
Brief history
In 1972, Theodore Paraskevakos, while working with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama,
developed a sensor monitoring system that used digital transmission for security, fire, and
medical alarm systems as well as meter reading capabilities. This technology was a spin-off
from the automatic telephone line identification system, now known as Caller ID.In 1974,
Paraskevakos was awarded a U.S. patent for this technology. In 1977, he launched
Metretek, Inc., which developed and produced the first smart meters. Since this system was
developed pre-Internet, Metretek utilized the IBM series 1 mini-computer. For this
approach, Paraskevakos and Metretek were awarded multiple patents.

Benefits
Since the inception of electricity deregulation and market-driven pricing throughout the world,
utilities have been looking for a means to match consumption with generation. Non-smart electrical
and gas meters only measure total consumption, providing no information of when the energy was
consumed. Smart meters provide a way of measuring electricity consumption in near real-time. This
allows utility companies to charge different prices for consumption according to the time of day and
the season. It also facilitates more accurate cash-flow models for utilities. Since smart meters can be
read remotely, labor costs are reduced for utilities.Smart metering offers potential benefits to
customers. These include, a) an end to estimated bills, which are a major source of complaints about
many customers b) a tool to help consumers better manage their energy purchases—smart meters
with a display outside their homes could provide up-to-date information on gas and electricity
consumption and in doing so help people to manage their energy use and reduce their energy bills.
With regards to consumption reduction, this is critical for understanding the benefits of smart
meters because the relatively small percentage benefits in terms of savings are multiplied by millions
of users. Smart meters for water consumption can also provide detailed and timely information
about customer water use and early notification of possible water leaks in their premises. Electricity
pricing usually peaks at certain predictable times of the day and the season. In particular, if
generation is constrained, prices can rise if power from other jurisdictions or more costly generation
is brought online. Proponents assert that billing customers at a higher rate for peak times
encourages consumers to adjust their consumption habits to be more responsive to market prices
and assert further, that regulatory and market design agencies hope these "price signals" could
delay the construction of additional generation or at least the purchase of energy from higher-priced
sources, thereby controlling the steady and rapid increase of electricity prices. An academic study
based on existing trials showed that homeowners' electricity consumption on average is reduced by
approximately 3-5% when provided with real-time feedback. Another advantage of smart meters
that benefits both customers and the utility is the monitoring capability they provide for the whole
electrical system. As part of an AMI, utilities can use the real-time data from smart meters
measurements related to current, voltage, and power factor to detect system disruptions more
quickly, allowing immediate corrective action to minimize customer impact such as blackouts. Smart
meters also help utilities understand the power grid needs with more granularity than legacy meters.
This greater understanding facilitates system planning to meet customer energy needs while
reducing the likelihood of additional infrastructure investments, which eliminates unnecessary
spending or energy cost increases.

