1 Copyright © 2011 Tata Consultancy Services Limited

Suitability Analysis of Last Mile Connectivity Protocols for Smart Metering

Presented by: Radheshyam Patil Abhijeet Shinde

April 19, 2023 TCS Public

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Agenda

Smart Grid

Smart Metering

Various Approaches for Smart Metering Connectivity

Last Mile Connectivity

Indian Scenario

Important Aspects for Last Mile Connectivity

Popular Contenders

Protocol Evaluations

Protocol Evaluation Conclusion

TCS in Smart Metering

References

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Smart Grid: Multiple Use Cases

AMI

Power Quality and Planning

Renewable Integration

SMART GRIDSMART GRID

Demand Response

Distribution Automation

Outage Management

Field Data Applications

PHEV Management

Distributed Intelligence, Automated Controls, Secure Communications

Image Courtesy – Smart Grid Research Consortium and Tropos N/Ws

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HANNeighborhood Area Network

Distribution Area Network Core Network

Distribution Automation

Mobile Applications

Utility Core Systems

Power Quality Sensors

OutageManagement

AMI Network

Demand Response

PHEV Station

Distribution Area Network

SmartGrid = Network of Networks

Image Courtesy – Smart Grid Research Consortium and Tropos N/Ws

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Smart Metering – Essential Part of Smart Grid

Smart Metering:

An energy measurement system that provides smart features for better energy management.

Part of Green Initiative, to reduce Carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency.

Smart Metering:

An energy measurement system that provides smart features for better energy management.

Part of Green Initiative, to reduce Carbon emissions by increasing the energy efficiency. Smart Metering – Value Adds

Smart Measurement – provides accurate consumption and pricing in real time.

Smart Management - provides analysed data to guide customer.

Reduced Manual Intervention - Utility companies can save millions on meter readers and loses incurred due to inaccurate billing.

Smart Features - Bi-directional communication to enable temper detection, supply cut-off in case of leakage detection/ non-payment, remote configuration etc.

Smart Metering – Value Adds

Smart Measurement – provides accurate consumption and pricing in real time.

Smart Management - provides analysed data to guide customer.

Reduced Manual Intervention - Utility companies can save millions on meter readers and loses incurred due to inaccurate billing.

Smart Features - Bi-directional communication to enable temper detection, supply cut-off in case of leakage detection/ non-payment, remote configuration etc.

TCS Initiatives:

Ongoing Research and Development to provide End to End Smart Metering Solution.

Analyzed various Smart Metering Specifications and Potential Connectivity Options.

Developed and Tested – End to End Smart Metering Solution

TCS Initiatives:

Ongoing Research and Development to provide End to End Smart Metering Solution.

Analyzed various Smart Metering Specifications and Potential Connectivity Options.

Developed and Tested – End to End Smart Metering Solution

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Short Haul Communication

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Long Haul Communication

Power Line Communication

Approach 1

PSTN/ Wired Broadband

Wi-Fi/ Wi-Max

3G Network

Wired

Wireless

Approach 2

Approach 3

Approach 4

Substation

Gateway

Various Approaches for Smart Meter Connectivity

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Last Mile Connectivity

Provides the ability to reach to end customers meter and to his appliances if possible.

Short Haul Communication – Long distances can be covered with other technologies.

Should be economical for mass deployment – Less installation cost and no operating cost

Should take in to account different geographic conditions in cities as well as villages.

Preferably Bi-directionalTCS Smart Metering Findings -Smart Metering – generally a large scale project

Realization of all Smart Metering benefits – highly technology dependent

Improper Protocol Selection – may impair the main objective of the concept

Selection Consequences – has widespread impact on utility providers, silicon vendors and customers

TCS Smart Metering Findings -Smart Metering – generally a large scale project

Realization of all Smart Metering benefits – highly technology dependent

Improper Protocol Selection – may impair the main objective of the concept

Selection Consequences – has widespread impact on utility providers, silicon vendors and customers

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Indian Scenarios – Metro and Non-Metro Cities

Heavily Dense Multistory Buildings Same case with cities in

Western world

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Indian Scenarios – Villages

Different than concept of villages in Western world

No big and isolated Farmhouse or Ranches.

Medium dense community concentrated in small patches (typically 50-100 houses in 1 K.M2)

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Important Aspects for Last Mile Connectivity..

