Fortum, the largest utility in Finland, has selected Echelon Corporation to provide smart grid-supporting software in a new project involving some 550,000 customers in the country. Telvent, a value-added reseller for Echelon, will provide Echelon’s Networked Energy Services (NES) system.
Fortum is a leading energy company among the Nordic countries and Russia along the Baltic Rim. The company generates, distributes, and sells electricity and aims to become the leading sustainable utility. The new project will be the largest smart meter deployment in Finland where there are approximately 3.1 million electricity customers. The new project will include more than one-sixth of them.
Depending on which type of system configuration is selected, Echelon expects the new contract to be worth between $50 and $60 million. The smart meter installations are scheduled to begin sometime in 2011 with completion coming by the end of 2013.
Fortum picked Echelon’s system for its ability to meet key objectives involving energy savings and home automation. The NES system can provide precise hourly measurements to retail customers as well as bi-directional measurement of renewable power generated at the home.
“With the new smart meters invoicing will be based on real electricity consumption,” says Timo Karttinen, senior vice president for corporate development at Fortum. “Better knowledge in turn improves energy efficiency and makes it easier to operate and manage network capacity when actual customer electricity consumption is known. In addition, the smart meters will be used for faster power failure resolution and as a platform for future services within electricity solutions.”
“We are pleased to be chosen by Fortum for this project,” said Manuel Sanchez Ortega, chairman and CEO for Telvent. “Finnish regulators have specified a rich set of high-level requirements that the smart grid infrastructure must meet, a trend we see growing throughout the world.”
“Utilities and regulators are looking to leverage their investments to build a truly smart grid, and together with Echelon, we are confident that we will help Fortum to achieve that goal,” Ortega continued. “Echelon has been a great partner, and I am sure that we will continue our successful relationship for many years.”
Echelon’s NES system includes smart meters that are connected by an IP-based network. The solution provides a high level of visibility into the power grid in addition to advanced billing services. Utilities benefit from the system through streamlined operations processes and enhanced customer service. Equipped with a secure ZigBee wireless interface, Fortum will be able to transmit information between smart meters and other devices within the home.
“This win demonstrates the vast capability of the NES system,” said Ken Oshman, chairman and CEO of Echelon. “We believe it provides the most advanced, flexible, and cost-effective smart grid infrastructure solution available. This win also demonstrates the strength and experience that our partner, Telvent, has in building powerful solutions that meet the growing needs of electric utilities worldwide.”
Echelon Corporation550 Meridian Ave.San Jose, CA 95126 USAhttp://www.echelon.com/
Fortum CorporationKeilaniementie 1, EspooP.O. Box 1FI-00048Finlandhttp://www.fortum.com/
Telvent Git, S.AValgrande, 6 28108Alcobendas, MADSpainhttp://www.telvent.com/
http://www.smartmeters.com/the-news/618-finlands-largest-utility-announces-smart-grid-project.html
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Région Europe. Afficher tous les articles
Affichage des articles dont le libellé est Région Europe. Afficher tous les articles
lundi 31 août 2009
lundi 27 juillet 2009
Liste de diffusion relative aux appareils à faible portée (AFP) et à l'ultra large bande (ULB)
L'évolution des bandes de fréquence est un élément critique pour le smart metering. Suivre et peser sur ses evolutions est une nécessité pour notre domaine.
Une liste ‘SRD’ (Short Range Devices) vient d’être créée par l'ANFR à partir de diverses listes existantes relatives aux appareils à faible portée (AFP) et aux applications ULB (UWB).
Cette nouvelle liste sera utilisée en premier lieu pour la préparation des réunions des équipes projets SRD/MG et FM47 du WGFM et la diffusion des comptes-rendus de réunion et autres documents pertinents.
Si vous souhaitez suivre ces travaux réglementaires, vous pouvez vous abonner sur cette page http://lists.anfr.fr/mailman/listinfo/srd
Via Emmanuel Faussurier de l'ANFR
Une liste ‘SRD’ (Short Range Devices) vient d’être créée par l'ANFR à partir de diverses listes existantes relatives aux appareils à faible portée (AFP) et aux applications ULB (UWB).
Cette nouvelle liste sera utilisée en premier lieu pour la préparation des réunions des équipes projets SRD/MG et FM47 du WGFM et la diffusion des comptes-rendus de réunion et autres documents pertinents.
Si vous souhaitez suivre ces travaux réglementaires, vous pouvez vous abonner sur cette page http://lists.anfr.fr/mailman/listinfo/srd
Via Emmanuel Faussurier de l'ANFR
jeudi 18 juin 2009
Z-Wave Smart Utility Metering Application by the danish Modddtroem
Moddstroem un utilies Danois experimente differentes technologies et usages autour du compteur. Interessant !
"Modstroem, an exciting new Danish utility company, is guaranteeing its customers savings on their electricity bill with their innovative core product offering. Combining with Z-Wave based tools to monitor energy use; Modstroem can advise consumers on how to reduce their energy consumption. The savings can then be returned to the household or it can be reinvested in CO2 quotes that Modstroem buys and destroys. An ordinary household with an average consumption of 4000 kWh per year can thus save the environment at least two tons of CO2 per year. After successfully conquering the Home Control market and building up an impressive eco-system of products, Z-Wave is now equally strongly entering the utility market.
"Modstroem, an exciting new Danish utility company, is guaranteeing its customers savings on their electricity bill with their innovative core product offering. Combining with Z-Wave based tools to monitor energy use; Modstroem can advise consumers on how to reduce their energy consumption. The savings can then be returned to the household or it can be reinvested in CO2 quotes that Modstroem buys and destroys. An ordinary household with an average consumption of 4000 kWh per year can thus save the environment at least two tons of CO2 per year. After successfully conquering the Home Control market and building up an impressive eco-system of products, Z-Wave is now equally strongly entering the utility market.
“With its undisputed strength in interoperability and its range of available products, Z-Wave does not only provide for the simple communication from an electricity meter to a gateway and a wireless display in the home. It also enables the control of devices in th home that actually consume the power. Especially this second aspect is essential for Modstroem’s advanced service and key to actually achieving energy reduction without compromising comfort for the consumer”, says Roar Seeger, CEO of Modstroem."
jeudi 16 avril 2009
First deal outside the United States with two Australian utilities
Deux utilities australiens vont installer 1 million de compteurs intelligents d'ici 2013. Les différents marchés internationaux offrent des défis différents pour le déploiement de compteurs intelligents. Une petite revue des acteurs et des techno par région. Selon cet article EDF deployerai une solution CPL propriétaire.
15/04/2009
The smart meter networking and communications provider lands its first deal outside the United States with two Australian utilities planning to install 1 million smart meters by 2013. Different international markets offer different challenges for smart meter deployments.
http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/silver-spring-heads-down-under-6051.html
15/04/2009
The smart meter networking and communications provider lands its first deal outside the United States with two Australian utilities planning to install 1 million smart meters by 2013. Different international markets offer different challenges for smart meter deployments.
Silver Spring Networks has landed its first contract outside the United States – a deal to enable an eventual 1 million smart meters in Australia with its networking technology.
The Redwood City, Calif.-based startup announced the deal with Australian utilities Jemena Electricity Networks and United Energy Distribution on Wednesday. The utilities hope to have 1 million Silver Spring-enabled smart meters from U.K.-based meter maker PRI installed by 2013.
The news adds an international contract to the many Silver Spring has landed with U.S. utilities – Pacific Gas & Electric Co., Florida Power & Light and American Electric Power among them – to enable two-way communication between utilities and customers, thus making the meters "smart."
It's a booming business in the United States, which has an estimated 140 million traditional power meters that could be upgraded, though so far the number of smart meters installed is in the low millions, according to recent estimates (see Smart Meter Installations Grow Nearly Fivefold). Canada has another estimated 10 million endpoints.