Criticism of Smart Meter Roll-out in the UK

Citizens Advice said in August 2018 that 80% of people with a smart meter were happy with
them. Still, it had 3,000 calls in 2017 about problems. These related to first-generation smart
meters losing their functionality, aggressive sales practices, and still having to send smart
meter readings. Ross of the Foundation for Information Policy Research has criticized the
UK's program on the grounds that it is unlikely to lower energy consumption, is rushed and
expensive, and does not promote metering competition. Anderson writes, "the proposed
architecture ensures continued dominance of metering by energy industry incumbents
whose financial interests are in selling more energy rather than less," and urged ministers
"to kill the project and instead promote competition in domestic energy metering, as the
Germans do – and as the UK already has in industrial metering. Every consumer should have
the right to appoint the meter operator of their choice.In a 2011 submission to the Public
Accounts Committee, Anderson wrote that Ofgem was "making all the classic mistakes
which have been known for years to lead to public-sector IT project failures" and that the
"most critical part of the project—how smart meters will talk to domestic appliances to
facilitate demand response—is essentially ignored. The high number of SMETS1 meters
installed has been criticized by Peter Earl, head of energy at the price comparison website
comparethemarket.com. He said, "The Government expected there would only be a small
number of the first-generation of smart meters before Smets II came in, but the reality is
there are now at least five million and perhaps as many as 10 million Smets I meters. UK
smart meters use the mobile phone network to communicate, so they do not work correctly
when phone coverage is weak. A solution has been proposed, but was not operational as of
March 2017. In March 2018 the National Audit Office (NAO), which watches over public
spending, opened an investigation into the smart meter program, which had cost £11bn by
then, paid for by electricity users through higher bills.[31][32] The National Audit Office
published the findings of its investigation in a report titled "Rolling out smart meters"
published in November 2018. The report, amongst other findings, indicated that the number
of smart meters installed in the UK would fall materially short of the Department for
Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) original ambitions of all UK consumers having a
smart meter installed by 2020. In September 2019, smart meter rollout in the UK was
delayed for four years. Ross Anderson and Alex Henney wrote that "Ed Miliband cooked the
books" to make a case for smart meters appear economically viable. They say that the first
three cost-benefit analyses of residential smart meters found that it would cost more than it
would save, but "ministers kept on trying until they got a positive result... To achieve
'profitability' the previous government stretched the assumptions shamelessly".An
economist at Ofgem with oversight of the roll-out of the smart meter program who raised
concerns with his manager was threatened with imprisonment under a law intended to
protect national security. The Employment Appeal Tribunal found that the law was in
contravention of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Connectivity
Communication is a critical technological requirement for smart meters. Each meter must
be able to reliably and securely communicate the information collected to a central location.
Considering the varying environments and places where meters are found, that problem can
be daunting. Among the solutions proposed are: the use
of cell and pager networks, satellite, licensed radio, combination licensed and unlicensed
radio, and power line communication. Not only the medium used for communication
purposes, but also the type of network used, is critical. As such, one would find: fixed
wireless, wireless mesh network and wireless ad hoc networks, or a combination of the two.
There are several other potential network configurations possible, including the use of Wi-
Fi and other internet related networks. To date no one solution seems to be optimal for all
applications. Rural utilities have very different communication problems from urban utilities
or utilities located in difficult locations such as mountainous regions or areas ill-served by
wireless and internet companies.In addition to communication with the head-end network,
smart meters may need to be part of a home area network, which can include an in-
premises display and a hub to interface one or more meters with the head end.
Technologies for this network vary from country to country, but include power line
communication, wireless ad hoc network, and ZigBee.

