Smart grid leverages ARM - based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust end-to-end communication network
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W H I T E PA P E R
Rogerio Almeida,
Marketing manager
Sitara™ ARM® processors
Texas Instruments
Smart grid leverages ARM ®-
based solutions to enable
intelligent power consumption
with a more robust end-to-end
communication network
Introduction Introduction (continued)
The supply of electrical energy has never abate. In developed countries, consumers will only add to the number of power hungry
been so tight. According to the 2011 An- devices and appliances they already possess and developing nations will continue to
nual Energy Outlook, worldwide energy con- expand their power generation plants and distribution grids throughout their countries.
sumption will increase 50% by 2035, and Unfortunately, only generating more power is not a viable solution. Those rolling blackouts
electricity alone will increase by 30% at the have pointed out the limitations and in some cases, the weaknesses of the old, unintelligent
same time 1 . Countries in various stages of transmission and distribution power grid. A more feasible solution for both the short and long
development have faced blackouts for dif- term is to be more efficient with the electrical power that is already being generated and dis-
ferent reasons, even in the most developed tributed over the grid. A step in this direction would be to make the grid itself more intelligent
countries like the United States. In October so that power utilities, governmental regulators, power distribution companies and consum-
2012, Superstorm Sandy left an estimated ers such as homeowners and businesses could better monitor, analyze and control energy
8 million customers without power in the generation, distribution and usage.
Northeast region of the U.S. 2 , and in July With the Smart Grid technology the energy generation and distribution process will be more
2012, hundreds of millions of people were robust, efficient and economical rather than higher power generation. In addition to increas-
left without power in India because utilities ing the innate intelligence of the grid itself, the smart grid is rapidly evolving into an intricate
failed to build up enough power capacity to network with multimodal communications methods. To address this growing need, more ARM-
meet the demand 3 . Furthermore, a four-hour based solutions are being leveraged to control the smart grid. With low power and energy-
blackout left an estimated 53 million people efficient designs that are ideal for this market, ARM processors help these complex networks
in Brazil without power in 2012 4 because increase security functionality, intelligent support for application and communication stacks,
of a flaw in a piece of equipment located and communications functions for home or building connectivity.
between two energy substations where the For example, utilities will detect outages and restore services much faster without the need
equipment’s safety mechanism was not of contacting the users or sending a crew to confirm restoration, especially in the cases of
properly programmed 5 . The fact of the mat- natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy. Whereas the old legacy grid carried power almost
ter is global demand for electrical power has exclusively, communications and intelligence will be integral to the new smart grid that is
outstripped supply and there’s no end to the already emerging.
situation in sight. Demand will certainly not
2 Texas Instruments
End-to-end intelligence The smart grid is far removed from the passive, practically inert infrastructure of power lines and distribution
and communication facilities in the past connected-generation plants to homes, businesses and factories. Instead, the smart grid
taking shape today is more like a nervous system that links together nodes of distributed intelligence. Along-
side electrical power, extensive communications data will traverse the smart grid. From control systems in
generating plants, and transmission and distribution substations, the smart grid will extend to smart meters
on homes, businesses and factories. The lifeblood of smart grid will be information and it will pulse with data.
Figure 1. The smart grid with its interconnected nodes of intelligence
Hierarchically, the smart grid will be comprised of several layers and segments. Beyond the distribution
substations will be data concentrators, which will interface substation control systems to a group of smart
meters located on residences or businesses in a certain geographic area. A data concentrator would com-
municate in real time with its smart meters via a wireless link such as sub-1GHz or wired connection like
PLC (FSK/G3/PRIME/P1901.2); and for the WAN (Wide Area Network) communication as backhaul GPRS
or WiMAX as examples of standards that could be used. The concentrator would gather information from
each smart meter at a regular predefined interval. This information would be organized, aggregated and
forwarded to a substation according to a sampling rate established by the grid’s operator. Sampling intervals
could vary, depending on the needs and capabilities of each utility’s control system. If the sampling rate must
be changed for whatever reason, a simple firmware upgrade to the data concentrators is usually all that is
required.
The number of smart meters a particular concentrator interfaces with will depend on the architectural
scheme of its segment of the smart grid and the processing capabilities of the concentrator. In urban areas
it is expected that concentrators will on average interface with 100 to 150 smart meters, but more powerful
concentrators could interface to thousands of meters.
The much greater intelligence and communications capabilities of smart meters will bring a new dimen-
sion of control, monitoring capabilities and analytical processing power to not just grid operators like utility
companies, but also to individual homeowners and businesses. Smart meters give utilities the kind of
Smart grid leverages ARM®-based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust December 2012
end-to-end communication networkTexas Instruments 3
in-depth information they have never had before on energy usage at the point of consumption. Likewise for
homeowners and businesses, smart meters will be a window into detailed information on power consumption
patterns down to the level of individual appliances or machines. Homeowners, for example, would have both
a macro and a micro view of their energy usage. From a macro level, users would have detailed knowledge
of the total power consumed in the house, revealing when power consumption is the greatest during the day.