But North America is far from the only market. In fact, Europe likely holds the current lead, with at least 27 million smart meters installed by Italian utility Enel and millions more in other nations, according to a March report from ABI Research (see Notes From a National Smart Grid Experiment).
Australia, with a population of about 21 million and an estimated 14 million "end-points," or homes and businesses served by power meters, isn't such a large market by comparison, noted Ben Schuman, an analyst with Pacific Crest Securities.
Still, landing the contract "validates that their solution can be applied to markets outside North America, which opens up a huge incremental opportunity for them," he said.
Specifically, he noted that the Australian deal indicates that the nation is a good candidate for Silver Spring's radio frequency mesh technology.
Silver Spring equips meters with radios that mesh together in a 900-megahertz frequency range and send data to central collectors for "backhaul" over utility wide-area networks -- a typical means of smart meter communications in the United States (see Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).
In contrast, European utilities have mostly opted for power-line carrier technologies that send data over existing power lines, Schuman said. Italy's Enel, which uses technology from Echelon Corp., is one example, he said. French utility EDF plans to use its own power-line carrier technology to link an eventual 35 million endpoints in a massive smart meter project, he said.
Power-line carrier is more cost-effective in Europe because utilities there tend to serve more homes per transformer than in the United States, he said. Because those transformers interfere with power-line carrier signals, they must be bypassed with repeater devices, at costs that tend to be too high in U.S. markets, he said (see Will Smart Grid See a Push for Power-Line Networking?).
Silver Spring's Australian presence could grow, said Eric Dresselhuys, vice president of markets. The Australian state of Victoria, which the utilities serve, has mandated that 2.5 million smart meters be installed within its borders, he said.
"There is now a national plan for smart meters in Australia," he added. "We suspect that all of the large utilities throughout the country are going to work to be in compliance with those requirements."
Other Australian utilities are trying different smart meter technologies. San Francisco-based Grid Net, which has developed technology for installing WiMax Internet routers in smart meters from partner General Electric, is testing them with SP AusNet and Energy Australia (see GE Offers WiMax Smart Meter Solution).
The utilities are also considering power-line carrier and cellular networks for their smart meter deployments, according to ZDNet Australia.
Silver Spring has raised about $160 million since 2007, including $90 million since October (see Silver Spring Grabs $75M and Green Light posts here and here).
The company expects to see about 2 million meters with its technology deployed by the end of 2009 (see Green Light post). PG&E, its biggest customer, had installed about 150,000 Silver Spring-enabled electric smart meters as of February, and plans to have 5.3 million electric meters installed by 2011, most of them using Silver Spring technology.
As for PRI, the U.K.-based smart meter maker is involved in projects in Europe, the Middle East and New Zealand as well as Australia, and also makes home energy monitoring devices.http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/silver-spring-heads-down-under-6051.html
jeudi 26 mars 2009
Amsterdam as Smart City: Going Green, Fast #market
Avec l'aide d'IBM, Cisco, Philips, Nueon et d'autres sociétés, la ville va disposer d'une infrastructure de contrôle d'énergie.
Among Amsterdam's 17th century town houses and meandering canals, big changes are afoot. On Utrechtsestraat, a major shopping avenue in the center of the Dutch capital, street trash soon will be collected by nonpolluting electric trucks, while the electronic displays in local bus stops will be powered by small solar panels. Elsewhere, 500 households will pilot an energy-saving system from IBM and Cisco aimed at cutting electricity costs. An additional 728 homes will have access to financing from Dutch banks ING and Rabobank to buy everything from energy-saving light bulbs to ultra-efficient roof insulation.
The projects, all getting under way over the next few months, represent Amsterdam's initial steps toward making its infrastructure more eco-friendly. The move comes as governments worldwide set aside billions of dollars to create so-called "smart cities," or towns that mix renewable projects, next-generation energy efficiency, and government support to cut overall carbon dioxide footprints. Yet, unlike cities that could take decades to upgrade their infrastructure, Amsterdam aims to complete its first-round investments by 2012. That makes it one of the first and most ambitious adopters of the smart city concept, attracting attention from policymakers worldwide hoping to glean lessons from the green experiment.
Among Amsterdam's 17th century town houses and meandering canals, big changes are afoot. On Utrechtsestraat, a major shopping avenue in the center of the Dutch capital, street trash soon will be collected by nonpolluting electric trucks, while the electronic displays in local bus stops will be powered by small solar panels. Elsewhere, 500 households will pilot an energy-saving system from IBM and Cisco aimed at cutting electricity costs. An additional 728 homes will have access to financing from Dutch banks ING and Rabobank to buy everything from energy-saving light bulbs to ultra-efficient roof insulation.
The projects, all getting under way over the next few months, represent Amsterdam's initial steps toward making its infrastructure more eco-friendly. The move comes as governments worldwide set aside billions of dollars to create so-called "smart cities," or towns that mix renewable projects, next-generation energy efficiency, and government support to cut overall carbon dioxide footprints. Yet, unlike cities that could take decades to upgrade their infrastructure, Amsterdam aims to complete its first-round investments by 2012. That makes it one of the first and most ambitious adopters of the smart city concept, attracting attention from policymakers worldwide hoping to glean lessons from the green experiment.
Smart Grid Technology
All told, the municipality, energy outfits, and private companies are expected to invest more than $1 billion over the next three years. That figure includes a $383 million investment by local electricity network operator Alliander in so-called "smart grid" technology that uses network sensors and improved domestic energy monitoring to trim electricity use. Also part of the plan: up to $255 million to be spent by local housing cooperatives on boosting household energy efficiency, and $383 million from companies including Phillips and Dutch utility Nuon to be invested in other energy-efficient technology.
"In the next year and a half, we expect to be the leading smart city in Europe," says Ger Baron, senior project manager at the Amsterdam Innovation Motor, a public-private joint venture that is overseeing the project. "We're in the right place at the right time."
The focus on cutting cities' emissions could have a major impact on the battle against global warming. As of 2006, more people now live in urban areas than in the countryside, and the sprawl surrounding megacities such as Mumbai and Saõ Paolo is only likely to increase. Consultancy Accenture reckons cities produce almost two-thirds of total global carbon dioxide emissions through a combination of car fumes, household energy use, and industrial manufacturing. In the coming years, policy shifts from the US and elsewhere will put even more pressure on controlling carbon output.
"Until now, there's been an underemphasis on what cities can do to cut emissions," says Mark Spelman, Accenture's global head of strategy.
Cutting Household Energy Use
That's why Accenture has teamed up with utilities in North America, Europe, and Asia to figure out the best way to reduce cities' carbon dioxide emissions. In the first project -- a $100 million venture in Boulder, Colo., led by Xcel Energy -- some 60,000 households will be connected to a smart electric grid by June 2009. In early trials, households have been able to cut their energy output by as much as 50 percent thanks to real-time network monitoring and the installation of smart meters that let customers adjust their energy use by time of day or other factors.
In Amsterdam, city planners are taking things a step further. Dutch grid operator Alliander, which is 30 percent owned by the province that includes Amsterdam, will spend €100 million ($127 million) annually until 2016 to upgrade its entire network to a smart grid. That will include installing new meters in homes that detail consumer energy use and relay the data back to utilities. By 2011, says Paulus Agterberg, Alliander's director of strategy and innovation, almost all of Amsterdam will be on a smart grid. "You have to spend your money (on infrastructure) in the right way," he adds.
As the city's energy infrastructure gets a face-lift, local policymakers also are devising ways to maximize the new smart grid technology. On tap are a dozen projects, split across consumer and commercial markets, that will begin as pilots but are expected to ramp up over the next three years depending on their success. One plan will give 728 households in Amsterdam access to microfinancing to buy energy-efficient products for their homes. Once installed, the investment will be repaid through savings on households' utility bills.