Protocols
ANSI C12.18 is an ANSI Standard that describes a protocol used for two-way
communications with a meter, mostly used in North American markets. The C12.18
Standard is written specifically for meter communications via an ANSI Type 2 Optical Port,
and specifies lower-level protocol details. ANSI C12.19 specifies the data tables that are
used. ANSI C12.21 is an extension of C12.18 written for modem instead of optical
communications, so it is better suited to automatic meter reading. ANSI C12.22 is the
communication protocol for remote communications.IEC 61107 is a communication
protocol for smart meters published by the IEC that is widely used for utility meters in the
European Union. It is superseded by IEC 62056, but remains in wide use because it is simple
and well-accepted. It sends ASCII data using a serial port. The physical media are either
modulated light, sent with an LED and received with a photodiode, or a pair of wires, usually
modulated by EIA-485. The protocol is half-duplex. IEC 61107 is related to, and sometimes
wrongly confused with, the FLAG protocol. Ferranti and Landis+Gyr were early proponents
of an interface standard that eventually became a sub-set of IEC1107.The Open Smart Grid
Protocol (OSGP) is a family of specifications published by the European Telecommunications
Standards Institute (ETSI) used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 14908 control networking
standard for smart metering and smart grid applications. Millions of smart meters based on
OSGP are deployed worldwide. On July 15, 2015, the OSGP Alliance announced the release
of a new security protocol (OSGP-AES-128-PSK) and its availability from OSGP vendors. This
deprecated the original OSGP-RC4-PSK security protocol which had been identified to be
vulnerable. There is a growing trend toward the use of TCP/IP technology as a common
communication platform for Smart Meter applications, so that utilities can deploy multiple
communication systems, while using IP technology as a common management platform. [42]
[43]
 A universal metering interface would allow for development and mass production of
smart meters and smart grid devices prior to the communication standards being set, and
then for the relevant communication modules to be easily added or switched when they
are. This would lower the risk of investing in the wrong standard as well as permit a single
product to be used globally even if regional communication standards vary. Some smart
meters may use a test IR LED to transmit non-encrypted usage data that bypasses meter
security by transmitting lower level data in real-time.
Data Management
The other critical technology for smart meter systems is the information technology at the
utility that integrates the Smart Meter networks with utility applications, such as billing and
CIS. This includes the Meter Data Management system.It also is essential for smart grid
implementations that power line communication (PLC) technologies used within the home
over a Home Area Network (HAN), are standardized and compatible. The HAN allows HVAC
systems and other household appliances to communicate with the smart meter, and from
there to the utility. Currently there are several broadband or narrowband standards in
place, or being developed, that are not yet compatible. To address this issue, the National
Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST) established the PAP15 group, which studies
and recommends coexistence mechanisms with a focus on the harmonization of PLC
Standards for the HAN. The objective of the group is to ensure that all PLC technologies
selected for the HAN coexist as a minimum. The two leading broadband PLC technologies
selected are the HomePlug AV / IEEE 1901 and ITU-T G.hn technologies. Technical working
groups within these organizations are working to develop appropriate coexistence
mechanisms. The HomePlug Powerline Alliance has developed a new standard for smart grid
HAN communications called the HomePlug Green PHY specification. It is interoperable and
coexistent with the widely deployed HomePlug AV technology and with the latest IEEE
1901 global Standard and is based on Broadband OFDM technology. ITU-T commissioned in
2010 a new project called G.hnem, to address the home networking aspects of energy
management, built upon existing Low Frequency Narrowband OFDM
technologies.The Google.org's PowerMeter, until its demise in 2011,[47] was able to use a
smart meter for tracking electricity usage, as can eMeter' Energy Engage as in, for example,
the PowerCentsDC(TM) demand response program.
Advanced Metering Infrastructure
Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) refers to systems that measure, collect, and
analyze energy usage, and communicate with metering devices such as electricity meters,
gas meters, heat meters, and water meters, either on request or on a schedule. These
systems include hardware, software, communications, consumer energy displays and
controllers, customer associated systems, meter data management software, and supplier
