Advanced Metering Infrastructure | Smart Metering Technology

The article begins by specifying the minimum functional requirements for an AMI Advanced Metering Infrastructure, Smart Metering.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure | Basic to Advance | Smart Metering Technology

1. Introduction
2. References
3. Desired Functionality
4. System Design Architecture
5. Components List
6. Functional Requirements

Appendix A – Considerations for Wireless Communications
Appendix B – Technical Conventions
Appendix C – DLMS/COSEM Protocol

Advanced Metering Infrastructure Introduction

This article is about Guidelines for the implementation of Smart Metering and an Advance Metering Infrastructure (AMI) in general.

The article begins by specifying the minimum functional requirements for an AMI, plus descriptions of the individual components and interfaces required to facilitate this. To this end, § Advanced Metering Infrastructure Functionality , § Advanced Metering Infrastructure System Architecture and § Advanced Metering Infrastructure Components encompass a Functional Specification for AMI, whereas later sections (§ Advanced Metering Infrastructure Functional Requirements ) focus on the Functional Requirements for this specification.

It is difficult to fully specify all the desired requirements of an AMI, since the concept is still relatively new and not many true AMI solutions are currently deployed, from which such definitions may be initially rendered.

Thus, a first-principles approach to AMI is taken, whereby Advanced Metering Infrastructure Functionality introduces a list of functions that are to be desired from an AMI implementation; from these a System Architecture to achieve such functionality and a set of requirements.

A generic Systems Architecture, adaptable for any type of AMI to be installed by any company (according to two potential architectural solutions), is introduced in Advanced Metering Infrastructure System Architecture. A Components List for AMI, compatible with the System Architecture, is then defined in Advanced Metering Infrastructure Components. Finally, a set of Functional Requirements, delineated by System Component, is presented in §Advanced Metering Infrastructure Components.

Purpose and Scope

This covers guidelines for the deployment of smart meters and associated systems in buildings and community facilities based on open international standards.

Reference for Low Voltage (< 1000 V, per SAES-P-126 definition)
Reference for High Voltage (≥ 1000 V, per SAES-P-126 definition)
SAES-P-126 standard, Reference for for Power System Automation.

Definitions for Advanced Metering Infrastructure

AMI – Advanced Metering Infrastructure
AMR – Automated Meter Reading
C & I – Commercial and Industrial
CIM – Common Information Model
CITC – Communications and Information Technology Commission
COSEM – COmpanion Specification for Energy Metering
CT – Current Transformer
DCU – Data Concentrator, sometimes referred to as a DC, but to avoid ambiguity with Direct Current, the notation DCU is used here.

DER – Distributed Energy Resource
DLMS – Device Language Message Specification (See 0 for more details)
DMS – Distribution Management System
DSM – Demand Side Management
DT – Distribution Transformer
ECRA – Electricity, Co-Generation Regulatory Authority
Ethernet – A physical and data link layer technology for Local Area Networks.
FIT – Feed-In-Tariff
FO – Fiber Optic
GPRS – General Packet Radio Service
GSM – Global System for Mobile Communications developed to describe protocols for second generation (2G) digital cellular networks used by mobile phones.

GSM/GPRS – The original GSM standard supported full duplex, voice telephony only. This was eventually expanded to include data communications via packet data transport, i.e., over GPRS.

HAN – Home Area Network
HES – Head-End System, in this instance this refers to the front end servers in the substation through which metered data is presented to the MDMS. HES’ manage the bi-directional information exchange between the MDMS and the measurement and display system.

HHU – Hand-held Unit
HVAC – Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning
IHD – In-Home Display unit.
IP – Internet Protocol, or International Protection Rating (as in IP Code)
LAN – Local Area Network, a computer network that is concentrated in a geographical area such as a building or a plant area. See IEEE C37.1 – 1994.
LCD – Liquid Crystal Display
MDM – See MDMS
MDMS – Meter Data Management System, sometimes abbreviated to MDM.
MDUS – Meter Data Unification and Synchronization
MECM – Master End-Customer Meter
MMS – Manufacturing Message Specification, a mapping of the IEC 61850 standard.

NAN – Neighborhood Area Network. A type of LAN, as deployed in the sense of facilitating communications across several homes or buildings.

NOC – Network Operations Center
NOP – Normally Open Point
OBIS – OBject Identification System, a system of identification codes allocated to all data elements present within. DLMS/COSEM – compliant metering equipment.
OFDM – Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing
OSGP – Open Smart Grid Protocol
PLC – Power Line Carrier1

PSA – Power System Automation
PT – Potential Transformer
RTU – Remote Terminal Unit
SCADA – Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition. See IEEE C37.1 – 1994.
SML – Smart Message Language
ToU – Time of Use
TCP – Transmission Control Protocol, corresponding to the transport layer of TCP/IP suite. TCP provides a communication service at an intermediate level between an application program and the Internet Protocol (IP).

UML – Unified Modeling Language
VSAT – Very Small Aperture Terminal
WAN – Wide Area Network
WLAN – Wireless LAN, of which “WiFi” is a product set based on the IEEE’s 802.11 standards.

Advanced Metering Infrastructure International References and International Standards

IEEE C57.13.2

Grounding standards for Current Transformers (CTs).

IEC 60529

Degrees of protection provided by enclosures and associated IP Codes.

IEC 61010

Electricity Safety for Control and Measurement Equipment.

IEC 61107

Legacy, serial communications protocol for utility meters. Related to, and sometimes wrongly confused with, the FLAG protocol. Ferranti and Landis+Gyr (FLAG) were early proponents of an interface standard that eventually became a sub-set of IEC 1107 (later renamed IEC 61107).

IEC 61334

A distribution automation standard for low-speed, reliable power line communications by electricity meters, water meters and SCADA. Utilizes Spread Frequency Shift Keying (S-FSK) modulation.

IEC 61850

An electrical substation automation standard from which a number of protocols can be mapped from the data models it defines. Current mappings include MMS and GOOSE. These protocols can run over TCP/IP networks or LANs using Ethernet.

IEC 61968

This is a CIM/DMS standard, as applied by electric utilities. IEC 61968 defines interfaces for all the major elements of a DMS and is intended to be implemented with middleware services, e.g., via an MDMS, that broker messages among applications. Part 9, in particular, focuses on the definition of common interfaces for meter reading and control.

IEC 62056

A data exchange standard for electricity meter reading, tariff and load control, which supersedes IEC 61107. DLMS is defined in Part 62 and the COSEM application layer in Part 53. Together they specify the DLMS/COSEM communication protocol (mainly used in Europe) for reading utility meters. A local data exchange standard (across a local optical port) is specified in Part 21. The alternative Smart Message Language (SML) is drafted within Part 58.

ANSI C12

Smart Grid Meter Package, of which:
 C12.18 describes a two-way, point-to-point protocol for meter communications via ANSI Type 2 Optical Ports (Optical Communications).
 C12.21 is an extension of C12.18 written for point-to-point modem communications (i.e., not optical).
 C12.22 is the protocol specification for “Interfacing to Data Communication Networks” and specifically transporting ANSI C12.19 table data. This expands upon previous revisions of C12 so that it may be applied to other types of communication networks.