Data Integrity and Securityo Data to be used for billing purpose – requires higher level of transmission

integrityo Insensitive to external interferenceo Data encryption to avoid data loss and data hacking

Communication Rangeo Expected range: 600 to 1,000 meters for possible larger network

requirement

Network Sizeo Short-Haul Communication (communication between meters or sub-meters

to the Data Collector)o Support 250 odd meters – considering possible scenarios

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Important Aspects for Last Mile Connectivity..

Spectrum Availability and Operating Frequencyo Unlicensed or licensed, worldwide availabilityo Unlicensed – more reliable and cost-effectiveo Coexistence concern shall be addressedo Lower frequencies provide a larger communication range

Interoperabilityo Devices from different manufacturers shall be compatible with each othero Standard Protocol – to achieve high degree of interoperability

Worldwide Acceptanceo Necessary to achieve interoperabilityo Can be addressed by coming up as a Real Standard

Cost Effectivenesso Cost – the main driving and deciding factoro Includes Installation, Maintenance, Frequency Band and Power

Consumption

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Important Aspects for Last Mile Connectivity

Battery Life / Power Consumption

o Required for communication when power supply is interrupted

o Long battery life to reduce device maintenance and manual intervention

o Smart Metering shall provide a battery life up to 10 or 15 years

o Selected technology shall not consume more than it saves

Data Rate

o Smart Metering – small amount of data to be transmitted

o Typical data transmission frequency requirement:

– Every 15 minutes for electricity consumption data

– Every 30 minutes for gas consumption data

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India Specific Aspects

Minimum installation cost and preferably no operating cost– No special HW requirements– No Spectrum Cost

Bi-directional communication to support features such as tamper detection, Pre-paid meters and power theft/leakage detection

Non proprietary solution – no license fees / patent royalties for usage of technology

Robust enough, not affected by disturbance from any other RF sources.

No dependency on service provider for communication channels– GSM spectrum is licensed to different service providers

across various regions in India.

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Popular Contenders …

ZigBeeo IEEE 802.15.4-based, operating at 2.4 GHzo Network Size: 64000 nodes, range of around 1500 meters at a data rate

of up to 250 Kbps

wM-Buso EN13757-based, operating at 868 MHzo Network Size: Less than 250 nodes, range of around 1000 meters at a

data rate of up to 100 Kbps

Z-Waveo Operating at Sub-Gigahertz frequency (868, 908 MHz)o Network Size: 232 nodes, range of around 100 meters at a data rate of 40

Kbps

* ZigBee is a registered trademark of ‘ZigBee Alliance’* Z-wave is a trademark of ‘Sigma Designs’

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Popular Contenders

Bluetootho IEEE 802.15.1-based, operating at 2.4 GHzo Network Size: Eight nodes, range of around 10 meters at a data rate of

721 Kbps

Wireless HARTo IEEE 802.15.4-based, operating at 2.4 GHzo Network Size: 250 nodes, range of around 200 meters at a data rate of

250 Kbps

Wi-Fio IEEE 802.11-based, operating at 2.4 GHz or 5 GHzo Network Size: 2007 nodes, range of around 100 meters at a data rate of

54 Mbps

* Bluetooth is a registered trademark of ‘Bluetooth SIG’* WirelessHART is a registered trademark of ‘HART Communication Foundation’* Wi-Fi is a registered trademark of ‘Wi-Fi Alliance’’

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Protocol Evaluation

How we analysed these protocols - Analyzed all these Protocols against Smart Metering requirements (OMS, SRSM, ISGF

guidelines)

Observed / experienced testing results for in house implemented technologies

Also figured out its suitability as per applications (such as for Smart Metering and for Smart Home)

Worked on proving the feasibility of using existing electricity meters for Smart Metering. This provides a cost effectiveness and eliminates the need of complete and costly replacement of existing electricity meters.