business systems.Government agencies and utilities are turning toward advanced metering
infrastructure (AMI) systems as part of larger "smart grid" initiatives. AMI extends automatic
meter reading (AMR) technology by providing two-way meter communications, allowing
commands to be sent toward the home for multiple purposes, including time-based
pricing information, demand-response actions, or remote service disconnects. Wireless
technologies are critical elements of the neighborhood network, aggregating a mesh
configuration of up to thousands of meters for back haul to the utility’s IT headquarters.The
network between the measurement devices and business systems allows the collection and
distribution of information to customers, suppliers, utility companies, and service providers.
This enables these businesses to participate in demand response services. Consumers can
use the information provided by the system to change their normal consumption patterns to
take advantage of lower prices. Pricing can be used to curb the growth of peak
demand consumption. AMI differs from traditional automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it
enables two-way communications with the meter. Systems only capable of meter readings
do not qualify as AMI systems.
Opposition and Concerns
Some groups have expressed concerns regarding the cost, health, fire
risk, security and privacy effects of smart meters[51] and the remote controllable "kill switch"
that is included with most of them. Many of these concerns regard wireless-only smart
meters with no home energy monitoring or control or safety features. Metering-only
solutions, while popular with utilities because they fit existing business models and have
cheap up-front capital costs, often result in such "backlash". Often the entire smart
grid and smart building concept is discredited in part by confusion about the difference
between home control and home area network technology and AMI. The (now former)
attorney general of Connecticut has stated that he does not believe smart meters provide
any financial benefit to consumers, however, the cost of the installation of the new system
is absorbed by those customers.
Security
Smart meters expose the power grid to cyberattacks that could lead to power outages, both
by cutting off people's electricity and by overloading the grid.[54] However many cyber
security experts state that smart meters of UK and Germany have a relatively high
cybersecurity and that any such attack there would thus require extraordinarily high efforts
or financial resources.[55][56][57] The EU Cyber security Act took effect in June 2019, which
includes Directive on Security Network and Information Systems establishing notification
and security requirements for operators of essential services.Through the Smartgrid
Cybersecurity Committee, the U.S. Department of Energy published cybersecurity guidelines
for grid operators in 2010 and updated them in 2014.  The guidelines “…present an
analytical framework that organizations can use to develop effective cybersecurity
strategies…” Implementing security protocols that protect these devices from malicious
attacks has been problematic, due to their limited computational resources and long
operational life.The current version of IEC 62056 includes the possibility to
encrypt, authenticate, or sign the meter data.One proposed smart meter data verification
method involves analyzing the network traffic in real-time to detect anomalies using
an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) By identifying exploits as they are being leveraged by
attackers, an IDS mitigates the suppliers' risks of energy theft by consumers and denial-of-
service attacks by hackers. Energy utilities must choose between a centralized IDS,
embedded IDS, or dedicated IDS depending on the individual needs of the utility.
Researchers have found that for a typical advanced metering infrastructure, the centralized
IDS architecture is superior in terms of cost efficiency and security gains. In the United
Kingdom, the Data Communication Company, which transports the commands from the
supplier to the smart meter, performs an additional anomaly check on commands issued
(and signed) by the energy supplier.As Smart Meter devices are Intelligent Measurement
Devices which periodically record the measured values and send the data encrypted to the
Service Provider, therefore in Switzerland these devices need to be evaluated by an
evaluation Laboratory, and need to be certified by METAS from 01.01.2020 according to
Prüfmethodologie (Test Methodology for Execution of Data Security Evaluation of Swiss
Smart Metering Components).According to a report published by Brian Krebs, in 2009
a Puerto Rico electricity supplier asked the FBI to investigate large-scale thefts of electricity
related to its smart meters. The FBI found that former employees of the power company
and the company that made the meters were being paid by consumers to reprogram the
devices to show incorrect results, as well as teaching people how to do it themselves.