"Banks see this as a huge business opportunity, but they're still not sure how big the market will be," says Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron.
IBM and Cisco's Home Energy Display Panels
Another project, in conjunction with IBM and Cisco, will involve installing energy display panels into 500 homes that convert data from smart meters into comprehensible info for customers. That will allow households to more easily monitor their electricity use, as well as permit companies to offer additional services, such as appliances that could be controlled from the central display panel or domestic power points for electric cars. Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron says 200,000 homes, or almost one-third of the city's housing units, will be using the technology by 2011.
"The scope of the Amsterdam project is more ambitious (than plans in the US)," says Jeff Taft, Accenture's global smart grid chief architect.
Ambitious yes, but Amsterdam's plans come with a hefty price tag. According to estimates, it will cost $410 per household over 15 years to install smart grid technology alone. Additional outlays, particularly the up-to-$255-million estimated to make the city's homes energy-efficient, could be a tough sell for consumers already suffering in the economic downturn.
Yet by converting Amsterdam into a smart city, local planners expect to bolster the economy through public and private investment, as well as cut emissions by 40 percent by 2025. Says Amsterdam Innovation Motor's Baron: "The aim is to create innovation."
Scott is a reporter in BusinessWeek's London bureau.
source: http://www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,613503,00.htmlmercredi 18 mars 2009
ESMIG, promotes smart Metering in Europe. #normalisation
European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) est une fondation ouverte aux fournisseurs de produits et de services dans le domaine du comptage. Créer le 21 janvier 2009, cette fondation promeut le développement d'un standard open source et interopérable pour l'électricité, l'eau, le gaz et la mesure de chaleur. Leur devise est 20% de CO2 en moins, 20% d'efficacité en plus et 20% d'energie renouvelable en 2020. L'ESMIG est très impliqué dans l'initiative de l'ESOs. Elle a d'ailleurs signé en fevrier 2009 avec le CENELEC un accord de cooperation pour créer des outils standardisés d'optimisation des consommations en Europe. L'ESMIG est présidé par Landis + Gyr --esa.
* a consistent technological roll out in each of the 27 Member States of the EU and
* the provision of maximum benefit from the new technology for users, utilities and the environment.
The European Smart Metering Industry Group has been created by key players in the European Smart Metering market. ESMIG members are technical experts on all aspects of Smart Metering, i.e. utility metering, installation, consulting, software, meter reading, hosting and all relevant communications’ solutions.
Source: http://www.esmig.eu/
The foundation of the European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG) recognises the fact that the relevant industries have a key role to play in
* the general roll out and adequate use of Smart Metering technology,* a consistent technological roll out in each of the 27 Member States of the EU and
* the provision of maximum benefit from the new technology for users, utilities and the environment.
Traditionally, the primary role of utility metering has been to accurately measure usage of electricity, gas and water. Until now this usage data has been - with some exceptions - manually collected by the utilities. But the metering market is currently undergoing considerable change, and as smarter metering systems become available, they are being viewed as the future for utility metering.
ESMIG will give advice and provide its expertise to key stakeholders and actors, such as the European Union institutions, EU Member States governments and authorities, regulators, consumers and utilities on all aspects related to Smart Metering.
ESMIG has a number of objectives including:
- the pan-European introduction and roll out of Smart Metering through harmonisation and interoperability
- the creation and implementation of consistent standards for metering and communications
- the identification and promotion of best practice solutions for smart multi-utility metering.
The European Smart Metering Industry Group has been created by key players in the European Smart Metering market. ESMIG members are technical experts on all aspects of Smart Metering, i.e. utility metering, installation, consulting, software, meter reading, hosting and all relevant communications’ solutions.
Source: http://www.esmig.eu/
Echelon Corp. has released a new version of LonWorks #techno #market
Echelon annonce une nouvelle version de son réseau LonWorks 2.0. Cette version devrait notamment reduire le cout d'installation de 50%. L'article rappel qu'Echelon est très utilisé en Europe avec 1.5 millions de compteurs intelligents + 27 millions chez l'italien ENEL avec son réseau CPL . Bien implanté en Europe Echelon l'est assez peu au US malgrès quelques inititatives de déployement en Californie avec Pacific Gas & Electic (PCG) et Duke Energy (DUK). La technologie CPL Echellon et son concurant HomePlug (supporté par l'alliance Zigbee) ne sont toujours pas des standards ouverts --esa.
By Jeff St. John march 03, 2009
Echelon Corp. (ELON) has released a new version of LonWorks, its widely used technology for building automation to better integrate it into the company's smart grid efforts.
Now the question is, will utilities pick up on it?
Echelon's "LonWorks 2.0" platform announced Tuesday is meant to ease the integration of energy monitoring and control systems and devices into existing LonWorks networks, said Steve Nguyen, director of corporate marketing.
Hundreds of thousands of buildings are now using LonWorks as part of building management systems installed by Honeywell (HON), Siemens (SI) and other big players in the field.
LonWorks 2.0 promises to add a host of new products that can be integrated with existing and new systems, adding improvements that will cut the costs of installing those products by as much as 50 percent compared to the old systems, Nguyen said.
How the new and improved LonWorks platform might help the company's smart grid efforts remains to be seen.
Echelon's smart meter business – called Networked Energy Services – is based on smart meters that communicate data over power lines to concentrators that use IP-based communications networks to get information back to utilities.
Echelon's system has been widely adopted in Europe, with 1.5 million of its smart meters installed and 90 pilot projects underway, Nguyen said. Echelon also provided power line networking to a 27 million home smart meter project with Italian utility Enel (see Will Smart Grid See a Push for Power-Line Networking?).
But Echelon's system has been less popular in the United States, where most utilities have opted for radio mesh or other wireless communications to connect smart meters, citing the higher costs associated with power line networking (see SCE Preps $1.63B Smart-Meter Program and Smart Grid: A Matter of Standards).
While Echelon is working with several U.S. utilities to control streetlights, including major California utility Pacific Gas & Electric (PCG), so far Duke Energy (DUK) is the only U.S. utility to use Echelon for a major smart meter deployment.
The Charlotte, N.C.-based utility is working with Echelon in a project in Cincinnati, that has seen 60,000 smart meters installed so far, said David Mohler, Duke's chief technology officer.
Duke also is seeking regulatory permission to bring smart meters to more than 800,000 homes in its service area in Indiana. Nguyen said Echelon hopes to work on that project as well.
Duke plans to spend $1 billion to bring smart meters to its entire 4 million-household area in the next five years, so Echelon will likely be seeking to prove itself in the utility's initial deployments to get involved in those larger projects, according to a January research note from Deutsche Bank Securities analysts.
Could LonWorks 2.0 help Echelon win those contracts? It's hard to say, but given that LonWorks is already deployed in a large number of commercial buildings, "In the back of our mind is the idea of being able to connect some of that stuff" to Duke's smart meter network, Mohler said. The utility hasn't made any hard plans to do that yet, he added.
But Echelon would like to see Duke and other utilities look to commercial buildings as the target for energy savings, Nguyen said.
"That's really and truly the most near-term alternative energy in the market," as compared to homes, he said. The Department of Energy estimates that 70 percent of all electricity in the United States is consumed in commercial buildings, and 70 percent of that is consumed by lighting and heating, ventilation and air conditioning, he said.
While Nguyen wouldn't say what new products are coming out in conjunction with LonWorks 2.0, he did say the first would be aimed at the commercial market.
Bringing out a new version of LonWorks could be another way to "kickstart" Echelon's smart meter business in the United States, said John Quealy, managing director in equity research for Cannacord Adams.
"Echelon is at the nexus of two trends – utility communications and building communications," Quealy said. "But so far they haven't capitalized on it as such."