How we analysed these protocols - Analyzed all these Protocols against Smart Metering requirements (OMS, SRSM, ISGF

guidelines)

Observed / experienced testing results for in house implemented technologies

Also figured out its suitability as per applications (such as for Smart Metering and for Smart Home)

Worked on proving the feasibility of using existing electricity meters for Smart Metering. This provides a cost effectiveness and eliminates the need of complete and costly replacement of existing electricity meters.Data Integrity and Security

Protocol to provide data encryption and CRC or MIC checking

All protocols (except Z-Wave) support data encryption and authentication

o Bluetooth supports E0 stream cipher

o Wi-Fi, WirelessHART, ZigBee and wM-Bus supports AES128

Comparatively weak data security supported by Z-Wave

(TDES using 56-bit key)

New generation Z-Wave to support AES encryption

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Protocol Evaluation

Communication Range (in meters)

Short-Haul Communication – between Meter Node to Data Collector

Data from utility meters or sub-meters within home (on smaller view)

Data from utility meters within 20 to 25-floored apartment (on larger view)

Range between 600-1000 meters shall be sufficient (considering possible complexity)

wM-Bus and ZigBee provided range shall be sufficient

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Protocol Evaluation

Network Size (Number of Nodes)

Data Collector shall be able to collect data from 250 odd meters

Bluetooth supports insufficient network size

Z-Wave may not provide scalability for larger projects

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Protocol Evaluation

Spectrum Availability and Operating Frequency

wM-Bus and Z-Wave operates at unlicensed ISM band at 868 MHz

868 MHz band is less prone to coexistence issues

All other protocols operate at unlicensed ISM band 2.4 GHz

2.4 GHz band supports worldwide availability but at the risk of overcrowding

Interoperability

Generally standardized protocol ensures high degree of interoperability

On the contrary, verity of manufacturer may develop proprietary software or devices

Proprietary protocol might get reduced interest from technology users due to single or limited providers

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Protocol Evaluation

Worldwide Acceptance Proprietary protocol

o Develops much faster due to fast decision making

o May create monopoly

o Generally focused around limited application

Standard Open protocol gets acceptance unless a single owning company is dominant enough. For example, Ethernet won despite IBM’s attempts for token ring technology.

Cost Effectiveness Bluetooth – low cost compared to Wi-Fi. Both have a high maintenance cost

(due to low battery life). ZigBee is at least two times cost-effective than Wi-Fi Compared to Z-Wave and wireless HART, ZigBee devices are much cheaper due

to a high application volume Compared to ZigBee, wM-Bus supports low overhead in terms of protocol and

frame format wM-Bus is more cost-effective because it is simple, application-focused and

power-efficient

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Protocol Evaluation

Current Consumption (in mA)

Wi-Fi consumes much higher power.

Wireless HART, ZigBee and wM-Bus consumes less compared to other.

Power loss increases with increase in operating frequency

Wireless HART, ZigBee operates at higher frequency compared to wM-Bus.

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Protocol Evaluation

Battery Life

Wireless HART, ZigBee and wM-Bus supports longer lifespan due to a comparatively low-power consumption

ZigBee and wireless HART operating at 2.4 GHz – comparatively high-power consumption

ZigBee support features (frequency shifting, multihopping, retransmission) to avoid coexistence issues. These ZigBee features have cost in terms of battery lifetime.

Comparison of existing ZigBee and wM-Bus water meter shows wM-Bus as a strong contender

Battery OK Battery OK Low Battery

Need Attention 6

8%

le

ft

50%

le

ft

18%

le

ft

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Protocol Evaluation

Data Rate (in Kbps)

Bluetooth and Wi-Fi supports much higher data rate

Z-Wave supports very low data rate.

Other protocols communicate at sufficiently enough rate for Smart Metering

Data transferred at the cost of power usage – provides a leading edge to wM-Bus

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Protocol Evaluation – Conclusion..

Protocol Fitness

Protocol Fitness against Various Parameters (on the scale 1-5)Parameters

Weightage wM-Bus ZigBee Z-waveWirelessHA

RTWiFi Bluetooth

Battery Life 3 5 4 3 5 1 2

Power Consumption 3 5 4 3 5 1 2

Data Rate 1 3 3 1 3 5 4

Data Integrity & Security 5 4 4 3 4 4 4

Communication Range4 4 4 2 3 2 1

Network Size 3 3 5 2 3 4 1

Spectrum & Frequency3 4 5 4 5 5 5

Interoperability 5 4 4 3 2 3 3

Worldwide Acceptance3 4 4 3 2 2 2

Cost effectiveness 3 5 4 3 3 1 2

Average Rating 4.15 4.15 2.82 3.45 2.73 2.58

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Protocol Evaluation - Conclusion

Protocol Fitness

ZigBee and wM-Bus – enough potential to become an ideal protocol

ZigBee to reduce its power consumption (may be possible with SubGHz ZigBee).

wM-Bus to increase its worldwide acceptability.