Health and Safety

Most health concerns about the meters arise from the pulsed radiofrequency (RF) radiation
emitted by wireless smart meters. Members of the California State Assembly asked
the California Council on Science and Technology (CCST) to study the issue of potential
health impacts from smart meters, in particular whether current FCC standards are
protective of public health. The CCST report in April 2011 found no health impacts, based
both on lack of scientific evidence of harmful effects from radio frequency (RF) waves and
that the RF exposure of people in their homes to smart meters is likely to be minuscule
compared to RF exposure to cell phones and microwave ovens. Daniel Hirsch, retired
director of the Program on Environmental and Nuclear Policy at UC Santa Cruz, criticized the
CCST report on the grounds that it did not consider studies that suggest the potential for
non-thermal health effects such as latent cancers from RF exposure. Hirsch also stated that
the CCST report failed to correct errors in its comparison to cell phones and microwave
ovens and that, when these errors are corrected, smart meters "may produce cumulative
whole-body exposures far higher than that of cell phones or microwave ovens." The Federal
Communications Commission (FCC) has adopted recommended Permissible Exposure Limit
(PEL) for all RF transmitters (including smart meters) operating at frequencies of 300 kHz to
100 GHz. These limits, based on field strength and power density, are below the levels of RF
radiation that are hazardous to human health.Other studies substantiate the finding of the
California Council on Science and Technology (CCST). In 2011, the Electric Power Research
Institute performed a study to gauge human exposure to smart meters as compared to the
FCC PEL. The report found that most smart meters only transmit RF signals 1% of the time or
less. At this rate, and at a distance of 1 foot from the meter, RF exposure would be at a rate
of 0.14% of the FCC PEL. Issues surrounding smart meters causing fires have also been
reported, particularly involving the manufacturer's Sensus. In 2012. PECO Energy
Company replaced the Sensus meters it had deployed in the Philadelphia region after
reports that a number of the units had overheated and caused fires. In July
2014, SaskPower, the province-run utility company of the Canadian province
of Saskatchewan, halted its roll-out of Sensus meters after similar, isolated incidents were
discovered. Shortly afterward, Portland General Electric announced that it would replace
70,000 smart meters that had been deployed in the state of Oregon after similar reports.
The company noted that it had been aware of the issues since at least 2013, and they were
limited to specific models it had installed between 2010 and 2012.[69] On July 30, 2014, after
a total of eight recent fire incidents involving the meters, SaskPower was ordered by
the Government of Saskatchewan to immediately end its smart meter program, and remove
the 105,000 smart meters it had installed.
Privacy Concerns
One technical reason for privacy concerns is that these meters send detailed information
about how much electricity is being used each time. More frequent reports provide more
detailed information. Infrequent reports may be of little benefit for the provider, as it
doesn't allow as good demand management in the response of changing needs for
electricity. On the other hand, widespread reports would allow the utility company to
infer behavioral patterns for the occupants of a house, such as when the members of the
household are probably asleep or absent. Furthermore, the fine-grained information
collected by smart meters raises growing concerns of privacy invasion due to personal
behavior exposure (private activity, daily routine, etc.). Current trends are to increase the
frequency of reports. A solution that benefits both provider and user privacy would be to
adapt the interval dynamically. Another solution involves energy storage installed at the
household used to reshape the energy consumption profile. In British Columbia the electric
utility is government-owned and as such must comply with privacy laws that prevent the
sale of data collected by smart meters; many parts of the world are serviced by private
companies that are able to sell their data. In Australia debt collectors can make use of the
data to know when people are at home. Used as evidence in a court case in Austin, Texas,
police agencies secretly collected smart meter power usage data from thousands of
residences to determine which used more power than "typical" to identify marijuana
growing operations. Smart meter power data usage patterns can reveal much more than
how much power is being used. Research has demonstrated that smart meters sampling
power levels at two-second intervals can reliably identify when different electrical devices
are in use. Ross Anderson has written about privacy concerns. He writes "It is not necessary
for my meter to tell the power company, let alone the government, how much I used in
every half-hour period last month"; that meters can provide "targeting information for
burglars"; that detailed energy usage history can help energy companies to sell users
exploitative contracts; and that there may be "a temptation for policymakers to use smart
metering data to target any needed power cuts."