The company saw a slowdown in business in 2008, with a net loss of $25.8 million on revenues of $134 million, compared to a loss of $15.7 million on revenues of $137.6 million in 2007.
But the continuation of Duke's smart meter deployments, as well as the federal stimulus package signed into law this month, could boost Echelon's business in the long term, Quealy said (see Obama Signs Stimulus Package).
The bill contains $11 billion to modernize the nation's electricity grid, along with $4.5 billion in grants for smart grid technology deployments. It also has $5.5 billion for improving the energy efficiency of federal buildings, a market where Echelon's LonWorks has some penetration given that the U.S. Army uses it, Nguyen said.
Of course, others are looking to capitalize on making commercial buildings more efficient as well, including the companies that install LonWorks in their building control systems. Honeywell and Siemens are among those increasingly using their own proprietary networks in place of LonWorks, according to Deutsche Bank Securities' January research note.
And then there's Cisco Systems, which last month announced it was getting into the commercial building energy management business with its EnergyWise product running over its own networks. Schneider Electric – another huge building automation systems installer –has agreed to work with Cisco on that effort (see Cisco Jumps Into Energy Management for Computers, Buildings).
As for home energy monitoring and control systems, Echelon is already working with Samsung electronics for devices that monitor energy use in apartments in China and Korea, Nguyen said. Apartments are natural venues for power line communications, since the distances between meters (often located in the basement) and apartments above make wireless communications difficult.
Whether Echelon's power line signaling technology for carrying data from a smart meter over a building's electrical wiring will win out over competing standards is an open question. Another power line carrier technology is being developed by the HomePlug Powerline Alliance, a group of companies that is working with the ZigBee Alliance to integrate their efforts to bring communications technology into homes.
Given that ZigBee is emerging as a front-runner in the race to become the meter-to-home wireless communications protocol of choice for home energy management systems, that partnership could give HomePlug an advantage over Echelon's technology.
But Nguyen pointed out that Echelon's technology is the de-facto standard for building controls and power line carrier technology in Europe. The company's technology has also been accepted by a host of standards bodies including the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), he said.
As for using ZigBee instead of power line signaling, Echelon's smart meters can be retrofitted to carry ZigBee radios, Nguyen said, though no customers have done so yet.
source: seekingalpha.commardi 10 mars 2009
European standardization activities for smart meters
La commission Européenne a mandaté l'ESO (European Standardization Organizations) pour développer des standards Européens de communication ouvert et interopérables pour les compteurs. Un premier brouillon est prévu dans 3 mois (~avril 2009), le standard de communication sera présenté dans 9 mois (~oct 2009), les autres standards doivent être acceptés dans les 30 mois (~juillet 2012) --esa.
Note to CIML Members and OIML Corresponding Members 19.02.2009
Dear Colleagues, The European Commission has drafted a mandate to the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) for the development of European standards on an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability.
At the initiative of ESMIG, the recently formed European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC has taken the initiative to establish a cooperation between the ESOs (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and stakeholder organizations (including the OIML) of standardization activities relating to smart metering.
This BIML Circular is intended to inform the OIML community about this coordination initiative and to suggest how the OIML may be involved in these standardization activities.
The EU Commission's mandate
CEN, CENELEC and ETSI are requested to develop:
1. A European standard comprising a software and hardware open architecture for utility meters that supports secure bidirectional communication through standardized interfaces and data exchange formats and allows advanced information and management and control systems for consumers and service suppliers;
2. European standards containing harmonized solutions for additional functionalities within an interoperable framework.
The draft mandate1 calls for a work program to be presented to the European Commission within 3 months after acceptance of the mandate (by the ESOs). The standard for communication is to be presented within 9 months and the other standards within 30 months of the acceptance of the mandate
The mandate:
Coordination of standardization activities
At the initiative of ESMIG, the European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC organized an initial coordination meeting on smart metering on 21 January 2009 in Brussels. The meeting was attended by representatives from several TCs of the ESOs, industry, the regulators, the European Commission and the OIML.
In the meeting information was given about the European Commission mandate and representatives from the relevant Technical Committees of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI gave information on present standardization activities.
Finally, a proposal was put on the table to establish an ad-hoc coordination group in which the main stakeholders (including the OIML) are represented. This group would not be concerned with the substance of the standards, but only with the work program (“who does what”).
OIML involvement
Several OIML TCs/SCs are concerned with the issue of smart metering:
• TC 5/SC 2 Software (secretariat: Germany and BIML)
• D 31: General requirements for software controlled measuring instruments
• TC 8/SC 5 Water meters (secretariat: United Kingdom)
• R 49: Water meters
• TC 8/SC 7 Gas metering (secretariat: The Netherlands)
• R 6: General provisions for gas volume meters
• R 31: Diaphragm gas meters
• R 137-1: Gas meters. Part 1: Requirements
• TC 11 Instruments for measuring temperature and associated quantities (secretariat: Germany)
• R 75: Heat meters
• TC 12 Instruments for measuring electrical quantities (secretariat: Australia)
• R 46: Active electrical energy meters for direct connection of class 2
Where appropriate, these TCs/SCs should investigate the adequacy of the OIML publications under their respective responsibility and which amendments would be required (if any) to make these publications applicable to smart meters.
Prior to that, however, it is necessary to identify the “additional functionalities” that make utility meters become smart meters and which of those additional functionalities should be in the scope of legal metrology.
The OIML Seminar on smart meters, which the BIML is organizing in Brijuni, Croatia (2–5 June 2009) provides an excellent opportunity for the OIML to formulate its position as regards smart meters in legal metrology (notably which additional functionalities should be under legal control) and to make proposals for work to be undertaken by relevant OIML TCs/SCs in this field, taking into account the ongoing activities in Europe and elsewhere.
The OIML TC/SC Secretariats mentioned above should be represented at the Seminar and be ready to discuss common issues in drafting requirements for smart meters under legal control. This 'discussion' may be continued after the Seminar and be facilitated by the BIML providing internet tools.
The BIML will continue to represent the OIML in the European standardization coordination
Source: www.kazinmetr.kz
Note to CIML Members and OIML Corresponding Members 19.02.2009
Dear Colleagues, The European Commission has drafted a mandate to the European Standardization Organizations (ESOs) for the development of European standards on an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability.
At the initiative of ESMIG, the recently formed European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC has taken the initiative to establish a cooperation between the ESOs (CEN, CENELEC and ETSI) and stakeholder organizations (including the OIML) of standardization activities relating to smart metering.
This BIML Circular is intended to inform the OIML community about this coordination initiative and to suggest how the OIML may be involved in these standardization activities.
The EU Commission's mandate
CEN, CENELEC and ETSI are requested to develop:
1. A European standard comprising a software and hardware open architecture for utility meters that supports secure bidirectional communication through standardized interfaces and data exchange formats and allows advanced information and management and control systems for consumers and service suppliers;
2. European standards containing harmonized solutions for additional functionalities within an interoperable framework.
The draft mandate1 calls for a work program to be presented to the European Commission within 3 months after acceptance of the mandate (by the ESOs). The standard for communication is to be presented within 9 months and the other standards within 30 months of the acceptance of the mandate
The mandate:
- specifies that the deliverables shall indicate where they cover the requirements of the MID (Directive 2004/22/EC, notably Annex I points 7.6, 8.1-8.5 and 10.5 2);
- asks that special attention be paid to transparency in the process of developing these standards;
- instructs the ESOs to take 'the utmost account' of any relevant developments in international standardization;
- instructs the ESOs, as appropriate, to invite representative stakeholder organizations as well as WELMEC and the Open Meter Project to take part in the work.
Coordination of standardization activities
At the initiative of ESMIG, the European Smart Metering Industry Group, CENELEC organized an initial coordination meeting on smart metering on 21 January 2009 in Brussels. The meeting was attended by representatives from several TCs of the ESOs, industry, the regulators, the European Commission and the OIML.
