Layered AMI Architecture for Various Grid Topologies and Communication Technologies

Abstract

Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) system, proposed in this paper, is capable of fulfilling all smart metering functionalities in real-time. The novel Local Metering Concentrator (LMC) layer is introduced as the set of independent embedded system components, allowing distributed architecture implementation. Two main data flows can be defined as command request processing and meter data acquisition. A command request, initiated by some of the top layer applications, is processed and forwarded through the system to the LMC layer, where the request is executed and the status is sent as a reply. The data and event acquisition is performed as an automatic function of the LMC layer. The collected data is forwarded to the system as soon as it is downloaded from the meters. The results of more than one-year exploitation of the installed pilot system are presented, emphasizing the real-time load profile data acquisition, allowing the distribution system operators (DSO) and the end consumer to be actively involved in energy saving. The introduced architecture enables load profiling, energy diagnostic and easy integration with any meter data management system.

Keywords

• Advanced metering infrastructure
• power line communication
• smart grid
• smart meters