From the micro perspective, users could be provided data on power usage rates for each individual appli-
ance in the home, such as the air conditioning unit or hot water heater. This level of data would be obtained
from different techniques like disaggregation or breaker panel board monitoring. One way of implementing
disaggregation is by monitoring the wave form of the current flow in the home power lines and understanding
that different equipment, when in use, can generate different shapes. An ARM® processor running a complex
algorithm could detect when each different appliance is on. Another possibility is leveraging the circuit
breaker panel board monitoring system. Today, most of the homes/buildings have separate electrical circuits
for each room or for major appliances such as a refrigerator, freezer or water heater. All circuits are generally
aggregated in a circuit breaker panel board where power consumption could easily be measured. Whether
it is through disaggregation or circuit breaker panel board, correlating all of this information could lead to
significant power savings.
From the standpoint of a grid operator, intelligent data concentrators connected to smart meters can pro-
vide tremendous benefits in terms of improved operational controls and management of the grid. Real-time
monitoring information will make the grid more reliable by increasing its resiliency. For example, operators
will be better able to quickly respond real time to sudden shifts in power consumption or problems with
transmission lines. The effective capacity of the grid itself would increase as a result of reducing energy
losses on feeder lines. The constant communication with an operator’s assets in the field, such as data con-
centrators and smart meters, will increase the effectiveness of the utility’s inventory management systems.
Renewable or distributed energy sources can be effectively integrated into the grid without jeopardizing its
integrity. And educating consumers with the information gathered from the smart grid will lead to increased
awareness of energy issues as well as better decisions on usage.
Home energy One key component of the smart grid is a home energy gateway, a device that provides homeowners the de-
gateways tailed level of information, albeit on a smaller scale, that the smart grid provides utilities. An energy gateway
could communicate with and control all of the home’s energy-consuming devices, including appliances like
furnaces, air conditioning units, refrigerators and others. Homeowners would then be better able to closely
monitor and control power consumption. Home energy gateways will vary greatly in the capabilities built into
each one. High-end gateways could be equipped with wireless Internet access, touch displays and other
ease-of-use features whereas gateways for the low end of the market could feature simple LCD displays, or
without screens, and local connectivity only to the home’s appliances and the grid’s smart meter.
Smart grid leverages ARM®-based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust December 2012
end-to-end communication network4 Texas Instruments
Gateways with wide-area connectivity and Internet access would give consumers the ability to control
home energy consumption remotely. For example, a home energy gateway might be online with the resi-
dence’s broadband router via a Wi-Fi® link. The gateway could monitor energy consumption in the home and
notify residents of sudden increase in usage via text message to a smartphone. If homeowners are traveling,
they could access the energy gateway from a computer or an application on his smartphone to determine the
cause of the increase and decide on a course of action. They might decide to turn off several lights in a sec-
tion of the home where they automatically turn on at night, or increase the thermostat’s temperature setting
during the heat of the day to reduce energy consumption of the air conditioning unit.
Figure 2. A few of TI’s communications capabilities for the smart grid
Smart grid TI is the global systems provider for innovative, secure, economical and future-proof solutions for the
solutions worldwide smart grid with the use of a diverse array of technologies. This includes high-performance, low-
power and scalable embedded processors and microcontrollers, the broadest portfolio of wired and wireless
connectivity solutions, analog front-end technology, power management devices and much more. TI technol-
ogy and extensive support capabilities, such as reference designs, software development tools, operating
systems, cost-effective evaluation modules and an ecosystem of third-party suppliers are being employed at
every point in the smart grid, from power plants to substations, homes and businesses.
Sitara™ AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8 processors, for example, are well suited for data concentrators and
other smart grid applications. Some of the key benefits of Sitara AM335x processors include:
Smart grid leverages ARM®-based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust December 2012
end-to-end communication networkTexas Instruments 5
• Frequencies ranging from 300 MHz to 1 GHz, which allow designers to select the right device according
to the performance needed.
• A scalable platform with six pin-to-pin compatible devices.
• 1GB total addressable space, which allows the implementation of large and complex programs.
• An EMAC module that provides an efficient interface between the ARM processor and the networked
community.
• 2× port industrial Gigabit Ethernet (10/100/1000 Mbps) with integrated switch – MII/RMII/RGMII and
MDIO interfaces that support 1588 time-stamping, AV sync and industrial Ethernet protocols.
• USB 2.0 – 2× OTG controllers with integrated PHYs provide a mechanism that complies with the USB 2.0
standard for data transfer between USB devices up to 480 Mbps. Its dual-role feature allows the capability
to operate as a host or peripheral.
• LCD controller/Touch screen controller – The liquid crystal display controller (LCDC) is used to interface to
character display panels for text message display or to graphical display panels for image/video display up
to WXGA.
• Support for numerous serial peripherals like I2C, general-purpose I/O, two Multichannel Audio Serial Ports
(McASPs) and eight UARTS (two via Programmable Real-Time Unit).