SMART METERS Draft standardisation mandate
View more presentations from livemetering.
In the meeting information was given about the European Commission mandate and representatives from the relevant Technical Committees of CEN, CENELEC and ETSI gave information on present standardization activities.
Finally, a proposal was put on the table to establish an ad-hoc coordination group in which the main stakeholders (including the OIML) are represented. This group would not be concerned with the substance of the standards, but only with the work program (“who does what”).
OIML involvement
Several OIML TCs/SCs are concerned with the issue of smart metering:
• TC 5/SC 2 Software (secretariat: Germany and BIML)
• D 31: General requirements for software controlled measuring instruments
• TC 8/SC 5 Water meters (secretariat: United Kingdom)
• R 49: Water meters
• TC 8/SC 7 Gas metering (secretariat: The Netherlands)
• R 6: General provisions for gas volume meters
• R 31: Diaphragm gas meters
• R 137-1: Gas meters. Part 1: Requirements
• TC 11 Instruments for measuring temperature and associated quantities (secretariat: Germany)
• R 75: Heat meters
• TC 12 Instruments for measuring electrical quantities (secretariat: Australia)
• R 46: Active electrical energy meters for direct connection of class 2
Where appropriate, these TCs/SCs should investigate the adequacy of the OIML publications under their respective responsibility and which amendments would be required (if any) to make these publications applicable to smart meters.
Prior to that, however, it is necessary to identify the “additional functionalities” that make utility meters become smart meters and which of those additional functionalities should be in the scope of legal metrology.
The OIML Seminar on smart meters, which the BIML is organizing in Brijuni, Croatia (2–5 June 2009) provides an excellent opportunity for the OIML to formulate its position as regards smart meters in legal metrology (notably which additional functionalities should be under legal control) and to make proposals for work to be undertaken by relevant OIML TCs/SCs in this field, taking into account the ongoing activities in Europe and elsewhere.
The OIML TC/SC Secretariats mentioned above should be represented at the Seminar and be ready to discuss common issues in drafting requirements for smart meters under legal control. This 'discussion' may be continued after the Seminar and be facilitated by the BIML providing internet tools.
The BIML will continue to represent the OIML in the European standardization coordination
Source: www.kazinmetr.kz
Wireless M-BUS by Texas Instrument #normalisation #techno
Today I just want to give you a brief introduction to WMBUS since the upcoming CC430 will be a good fit for this emerging standard. In short, the WMBUS standard (EN 13757-4:2005) specifies communications between water, gas, heat, and electric meters and is becoming widely accepted in Europe for smart metering or Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) applications.
As you can see from my very simplified drawing, the intention is to use WMBUS inside the home to read different kinds of meters. The E-meter could either be used as a concentrator or a separate concentrator can be used (imagine the E-meter somewhere inside the house but not at a location where you would want to mount a gateway for external communication with the utility company).
Why would anyone want the meters to communicate? Well, it is all about saving energy and cost while increasing reliability:
- all meters can be read without human intervention
- allows status check of any meter for repair/maintenance
Energy displays which shows instant consumption and cost is also easy to add with this technology, and feedback from people I have talked to is that these displays actually have an impact on household powerconsumption (imagine being able to see just how much it costs to turn on that hairdryer or fry an egg on Sunday morning).
An example of an energy company deploying such a display is here:
Who will benefit from this new technology? Here is my take:
1)Politicians: Higher customer satisfaction and CO2 savings
2)Regulators: "Fair" market conditions and consumption transparency
3)Customers: Save money&energy, new services
4)Energy Industry: Process improvement and load balancing (although connecting AC's and water heaters to the network would make things much more interesting as it enables realtime ajustment of peak load on the grid. This functionality can easily be incorporated at a later stage however, and perhaps some countries or companies will add this as a feature.)
Who are the first movers in this space? For now at least Germany, Austria and the Netherlands are moving towards WMBUS as part of their national smart metering solution.
Below are a few links from EnergieNed, the Association of Energy Producers, Traders and Retailers in the Netherlands which describe in detail how smart metering and Wireless M-Bus is being applied in the Netherlands - happy reading!
P3 interface for Electricity meters
P2 interface for Gas, Gas valve, Thermal (heat /cold), and Water meters.
P1 interface for gas, gas valve, thermal (heat /cold), and water meters.
By now you might wonder what TI has to offer in this space?
We are active both on chip development and engaging with software development partners. For more information on how to send WMBUS compliant packets with MSP430 and CC1101, take a look at this application note which includes software. http://focus.ti.com/general/docs/techdocsabstract.tsp?abstractName=swra234a
This will of course be updated with CC430 code once the chip is available!
Here are two links to TI development network partners using our technology for "Wireless M-Bus out-of-the-box" solutions - no need for additional RF hardware design, certification or WMBUS software stack development.
http://www.radiocrafts.com/index.php?sideID=328&ledd1=330
http://www.amber-wireless.de/en/produkte/funkmodule/default.php?fnum=122243584339
We would love to hear your comments, feel free to use the comment field on this blog!
Posted on Jan 07 2009 By Erling
Source: https://community.ti.com/blogs/cc430/archive/2009/01/07/wireless-m-bus-and-the-cc430.aspx
ATEX certification by Wavecom #normalisation #product
In 2008, Wavecom added ATEX certification to both its product portfolio and its company quality processes for the benefit of customer who operate their products in potentially explosive atmospheres.
This Q&A is provided to explain ATEX and its application within Wavecom.
ATEX refers to a European directive that standardizes the certification of equipment that is intended to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres. Equipment covered: All electrical, electro-mechanical and /or mechanical equipment designed to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres.
However, ATEX doesn’t just cover the products but extends to encompass the quality systems of the company delivering ATEX certified products to the market. Several standards are applied to the ATEX directive; EN60079-0 (2004), EN60079-11 (2007), EN13980 (2002).
How can I be sure that I am purchasing an ATEX certified product?
There are three simple declarations of compliance that can be checked as follows:
1. The physical device shall carry the ATEX logo (shown here) and a substantial amount of supplementary information in relation to ATEX (refer to visual identification below).
2. The device is available with ATEX certificates.
3. The company providing ATEX certified products will be able to supply you with their company process audit certificate.
These documents can be found for each certified product in the Wavecom portfolio by visiting the product page, clicking on the download tab and opening the certification folder.
What are Zones in the context of ATEX?
The ATEX directives specify several Zones which are defined by the scale of risk of an explosion occurring due to the size of the area, temperature and the substances located within the area. For specific details of which zones are covered by Wavecom products, refer to the individual product page although Wavecom will normally apply for approvals in Zone 0 and Zone 2.
Which Wavecom products are ATEX certified?
As of July 2008, the WMP120 Wireless Microprocessor® has been ATEX certified. Visit the respective product page for more details of the product of interest:
WMP120 product page
How can I visually identify ATEX certified product?
The physical device has to be identified with a number of data relating to electrical component structure, temperature range, approval body, equipment categories and other information as shown below:
Where can I find more information on ATEX?
The European directives ATEX95 and ATEX137 can be found on external web sites. Wavecom does not guarantee the continuous availability of such documents.
Directive 94/9/EC
Directive 1999/92/EC
Source: http://www.wavecom.com/
This Q&A is provided to explain ATEX and its application within Wavecom.
ATEX refers to a European directive that standardizes the certification of equipment that is intended to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres. Equipment covered: All electrical, electro-mechanical and /or mechanical equipment designed to be used in potentially explosive atmospheres.
However, ATEX doesn’t just cover the products but extends to encompass the quality systems of the company delivering ATEX certified products to the market. Several standards are applied to the ATEX directive; EN60079-0 (2004), EN60079-11 (2007), EN13980 (2002).