Any other Sub GHz protocol (like wM-Bus) will be more suitable.

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Overview of TCS Energy & Infrastructure Capabilities

Services as below:

•Engineering design for Power Machineries, renewable Power and Power systems Engineering (mechanical, Electrical, Controls & Instrumentation, Power plant engineering)

•Power T&D

•Substation Engineering (SCADA, DMS, Power Controls, Systems integration)

•Geospatial Engineering for Utility survey

•Smart Meter

•Energy management services

•Greening infrastructure include LEED certification under TCS Eco Sustainability Services framework

•Building & Industrial infrastructure

More than 500 Engineers working for Energy, Infrastructure & Utilities Engineering services delivering solutions to Power OEMs (Turbo machineries and power systems engineering) and Power T&D sector. As an emerging trend, TCS is supporting energy management as Service for Building and Industrial infrastructure.

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TCS Current Smart Metering Development

Restructured accelerated development reform program of India (in 12 states of India) –

– The complete scope of services in all these projects covered following activities, services and works in respect of successful setup of IT infrastructure for collection of baseline data for energy and revenue of identified towns and setting up customer care centre in the towns.

– Design, engineering, manufacturing, supply, installation ,commissioning and putting in to satisfactory operation of all necessary hardware, software and managing the facilities created under the scope of services for a period of 5 years after the successful completion of site acceptance.

Meter data acquisition system (MDAS) was initiated for West Bengal State Electricity Development Corporation Limited (WBSEDCL) under power sector reforms in India called R-APDRP.

– Veolia Systems delivered the solution to acquire data from the existing 14,000 meters which are installed at Substations, Distribution Transformers and Industrial consumer premises. 

– TCS was responsible for Solution Design and complete System integration of the Meter Data Acquisition System with other modules such as Meter Data Management, GIS, Customer Care and DMS.

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TCS Smart Metering Solution

Smart Metering Solution developed by TCS, provides end to end bi-directional communication between utility meter and utility server with below mentioned features:

Periodic or On Demand Readout

High Data Security using AES 128 Encryption

Tamper Detection, Alarm Handling and Remote Supply cut-off Functionality

Support for Prepaid / post paid billing

Drive by / Walk by Reading

Real time Web Portal Services for Utility Company and End Customer

Support for integration with Smart Home Solution

Support for remote firmware and configuration update

Reduced power consumption

Usage of free ISM band and compatibility for multiple standards

Smart Metering Solution developed by TCS, provides end to end bi-directional communication between utility meter and utility server with below mentioned features:

Periodic or On Demand Readout

High Data Security using AES 128 Encryption

Tamper Detection, Alarm Handling and Remote Supply cut-off Functionality

Support for Prepaid / post paid billing

Drive by / Walk by Reading

Real time Web Portal Services for Utility Company and End Customer

Support for integration with Smart Home Solution

Support for remote firmware and configuration update

Reduced power consumption

Usage of free ISM band and compatibility for multiple standards

Data CollectorData CollectorLong-Haul

Communication

Short HaulTransceiver

Long haulTransceiver

Protocol Bridge

Short- Haul Communication

Data ConcentratorData Concentrator

Electricity Meter Node 1

Electricity Meter Node 1

Sensor

Meter Node

Short- Haul Communication Long- Haul Communication

Electricity Meter Node 2

Electricity Meter Node 2

Sensor

Meter Node

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TCS Smart Energy Solution – Smart Home

TCS SES Differentiator:

Integrated with Smart Metering Data

Collector

Provides multiple choice for wireless

protocols

Can be extended to support web based

appliance monitoring and control (IoT)

Can support integration with Mobile

applications

Provides user friendly In home display

for monitoring and control.

TCS SES Features :

Real time monitoring and control of

home appliances

Support for scheduling appliance usage

in advance

Provides user friendly display for user

profile which supports user in planning

his/her energy consumption.

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TCS Smart Energy Solution – Architectural Overview

Electricity Meter

Electricity Meter

Data CollectorData Collector Ethernet

wM-Bus

wM-Bus Data ConcentratorData Concentrator

TV – In Home Display RF Enabled

Plug

TelevisionWashing machine

RefrigeratorMobile –

Secondary Access

User Web Portal

Admin Web Portal

Water Meter

Water Meter

Gas Meter

Gas Meter

Smart Energy Solution developed by TCS, provides end to end bi-directional communication between utility meter and utility server for Smart Metering. This also supports Smart Home with below mentioned features:

Use of existing utility meter along with add-on Meter Node

Short Haul Communication over wireless M-Bus protocol and aligned with OMS Specifications.