• Programmable Real-Time Unit and Industrial Communications Subsystems that supports protocols like
IEC61850, EtherNet/IP™, PROFIBUS®, EtherCAT®, PROFINET® and more.
• Out-of-box support for ZigBee®, Wi-Fi® and Bluetooth® solutions.
AM335x Processor
Graphics Display
ARM® 24-bit LCD Ctrl (WXGA)
Cortex™-A8
up to Touch Screen Ctrl (TSC)**
1* GHz PowerVR
SGX™ Security PRU-ICSS
3D Gfx w/ crypto
32K/32K L1 w/ SED 20 M/Trl/s acc. EtherCAT
®
256K L2 w/ ECC PROFINET®
64K Ethernet/IP™
64K RAM shared
RAM and more
L3/L4 Interconnect
Serial System Parallel
Interface
UART ×6 EDMA MMC/SD/ USB 2.0 OTG
SPI ×2 Timers ×8 SDIO ×3 + PHY ×2
2
I C ×3 WDT GPIO
EMAC 2 port
McASP ×2 RTC 10/100/1G
(4 ch) w/ 1588 and
eHRPWM ×3 switch
CAN ×2 eQEP ×3 (MII, RMII, RGMII)
(2.0B)
eCAP ×3
Memory Interface
JTAG/ETB
LPDDR1/DDR2/DDR3
ADC (8 ch)
12-bit SAR**
NAND/NOR
(16b ECC)
* 1 GHz only available on 15×15 package. 13×13 is planned for 600 MHz.
** Use of TSC will limit available ADC channels.
SED: Single error detection/parity.
Figure 3. Sitara AM335x ARM processor block diagram
Smart grid leverages ARM®-based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust December 2012
end-to-end communication network6 Texas Instruments
TI AM335x ARM® Cortex™-A8-based processor offers the highest DMIPs per dollar while delivering
optional 3D graphics acceleration. These features enable easy integration with other equipment and very low
stand-by power consumption, less than 7 mW.
A Sitara processor-based data concentrator evaluation module gives equipment manufacturers a flexible
and scalable solution that can be easily customized for a wide range of price points. This evaluation module
can be quickly integrated with practically any wired or wireless communications capability, including ZigBee,
Bluetooth®, near field communication (NFC), Ethernet, PLC and Wi-Fi® through the use of daughter cards
and third-party modules and others (Figure 1). The evaluation module uses the Linux™ operating system,
which is fully supported by TI. The data concentrator evaluation module also offers two-way communica-
tion with up to 1,000 electricity meters via single-/triple-phase PLC and a back-end network via two 1-GBit
Ethernet ports. In addition, TI’s StarterWare operating firmware helps microcontroller developers efficiently
migrate to microprocessor-based designs.
TI reference designs are also available for smart meters and home energy gateways. In addition, TI embed-
ded processors can be found throughout many of the control systems that utilities have deployed in their
substations and generating plants.
Table 1: A few examples of TI’s communications capabilities for Smart Grid
• Wired connectivity
• Power line communications (PLC): G3, PRIME
• Ethernet 10/100/1000
• Wireless short-range connectivity
• ZigBee®
• Bluetooth® (out-of-the-box)
• Near field communications (NFC)
• Wireless local and wide area connectivity
• Wi-Fi (out-of-the-box)
• WiMax
• Cellular protocols
• Industrial connectivity
• CAN 2.0, EtherCAT®, PROFIBUS®, PROFINET®
• Peripheral interfaces
• USB with PHY
• LCD controller with optional touch interface
Smart grid leverages ARM®-based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust December 2012
end-to-end communication networkTexas Instruments 7
Conclusion: In the decades ahead, it seems inevitable that demand for electrical energy will continue to increase while
Energy’s new normal supply struggles to keep up. Governments, utility companies and users are already coming to grips with this
new normal. Fortunately, technology is rapidly being deployed in the smart transmission and distribution grid
to help balance the relationship between demand and supply. Although a smart grid will not add a kilowatt of
electricity to the supply of energy, it can help ensure that electricity will be available to consumers by increas-
ing conservation, reducing wasteful usage patterns, and increasing the efficient operation of the grid itself,
effectively increasing the supply of electricity to users.
Technical advancements such as TI’s line of Sitara™ ARM®-based embedded processors, new refer-
ence designs for data concentrators and many other breakthroughs have formed the basis for a host of
advanced intelligent systems, which are becoming the backbone of today’s smart grid. Smart meters, home
energy gateways, data concentrators and advanced substation control systems can now deliver the power
of real-time information from one end of the smart power grid to the other, resulting in intelligent generation,
distribution and consumption decisions.
References 1 U.S. Energy Information Administration: “Annual Energy Outlook 2011”
2 Bloomberg.com: “Sandy Cuts Power to More Than 8 Million in U.S. Northeast”
3 NYTimes.com: “2nd Day of Power Failures Cripples Wide Swath of India”
4 Reuters.com: “UPDATE 3–Brazil hit by new blackout, infrastructure in spotlight”
5 Daily News and Analysis (dnaindia.com): “Human error caused blackout in Brazil”
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