How can I be sure that I am purchasing an ATEX certified product?
There are three simple declarations of compliance that can be checked as follows:
1. The physical device shall carry the ATEX logo (shown here) and a substantial amount of supplementary information in relation to ATEX (refer to visual identification below).
2. The device is available with ATEX certificates.
3. The company providing ATEX certified products will be able to supply you with their company process audit certificate.
These documents can be found for each certified product in the Wavecom portfolio by visiting the product page, clicking on the download tab and opening the certification folder.
What are Zones in the context of ATEX?
The ATEX directives specify several Zones which are defined by the scale of risk of an explosion occurring due to the size of the area, temperature and the substances located within the area. For specific details of which zones are covered by Wavecom products, refer to the individual product page although Wavecom will normally apply for approvals in Zone 0 and Zone 2.
Which Wavecom products are ATEX certified?
As of July 2008, the WMP120 Wireless Microprocessor® has been ATEX certified. Visit the respective product page for more details of the product of interest:
WMP120 product page
How can I visually identify ATEX certified product?
The physical device has to be identified with a number of data relating to electrical component structure, temperature range, approval body, equipment categories and other information as shown below:
Where can I find more information on ATEX?
The European directives ATEX95 and ATEX137 can be found on external web sites. Wavecom does not guarantee the continuous availability of such documents.
Directive 94/9/EC
Directive 1999/92/EC
Source: http://www.wavecom.com/
World's first Wireless M-Bus module #normalisation #techno
By Peder Martin Evjen
Wireless M-Bus is a new standard for communication between electricity, gas, water and heat meters using short range radio in the 868 MHz band. It has attracted great interest among utility companies and regulating bodies throughout Europe, in standardising data collection from battery operated utility meters. The two-way capability opens up new services and provides improved security and reliability.
Radiocrafts has recently launched the world’s first radio communication module compliant with the new standard. The module integrates all RF communication and Wireless M-Bus protocol in a small ultra low power device. This article provides information on the Wireless M-Bus standard, and the compact module solution used to implement the standard in metering equipment.
Overview
The Wireless M-Bus standard (EN 13757-4:2005) specifies the communication between water, gas, heat and electricity meters or concentrators. The standard is becoming widely accepted in Europe as a basis for new advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) installations.
The Wireless M-Bus standard can be used in several modes (S, T and R), making it suitable for both one-way and two-way communication in stationary or mobile systems. The one-way T1 mode has already been used to some extent in heat cost allocators and water meters. But the twoway modes, in particular T2, are very interesting because these open up not only meter reading, but also valve control, time synchronisation, encryption key distribution, etc. The radio specifications for the different modes are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 - Radio specifications for the Wireless M-Bus standard
The T mode is made for systems with frequent transmissions. Typically each meter transmits its data once per hour. The high data rate (100 kb/s) ensures very short communication time and hence low power consumption in the RF transmitter.
In two-way systems the T2 mode is also very suitable for battery operated meters, as the RF receiver in the meter is only active for 2-3 ms after a transmission. Only if the concentrator acknowledges the message within this timeslot will the receiver remain on in order to receive further commands.
Wireless M-Bus module
The RC1180-MBUS RF Transceiver Module from Radiocrafts is a compact high performance Wireless M-Bus module for use in automatic metering reading (AMR) applications, in meters and in concentrators. This is the first compact all embedded module compliant with the new Wireless M-Bus standard available in the market.
The module has an UART interface for serial communication and configuration, and a one-pin antenna connection. The module supports all modes, S1/2, T1/2 and R2, including two-way communication. It operates at 12 channels in the 868 MHz frequency band. When used with quarter-wave antennas a line-of-sight range of 600 m can be achieved. The module is designed for use in battery operated systems with more than 20 years of battery lifetime.
The basic module serves as a communication module, acting like a modem. The module is then configured with address information and encryption keys. Application data sent to the module is packed into a Wireless M-Bus frame format and transmitted on air. Encryption is also supported and done by the module. A very low power sleep mode ensures long battery lifetime.
The module functionality can easily be extended to include the complete meter application using the built in real time clock, non-volatile memory and excessive program memory. Such an application module is built to meet customer’s specific requirements.
The module supports AES-128 encryption. This is the preferred encryption since the DES suggested in the original Wireless M-Bus specification is outdated. The AES algorithm is running in a co-processor in the module, helping to speed up the encryption while keeping the power consumption at a minimum.
The RC1180-MBUS module is a compact surface-mounted module measuring only 12.7 x 25.4 x 3.3 mm including EMC shielding, replacing tens of components compared to a discrete design. The module is delivered on tape and reel for volume production. The modular design ensures production scalability and quick ramp-up, rational testing of RF parameters even in volume, and regulation compliance. The RC1180-MBUS module is pre-certified for operation under the European radio regulations for license-free use, is CE-marked and RoHS compliant.
Wireless M-Bus module
Reliability, security and lifetime
Reliability, security and lifetime are crucial aspects in AMR. These aspects are taken care of in the module design.
The frequency stability and ageing of the frequency base are vital for RF performance and for ensuring reliability over time. The RC1180-MBUS frequency stability is specified for operation over more than 27 years.
Metering data is used for billing of large values, and the integrity of the data is vital. The RC1180-MBUS module supports AES-128, which is one of the safest encryption standards used today. A new key can be transferred to the meter using the two-way capability. The new key is encrypted with a default key to avoid compromising the key during distribution. The decoding of the new key is done internally in the module. Hence, the new key is never transferred openly. This encryption key is used together with a time stamp, which is a part of the encrypted data, to prevent fraud by recording and replay of old messages.
Ageing and battery lifetime are important to ensure low life cycle cost and long service intervals of the metering system. In a typical meter implementation, the module is put in sleep mode most of the time. The most important parameter is therefore sleep mode current consumption, and then keeping transmit and receive times as short as possible. In T2 mode, the receive on-time is as short as 2-3 ms. This timing is handled by the module itself, and ensures the lowest possible current consumption.
Current consumption
As an example of the achievable battery lifetime we calculate the power consumption for a system complying with the NTA 8130 standard for The Netherlands.
The battery operated gas meter is transmitting every hour an encrypted data packet including time stamp, equipment ID, meter reading and valve status. The module transmitter current is 37 mA, the receiver current 22 mA, and the sleep current is maximum 1 μA (typical 0.1 μA). Each transmission is approximately 1,100 chips. Using the T2 mode at 100 kb/s, the transmit time for a complete frame is 11 ms and the receive/active time is approximately 4 ms, giving a contribution of 0.14 μA to the total average current. Hence, the average current consumption is completely dominated by the sleep current at 1 μA. The battery lifetime is therefore limited by its shelf life and leakage currents.
Concluding remarks
With the launch of the first Wireless M-Bus module in the market, meter manufacturers, system integrators and AMI providers can now get a complete Wireless M-Bus solution in a small compact module form factor that is easy to integrate into meters and gateways. OEM manufacturers without RF design knowledge can easily add a fully compliant M-Bus solution to their space limited products, and significantly reduce time-to-market, development and compliance testing cost. The module and demo kits are available now.
About the author: Peder Martin Evjen is a co-founder and Managing Director of Radiocrafts. He has more than 20 years of experience in radio technology and short range radio communication. He holds an M.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Technical University of Trondheim.
Source: metering.com
Wireless M-Bus is a new standard for communication between electricity, gas, water and heat meters using short range radio in the 868 MHz band. It has attracted great interest among utility companies and regulating bodies throughout Europe, in standardising data collection from battery operated utility meters. The two-way capability opens up new services and provides improved security and reliability.
Radiocrafts has recently launched the world’s first radio communication module compliant with the new standard. The module integrates all RF communication and Wireless M-Bus protocol in a small ultra low power device. This article provides information on the Wireless M-Bus standard, and the compact module solution used to implement the standard in metering equipment.