Opt-out Options
Reviews of smart meter programs, moratoriums, delays, and "opt-out" programs are some
responses to the concerns of customers and government officials. In response to residents
who did not want a smart meter, in June 2012 a utility in Hawaii changed its smart meter
program to "opt out".The utility said that once the smart grid installation project is nearing
completion, KIUC may convert the deferral policy to an opt-out policy or program and may
charge a fee to those members to cover the costs of servicing the traditional meters. Any
fee would require approval from the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission.After receiving
numerous complaints about health, hacking, and privacy concerns with the wireless digital
devices, the Public Utility Commission of the US state of Maine voted to allow customers to
opt-out of the meter change at the cost of $12 a month. In Connecticut, another US state to
consider smart metering, regulators declined a request by the state's largest
utility, Connecticut Light & Power, to install 1.2 million of the devices, arguing that the
potential savings in electric bills do not justify the cost. CL&P already offers its customers
time-based rates. The state's Attorney General George Jepsen was quoted as saying the
proposal would cause customers to spend upwards of $500 million on meters and get few
benefits in return, a claim that Connecticut Light & Power disputed.
Lack of Savings in Results
There are questions about whether electricity is or should be primarily a "when you need it"
service where the inconvenience/cost-benefit ratio of time-shifting of loads is poor. In the
Chicago area, Commonwealth Edison ran a test installing smart meters on 8,000 randomly
selected households together with variable rates and rebates to encourage cutting back
during peak usage. In Crain's Chicago Business article "Smart grid test underwhelms. In the
pilot, few power down to save money.", it was reported that fewer than 9% exhibited any
amount of peak usage reduction and that the overall amount of reduction was "statistically
insignificant".This was from a report by the Electric Power Research Institute, a utility
industry think tank who conducted the study and prepared the report. Susan Satter, senior
assistant Illinois attorney general for public utilities said "It's devastating to their plan......The
report shows zero statistically different result compared to business as usual."  By 2016, the
7 million smart meters in Texas had not persuaded many people to check their energy data
as the process was too complicated. A report from a parliamentary group in the UK suggests
people who have smart meters installed are expected to save an average of £11 annually on
their energy bills, much less than originally hoped. The 2016 cost-benefit analysis was
updated in 2019 and estimated a similar average saving.
Erratic Demand
Smart meters can allow real-time pricing, and in theory this could help smooth power
consumption as consumers adjust their demand in response to price changes. However,
modelling by researchers at the University of Bremen suggests that in certain circumstances,
"power demand fluctuations are not dampened but amplified instead.
Power Theft
Power theft is normally done by two methods that is bypassing or hooking. So to detect it, a
system (current measuring and comparing) is proposed in which the household distribution
of current is done indirectly from the electric pole to an intermediate distributor box and
then to the individual houses. The current is measured periodically in the distributor box
and is posted to the server database for each house using GSM/GPRS module. Similarly, for
each house electric meter is designed which can measure the value of the current and post
the same to the server database periodically using GSM/GPRS module. At the time of the
installation of the electric meter the details of the users are stored in the database through
a user friendly mobile application including the address, latitude, longitude using mobile
GPS and the photograph of the user's house/area. Upon successful comparison between the
current values from distributor box and electric meter in the server if we get a marginal
difference between the currents then the theft is detected. Finally, the details of the user
are shared with the authorized mobile application including the address and photograph of
the area. The latitude and longitude are also used to show the area of theft in Google maps.
And hence the required steps are taken. The same process is used for hooking but on the
individual electric poles.
Choosing an MCU for Smart Energy Meters
Smart electricity meters are evolving rapidly with different architectures used
in markets around the world (as well as different regulatory requirements).
Since they are in the process of being rolled out to utility customers by the
hundreds of millions, there is great interest in — and great reward for —
successful smart meter designs.In their most basic form, utility meters provide
energy and power measurement, data transmission, real-time clock upkeep,
and data display on the meter’s front panel. Key design requirements for smart
meters include the following: (1) they should operate at low energy so they
can run for prolonged periods on battery power, and (2) they must include
security features that can protect the content of communications and the
safety of stored data.Basic meters also provide one-way communication,
enabling electricity providers to read the meter automatically and remotely
using different communication solutions including RF wireless, power line
carrier, and General Packet Radio System (GPRS) data communications.Smart
meters with Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) architecture provide two-
way communications and offer the benefits of improved reliability and
accuracy, the ability to monitor outages, and provide remote disconnect as
well as the option of adding variable tariffs laden with incentives to consumers
to shift peak loads. Smart meters can also communicate directly with other
meters and with in-house display units to allow both the utilities and their
customers to better manage energy consumption.As implementations and
architectures become more sophisticated, electricity meters demand more
processing power and more flash memory for software stacks, communication
protocols, and firmware updates. The meter also has a communications
interface. In the U.S., many companies have selected the ZigBee wireless radio
as the link to the utility, while in Europe, a number of utility groups have
agreed to use power-line communications nodes.
MCU requirements
Low power consumption is a principal requirement of the smart energy meter and, in turn,
of the MCU that enables sensing/measuring of power usage. Low power consumption is also
beneficial because even though electricity meters are powered by the mains, they must be
able to use battery power if power is lost so the real-time clock (RTC) remains running.
MCUs for a smart meter application need to have high-resolution A/D converters for current
and voltage measurement; usually 16- or 24-bit A/D speed is not an issue, so sigma-delta
converters may be used. Dual A/Ds are usually needed for simultaneous measurements and
a third A/D may be needed for temperature measurement and intrusion detection — a must
to prevent meter tampering. The data transmission will most likely need to be encrypted
using AES, DES, RSA, ECC, or SHA-256. An IC with high EMC rejection reduces the need for
external components. And an EEPROM may be required for data logging and to store
calibration data.Metrology could be a one-, two-, or three-phase energy measurement. A
single-phase meter is common in most residential applications. This typically has one
voltage and one current to be measured, and it supports low to medium load. A dual-phase
meter, which is not as common worldwide and is employed mainly in Japan, has two
voltages and two currents to be measured. Each phase is off by 180º, and it is typically for
medium to large loads. Finally, three-phase measurements are commonly used for large
office spaces and industrial applications. There are three different phases that are 120º out
of phase with each other. Three voltages and three currents need to be measured, so a
minimum of six ADCs are needed to get an instantaneous snapshot of energy consumption
and power factor. Inclusion of a programmable gain stage for each A/D in the candidate
MCU is a big aid to the sensor interface.In energy-metering service, an MCU may have to
handle many things. Figure 1 is a functional block diagram that shows the processor in the
center and also the various peripherals the processor may be required to handle in a good
smart meter design.