Long Haul Communication over Ethernet.

Smart Home functionality supporting User Interface (IHD) for monitoring and control.

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TCS Smart Energy Solution – Smart Metering

TCS SES Differentiator: Modular Solution – Can be integrated

with Existing and New Meter Designs Can be used for various utilities and

even for M2M communication Integrated with iDigi platform cloud

solution

TCS SES Features : Periodic or On Demand Readout High Data Security using AES 128

Encryption Tamper Detection, Alarm Handling and

Remote Supply cut-off Functionality Support for Prepaid / post paid billing Drive by / Walk by Reading Real time Web Portal Services for Utility

Company and End Customer Support for remote firmware and

configuration update Low power consumption Usage of free ISM band and

compatibility for multiple standards

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TCS Smart Energy Solution Ecosystem

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Conclusion ...

One solution does not fit all…Indian scenarios demands its own customized solution

Sub GHz RF is possibly best solution for last mile connectivity for smart energy solutions

ZigBee and wM-Bus are among top contenders for best fit protocol, though each of them have their own pros and cons

Indian energy eco-system needs to play active role to select and define suitable protocol for Indian smart energy implementation

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Conclusion

TCS is ready to address challenges in Smart Energy implementation in India as it has

Experience and strength in working with large Government programs (15+ years of domain experience)

Well aware about India specific requirement for smart energy implementation and thus can design custom made, reliable and low cost solution for it.

Integrated domain experience covering Controls, Automation and Information Technology, able to provide end to end solution.

Excellent capability in engineering including manufacturing

Proactive Investment in Smart Energy Solutions

Development of end to end solution including connecting to utility server, cloud etc.

Having right connect with the eco system.

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References

• Open Metering System Specification - Volume 2 - Primary Communication - Issue 3.0.1 / 2011/01/29

• MULTICAL 21 Data Sheet – Electronic ultrasonic cold water meter by Kamstrup

• Aqura Submetering Products manual from Wellspring.

• Cambridge Silicon Radio, BlueCore2-External Product Data Sheet. Aug. 2006

• Chipcon, CC2430 Preliminary Data Sheet (rev. 1.03). 2006

• RF Monolithics, XDM2510H Module Data Sheet, Mar. 2011

• Texas Instruments, CC1101 Low Power Sub-1 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet, 2011

• Zensys, ZM2102 Z-Wave Module Data Sheet, 2006

• SilverSpring Networks, “Why Unlicensed Spectrum Dominates the Smart Grid” Whitepaper.

• The ZigBee Alliance website (www.zigbee.com)

• Bluetooth Technology website (www.bluetooth.com)

• WiFi Alliance website (www.wi-fi.org)

• Z-Wave Alliance website (www.z-wavealliance.org)

• HART Communication and Foundation website (www.hartcomm.org)

• Wireless M-Bus Specification EN13757-4, Oct. 2005

• Open Metering System Specification - Volume 2 - Primary Communication - Issue 3.0.1 / 2011/01/29

• MULTICAL 21 Data Sheet – Electronic ultrasonic cold water meter by Kamstrup

• Aqura Submetering Products manual from Wellspring.

• Cambridge Silicon Radio, BlueCore2-External Product Data Sheet. Aug. 2006

• Chipcon, CC2430 Preliminary Data Sheet (rev. 1.03). 2006

• RF Monolithics, XDM2510H Module Data Sheet, Mar. 2011

• Texas Instruments, CC1101 Low Power Sub-1 GHz RF Transceiver Data Sheet, 2011

• Zensys, ZM2102 Z-Wave Module Data Sheet, 2006

• SilverSpring Networks, “Why Unlicensed Spectrum Dominates the Smart Grid” Whitepaper.

• The ZigBee Alliance website (www.zigbee.com)

• Bluetooth Technology website (www.bluetooth.com)

• WiFi Alliance website (www.wi-fi.org)

• Z-Wave Alliance website (www.z-wavealliance.org)

• HART Communication and Foundation website (www.hartcomm.org)

• Wireless M-Bus Specification EN13757-4, Oct. 2005

Thank You

For more information, please mail us at:

radheshyam.patil@tcs.com

abhijeet.shinde@tcs.com