Overview
The Wireless M-Bus standard (EN 13757-4:2005) specifies the communication between water, gas, heat and electricity meters or concentrators. The standard is becoming widely accepted in Europe as a basis for new advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) installations.
The Wireless M-Bus standard can be used in several modes (S, T and R), making it suitable for both one-way and two-way communication in stationary or mobile systems. The one-way T1 mode has already been used to some extent in heat cost allocators and water meters. But the twoway modes, in particular T2, are very interesting because these open up not only meter reading, but also valve control, time synchronisation, encryption key distribution, etc. The radio specifications for the different modes are summarised in Table 1.
Table 1 - Radio specifications for the Wireless M-Bus standard
The T mode is made for systems with frequent transmissions. Typically each meter transmits its data once per hour. The high data rate (100 kb/s) ensures very short communication time and hence low power consumption in the RF transmitter.
In two-way systems the T2 mode is also very suitable for battery operated meters, as the RF receiver in the meter is only active for 2-3 ms after a transmission. Only if the concentrator acknowledges the message within this timeslot will the receiver remain on in order to receive further commands.
Wireless M-Bus module
The RC1180-MBUS RF Transceiver Module from Radiocrafts is a compact high performance Wireless M-Bus module for use in automatic metering reading (AMR) applications, in meters and in concentrators. This is the first compact all embedded module compliant with the new Wireless M-Bus standard available in the market.
The module has an UART interface for serial communication and configuration, and a one-pin antenna connection. The module supports all modes, S1/2, T1/2 and R2, including two-way communication. It operates at 12 channels in the 868 MHz frequency band. When used with quarter-wave antennas a line-of-sight range of 600 m can be achieved. The module is designed for use in battery operated systems with more than 20 years of battery lifetime.
The basic module serves as a communication module, acting like a modem. The module is then configured with address information and encryption keys. Application data sent to the module is packed into a Wireless M-Bus frame format and transmitted on air. Encryption is also supported and done by the module. A very low power sleep mode ensures long battery lifetime.
The module functionality can easily be extended to include the complete meter application using the built in real time clock, non-volatile memory and excessive program memory. Such an application module is built to meet customer’s specific requirements.
The module supports AES-128 encryption. This is the preferred encryption since the DES suggested in the original Wireless M-Bus specification is outdated. The AES algorithm is running in a co-processor in the module, helping to speed up the encryption while keeping the power consumption at a minimum.
The RC1180-MBUS module is a compact surface-mounted module measuring only 12.7 x 25.4 x 3.3 mm including EMC shielding, replacing tens of components compared to a discrete design. The module is delivered on tape and reel for volume production. The modular design ensures production scalability and quick ramp-up, rational testing of RF parameters even in volume, and regulation compliance. The RC1180-MBUS module is pre-certified for operation under the European radio regulations for license-free use, is CE-marked and RoHS compliant.
Wireless M-Bus module
Reliability, security and lifetime
Reliability, security and lifetime are crucial aspects in AMR. These aspects are taken care of in the module design.
The frequency stability and ageing of the frequency base are vital for RF performance and for ensuring reliability over time. The RC1180-MBUS frequency stability is specified for operation over more than 27 years.
Metering data is used for billing of large values, and the integrity of the data is vital. The RC1180-MBUS module supports AES-128, which is one of the safest encryption standards used today. A new key can be transferred to the meter using the two-way capability. The new key is encrypted with a default key to avoid compromising the key during distribution. The decoding of the new key is done internally in the module. Hence, the new key is never transferred openly. This encryption key is used together with a time stamp, which is a part of the encrypted data, to prevent fraud by recording and replay of old messages.
Ageing and battery lifetime are important to ensure low life cycle cost and long service intervals of the metering system. In a typical meter implementation, the module is put in sleep mode most of the time. The most important parameter is therefore sleep mode current consumption, and then keeping transmit and receive times as short as possible. In T2 mode, the receive on-time is as short as 2-3 ms. This timing is handled by the module itself, and ensures the lowest possible current consumption.
Current consumption
As an example of the achievable battery lifetime we calculate the power consumption for a system complying with the NTA 8130 standard for The Netherlands.
The battery operated gas meter is transmitting every hour an encrypted data packet including time stamp, equipment ID, meter reading and valve status. The module transmitter current is 37 mA, the receiver current 22 mA, and the sleep current is maximum 1 μA (typical 0.1 μA). Each transmission is approximately 1,100 chips. Using the T2 mode at 100 kb/s, the transmit time for a complete frame is 11 ms and the receive/active time is approximately 4 ms, giving a contribution of 0.14 μA to the total average current. Hence, the average current consumption is completely dominated by the sleep current at 1 μA. The battery lifetime is therefore limited by its shelf life and leakage currents.
Concluding remarks
With the launch of the first Wireless M-Bus module in the market, meter manufacturers, system integrators and AMI providers can now get a complete Wireless M-Bus solution in a small compact module form factor that is easy to integrate into meters and gateways. OEM manufacturers without RF design knowledge can easily add a fully compliant M-Bus solution to their space limited products, and significantly reduce time-to-market, development and compliance testing cost. The module and demo kits are available now.
About the author: Peder Martin Evjen is a co-founder and Managing Director of Radiocrafts. He has more than 20 years of experience in radio technology and short range radio communication. He holds an M.Sc. in Electronics Engineering from the Technical University of Trondheim.
Source: metering.com
jeudi 5 mars 2009
The European Commission approves the R&D OPEN meter project
OPEN meter dissemination message,
30 January 2009
The European Commission approves the R&D OPEN meter project, coordinated by IBERDROLA, with public funding of over 2,4 million euros
The Open and Public Extended Network meter (OPEN meter) project, budgeted over 4 million euros and granted more than 60 % funding from the European Commission, has the objective of defining and developing open standard telecommunication protocols and data formats for smart metering.
The European Commission, in the selection of research topics on smart energy networks, has considered that the large scale adoption of smart multi-metering equipment, potentially covering electricity, gas and any other network service and commodity, is today hampered by the lack of widely accepted open standards capable of guaranteeing the interoperability of systems and devices produced by different manufacturers.
The OPEN meter Consortium has responded to this concern by the Commission with the OPEN meter project, whose goal is totally in line with the objectives of the DLMS UA to develop market relevant data models and protocols for multi-utility data exchange, with a view of international standardization, and promoting open, interoperable solutions. The objectives of the DLMS UA are achieved by involving industry leaders in the development of the DLMS/COSEM specification, driving international standardization and promoting the benefits of these standards to potential users and agencies worldwide.
The IEC 62056 and EN 13757-1 DLMS/COSEM standards have been published in 2002. A second edition of IEC 62056 has been published in 2006. Recently, many new elements have been added to the specification to support smart metering. The revision of the relevant international standards has been initiated.
Members of the DLMS UA work closely with their partners in large AMI projects in many
countries all over the world.
The OPEN meter project will open up the market of smart multi-metering systems, enabling customer participation to energy markets, and at the same time allowing EU industry to take world leadership.
The OPEN meter Consortium consists of 19 members from 7 Member States and is a well
balanced partnership between network operators, equipment suppliers, research entres and standardization bodies. Market penetration of the meter manufacturers that take part in the OPEN meter project, over 80% in Europe, guarantees that the standards developed will have wide acceptance in the industry. The participation of some of the largest European multi-utilities, serving in all more than 100 million supply points, will allow for a comprehensive definition of functional requirements from network operators and energy suppliers.
Having CENELEC on board as a partner of the OPEN meter Consortium will facilitate the
adoption of the results of the project as the European open standards for smart metering. This has already been acknowledged in the recent draft standardization mandate from the European Commission to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI for the development of an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability. The OPEN meter project is taking part in the standardization work, as it is relevant for the development of the standards requested by the mandate.