So now that we have defined the requirements of an MCU for smart energy meter service,
where do we find such a thing? Here are a few possibilities.

32-bit energy-metering IC
The NXP EM773FHN33 is an ARM Cortex-M0 based, low-cost, 32-bit, energy-metering IC. It
runs at 48 MHz and features a nested vectored interrupt controller, serial wire debug, 32
Kbytes of flash, and 8 Kbytes of SRAM. Also, in its peripheral complement, the MCU includes
an I²C bus interface, an RS-485/EIA-485 UART, one SPI interface with SSP features, three
general-purpose counter/timers, up to 25 general-purpose I/O pins, and a “metrology
engine” designed to collect voltage and current inputs to calculate the active power,
reactive power, apparent power, and power factor of a load.There are two current inputs
and a voltage input, and the part has a stated 1 percent measurement accuracy. It comes in
a 7 x 7 x 0.85 mm HVQFN plastic thermally enhanced, thin quad flat package with 33
terminals. The energy-metering IC is 1 percent accurate for scalable input sources up to 230
V/50 Hz/16 A and 110 V/60 Hz/20.
16-bit MCU with high-resolution ADCs
The Texas Instruments MSP430AFE253IPW low-power 16-bit MCU targets utility metering
applications with a single-phase metrology analogue front end that supports 0.1 percent
accuracy over a 2,400:1 dynamic range. The MSP430AFE253IPW has three 24-bit sigma-
delta A/D converters and up to 16 Kbytes of flash, 512 bytes of RAM, and temperature
measurement. This MCU also has one, faster, 10-bit A/D. The accuracy spec given for the 24-
bit A/D is an offset error of ±0.2 percent of FS maximum – which makes it about a 19-bit
converter. Active mode supply current is only 220 µA at 1 MHz, 2.2 V and standby is 0.5 µA.
It runs at -40° to 85°C. One of the A/Ds can be used for tamper protection.
There are nine versions of the MSP430AFE2xx device family (Figure 2), and all have SPI and
UART interfaces, an LCD controller, 16-bit timers/PWMs, a watchdog, and a hardware
multiplier. These chips do not have a real-time clock or data encryption.

8- or 32-bit options
The 8-bit Freescale MC9S08GW MCU (Figure 3) features two 16-bit A/D converters with
dedicated differential amplifiers and up to 16-channels. The device has 64 Kbytes of flash, an
RTC with tamper protection, a LCD controller for up to 288 segments, and CRC data checking. It
runs at up to 20 MHz at 3.6 to 2.15 V and up to 10 MHz at 1.8 V. The chip comes in a 10 x 10 mm
or 14 x 14 mm LQFP package.Another possibility from Freescale is their K30 Cortex-M4-based
32-bit MCUs with a low-power segment LCD controller that drives up to 320 segments (Figure 3).
The PK30X256VLQ100 has a single 6-bit A/D converter, 256 Kbytes of flash, a RTC, an interrupt
controller, and CRC data checking.