Interoperability will, therefore, be achieved, and customers and suppliers that wish to directly purchase their meters from different meter manufacturers will be able to do so, thus eliminating eventual Competition disputes that may arise from proprietary solutions that typically keep the customer captive of one single supplier.
The technological and scientific content of the OPEN meter project has already started and is structured in five technical working packages, along with two more working packages for dissemination and coordination, respectively. This simple collaborative working structure, together with a flexible project management, will allow for a quick dissemination of the results of the project as they are obtained and validated, and for an easy roll-out in different European countries.
The OPEN meter project will therefore contribute to the European Union energy efficiency targets and help reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
The DLMS User Association through its global presence via its members, can significantly contribute to the success of AMI projects, helping to achieve such important legal, political, business and market objectives, as efficient operation of the energy market, better billing and customer service, better energy efficiency and energy savings.
OPEN meter Consortium members are:
The DLMS User Association, established in 1997, is a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. It has 125+ members, of which 60% is based in Europe and 30% in Asia. It develops, maintains, supports and promotes the use of the DLMS/COSEM specification. It has certified more than 100 meter types to be DLMS/COSEM compliant.
Source: dlms
30 January 2009
The European Commission approves the R&D OPEN meter project, coordinated by IBERDROLA, with public funding of over 2,4 million euros
The Open and Public Extended Network meter (OPEN meter) project, budgeted over 4 million euros and granted more than 60 % funding from the European Commission, has the objective of defining and developing open standard telecommunication protocols and data formats for smart metering.
- The DLMS User Association is committed to develop, promote and support open standards for multi-utility meter data exchange. Its fast-growing membership includes utilities, meter manufacturers, other technology, service and solution providers and organizations with similar interests.
- In order to successfully achieve the OPEN meter objectives, a powerful European Consortium has been created, gathering, among others, the efforts of leading meter manufacturers and some of the largest European utilities into a well balanced Consortium of 19 members from 7 Member States.
- The European Commission has approved the requested funding for the collaborative project Open and Public Extended Network meter (OPEN meter), coordinated by IBERDROLA. The project proposal was evaluated by a panel of independent experts appointed by the Commission and obtained the maximum score among all the proposals presented to the FP7-ENERGY-008-1 call.
The European Commission, in the selection of research topics on smart energy networks, has considered that the large scale adoption of smart multi-metering equipment, potentially covering electricity, gas and any other network service and commodity, is today hampered by the lack of widely accepted open standards capable of guaranteeing the interoperability of systems and devices produced by different manufacturers.
The OPEN meter Consortium has responded to this concern by the Commission with the OPEN meter project, whose goal is totally in line with the objectives of the DLMS UA to develop market relevant data models and protocols for multi-utility data exchange, with a view of international standardization, and promoting open, interoperable solutions. The objectives of the DLMS UA are achieved by involving industry leaders in the development of the DLMS/COSEM specification, driving international standardization and promoting the benefits of these standards to potential users and agencies worldwide.
The IEC 62056 and EN 13757-1 DLMS/COSEM standards have been published in 2002. A second edition of IEC 62056 has been published in 2006. Recently, many new elements have been added to the specification to support smart metering. The revision of the relevant international standards has been initiated.
Members of the DLMS UA work closely with their partners in large AMI projects in many
countries all over the world.
The OPEN meter project will open up the market of smart multi-metering systems, enabling customer participation to energy markets, and at the same time allowing EU industry to take world leadership.
The OPEN meter Consortium consists of 19 members from 7 Member States and is a well
balanced partnership between network operators, equipment suppliers, research entres and standardization bodies. Market penetration of the meter manufacturers that take part in the OPEN meter project, over 80% in Europe, guarantees that the standards developed will have wide acceptance in the industry. The participation of some of the largest European multi-utilities, serving in all more than 100 million supply points, will allow for a comprehensive definition of functional requirements from network operators and energy suppliers.
Having CENELEC on board as a partner of the OPEN meter Consortium will facilitate the
adoption of the results of the project as the European open standards for smart metering. This has already been acknowledged in the recent draft standardization mandate from the European Commission to CEN, CENELEC and ETSI for the development of an open architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols enabling interoperability. The OPEN meter project is taking part in the standardization work, as it is relevant for the development of the standards requested by the mandate.
Interoperability will, therefore, be achieved, and customers and suppliers that wish to directly purchase their meters from different meter manufacturers will be able to do so, thus eliminating eventual Competition disputes that may arise from proprietary solutions that typically keep the customer captive of one single supplier.
The technological and scientific content of the OPEN meter project has already started and is structured in five technical working packages, along with two more working packages for dissemination and coordination, respectively. This simple collaborative working structure, together with a flexible project management, will allow for a quick dissemination of the results of the project as they are obtained and validated, and for an easy roll-out in different European countries.
The OPEN meter project will therefore contribute to the European Union energy efficiency targets and help reduce carbon emissions by 20% by 2020.
The DLMS User Association through its global presence via its members, can significantly contribute to the success of AMI projects, helping to achieve such important legal, political, business and market objectives, as efficient operation of the energy market, better billing and customer service, better energy efficiency and energy savings.
OPEN meter Consortium members are:
- Utilities: EDF (FR), ENDESA (ES), ENEL (IT), IBERDROLA and RWE (DE). Also Netbeher Nederland (NL) representing all Dutch utilities.
- Meter manufacturers: Actaris (FR), Elster (DE), Landis+Gyr (C) and ZIV Medida (ES)
- Technology partners: Advanced Digital Design (ES), Current (CH), ST Microelectronics (IT) and Usyscom (ES)
- Research centres, universities: CESI Ricerca (IT), KEMA (NL) and Karlsruhe University (DE)
- Associations: CENELEC (BE) and DLMS User Association (CH)
The DLMS User Association, established in 1997, is a non-profit organization based in Geneva, Switzerland. It has 125+ members, of which 60% is based in Europe and 30% in Asia. It develops, maintains, supports and promotes the use of the DLMS/COSEM specification. It has certified more than 100 meter types to be DLMS/COSEM compliant.
Source: dlms
mercredi 4 mars 2009
Freescale partnering with arivus to develop automated meter reading through power-line
Freescale Semiconductor and arivus GmbH (partner of iAd GmbH) are joining hands to develop advanced orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) power line communications (PLC) modem solutions.
These next-generation PLC solutions target a wide range of building control applications, such as automated meter reading (AMR) and energy management and lighting for the European Union and global deployment. This technology will be de demonstrated at Freescale's Booth #335, Hall 9, at Embedded World.
Freescale and arivus GmbH plan to work together to support open standards for power line modem communications to support metering and building connectivity.
"DLC communications is much more than only the single chipset. In addition to silicon, you have to focus on essential solutions within the communication system software," said Karsten Pott, managing director of arivus. "Only a sound handshake between hardware and software results in high performing availability, for example, with re-routing and transmitted data rates. Together with Freescale, we see plenty of opportunities for improved offerings to the smart grid market."
source: eeherald
These next-generation PLC solutions target a wide range of building control applications, such as automated meter reading (AMR) and energy management and lighting for the European Union and global deployment. This technology will be de demonstrated at Freescale's Booth #335, Hall 9, at Embedded World.
Freescale and arivus GmbH plan to work together to support open standards for power line modem communications to support metering and building connectivity.
"DLC communications is much more than only the single chipset. In addition to silicon, you have to focus on essential solutions within the communication system software," said Karsten Pott, managing director of arivus. "Only a sound handshake between hardware and software results in high performing availability, for example, with re-routing and transmitted data rates. Together with Freescale, we see plenty of opportunities for improved offerings to the smart grid market."
source: eeherald
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