MCUs with an LCD driver and low-power modes

Microchip’s PIC18F87K90 is a good choice for metering, though its 24-channel A/D
conversion is limited to 12-bit resolution. It has a real-time clock, 128 Kbytes of flash and 1
Kbyte of EEPROM, plus LCD drive for 192 pixels and four external interrupts. In power down
mode, the IC’s supply current is a maximum of 600 nA at 60°C. The RTC takes a maximum of
4.6 μA at 3.3 V and 60°C. The A/D integral linearity error is ±1 LSB typical, but is ±6.0 LSB
maximum — quite a spread. The differential linearity error is specified as ±1 typical and
+3.0/–1.0 maximum. This is over the industrial temperature range. No encryption or tamper
proofing is provided.

An SoC approach
A somewhat different approach is taken by Analog Devices, whose ADE7880 isn’t really an MCU
but more of an SOC with “computational blocks” tuned for the electronic-meter application. It is
intended for three-phase energy measurement and features an adaptive real time monitoring
harmonic engine.

The ADE7880 device incorporates second-order sigma-delta (Σ-Δ) analog-to-digital converters

(ADCs), a digital integrator, reference circuitry, and all of the signal processing required to
perform the total (fundamental and harmonic) active, and apparent energy measurements, rms
calculations, as well as fundamental-only active and reactive energy measurements The IC can
monitor three user-selectable harmonics, in addition to the fundamental. It automatically tracks
fundamental frequency and provides real-time harmonic measurement updates. Harmonic
analysis includes current rms, voltage rms, and active, reactive, and apparent powers, power
factor, plus harmonic distortion, and total harmonic distortion plus noise (THD + N) calculations.

The ADE7880 incorporates seven second-order Σ-Δ A/D converters, a digital integrator, reference
circuitry, and all the signal-processing power required. It supports IEC 62053-21, IEC 62053-22,
IEC 62053-23, EN 50470-1, EN 50470-3, ANSI C12.20, and IEC 61000-4-7 standards and takes
about 25 mA to operate.

Summary
The six example MCUs for smart meter applications discussed here are very capable and
form the focal point of a smart meter system. While some MCUs are available with
integrated AFEs, in other cases signal capture and conversion requirements can lead to the
use of a separate analog-front-end chip. In an electricity meter, the AFE senses the current
and voltage, converts the sensed values into digital form, and then sends the digital values
to the microcontroller. In all cases, other components will be needed for full smart meter
operation. Peripheral devices essential for smart meters are devices such as EEPROM chips
and a photocoupler that provides line isolation. And, of course, software is needed to carry
out diverse data-processing functions—including power usage calculations, and processing
of a customer’s energy costs.
That said, all of the MCUs mentioned are available now, and with one or two external ICs
the complete smart meter function can be implemented — and at very low power
consumption. For more information, use the links provided to access product pages on the
Digi-Key website.

IoT and smart meters

Traditionally being a part of the electrical grid infrastructure, a smart meter is an electronic
device that allows for remote monitoring and recording of energy consumption. However, in
the age of IoT and IoT platforms, standalone smart meters give way to more advanced and
multi-purpose smart metering solutions. These solutions offer a broader range of remote
monitoring and alerting capabilities as well as provide powerful data analytics tools to help
companies and individual users optimize their energy, water, gas, or fuel consumption.A
typical challenge for companies implementing smart meters is how to integrate them within
their infrastructure and set up custom-tailored smart metering use cases. The best way to
achieve these goals is by using an IoT platform that offers out-of-the-box solutions and
templates for smart metering, such as ThingsBoard. One of the strongest advantages of an
enterprise-grade IoT platform is its data processing capabilities. Not only will you be able to
collect data from your diverse smart meters in a centralized way, but also set up custom
visualization dashboards, configure user alerts and notifications, and feed the collected data
into other applications or data stores. Another critical advantage is the cost of smart
metering implementation. Using an IoT platform allows you to have all the necessary
functionality right away and focus on building particular smart metering use cases instead,
saving time and avoiding the risks associated with in-house IoT development.