Utilities require the ‘Swiss Army Knife’ approach in wireless connectivity

While Smart Grid applications are at the forefront of the utility market today, there are dozens of other wireless utility applications representing the backbone of the utility company’s daily field operations. Larger utilities may have thousands of wirelessly enabled vehicles, SCADA systems, fixed and machine to machine (M2M) applications operating on multiple networks. Each of these industrial grade applications uses a different RF design and implementation plan and may require unique network diagnostic tools in managing the device(s) and application over the air.

A typical utility needs to deploy wireless connectivity for the following applications:

Sierra Wireless maintains a comprehensive portfolio of wireless devices (embedded modems, gateways, routers and adapters ), connectivity options, software applications, and integration and device management services for the three core wireless utility applications using wireless IP connectivity based on cellular technology (W-WAN) such as GSM/GPRS and CDMA and next generation 4G technologies.  

Keeping Smart Grid Applications 'Smart'

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Maintaining a fully optimized wireless Smart Metering application begins with the development of the organic wireless module and the integration and testing of that module into the end-point, such as a meter or concentrator.    The phases of a wireless WAN product development in Smart Grid applications should include:

Device Integration:

• Program Management & Guidance
• Product Design Consultation:

Hardware, Communication Firmware, Software Application,

SIM card integration and management (Embedded SIM) or Antenna design

Platform Verification / Validation:

• RF testing:
  Passive; (Q)TIS; TRP; OTA desense
• Satimo Stargate 64 Chambers, OTA RF Performance
•  SIM integration and testing
• Environmental qualification
• Field & Lab testing

Certification Preparation:

• Agency, Regulatory
• Device preparation
• Document preparation
• Submission logistics, management

Customer Development

• Software (Drivers, Protocols, Apps, Tools)
• OS porting
• Testing, Commercialization support

Remote Management & Diagnostic Tools

With upwards of millions of customers dependent on the Grid for reliable service, utilities must utilize an explicit set of remote management and diagnostic tools to keep Smart Grid applications fully optimized. The wireless network  must monitor and control a variety of end-point devices, enable firmware over the air (FOTA) configuration for the device and software application, ensure multiple layers of security encryption, heal itself from outside attacks  and do all of this in an open and standardized environment. No single utility can afford to fully staff their IT departments with resources necessary to support this evolving environment. The support and expertise then comes from the vendors and network operators.

Smart Grid suppliers of wireless solutions must be able to support this industry with the latest wireless technology professional services and materials in order to deliver effective support and added value to the utilities market.  Gone are the days when a standard protocol analyzer was all a utility needed to deploy and maintain their wireless network. Today that tool-box must also include:

• GSM/CDMA network throughput testing, troubleshooting and validation programs
• Digital Storage Scopes - SIM electrical prescreen testing
• (JTAG Memory Capture Tool - Used to capture module memory dumps
• RF Reference Device - Ring testing and RF noise troubleshooting
• OEM provided platforms for numerous hardware design validation tests

Providing the necessary wireless management tools to simplify the provisioning, managing and troubleshooting of remote equipment enables utilities to monitor and control their network of wireless gateways and end-points from one or more central locations.  This ultimately lowers total cost of ownership (TCO) by virtually eliminating the need for field service techs to travel to remote distribution points.

Smart Grid Market Drivers: The Three "Rs"

Reliability - Smart Grid applications are being driven by the need to replace or upgrade aging meters, and improve transmission and energy distribution networks which are becoming increasingly unreliable and inefficient to operate.  The expense being incurred by utilities to maintain their transmission and distribution networks and meter deployments represent major portions in operating budgets. Solutions that project longer, more reliable asset life cycles by means of upgradeability and remote serviceability will make the short list of utility applications.

This takes a well balanced ecosystem of experienced partners to implement a complete network solution; no single vendor has the experience across all domains in the Smart Grid. The Federal Stimulus money has attracted many new players to the market, some with little or no background in wireless applications.  Reliability extends not only to the solution at hand, but also applies to the vendor. 

Most utilities recognize this upfront, however many partnerships are evolving simply due to the availability of stimulus funding opportunities.   Once the stimulus money is gone, many of these new entities may lack sufficient capital to stay in business, creating additional risk for the utility company.

Regulation - Regulators are adopting mandates requiring the use of smart meters to gain efficiencies in energy distribution and to reduce carbon outputs through AMI automation.  This could drive further regulation, more likely in the form of 'guidance' to develop standards promoting interoperability amongst device manufactures.   The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has been working with the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) and is expected to release a preliminary set of guidelines in Q4-09.  This draft will solicit commentary from both the private and public sector to further refine interoperability standards.  

Responsibility - Utilities must be accountable to their rate base and smart metering puts end users in the driver's seat, enabling them to better monitor energy use which ultimately leads to lower customer costs with improved conservation, reliability, and grid management and significantly lowers the utilities carbon footprint.    

Utilities also have a responsibility to their rate payers to implement a safe and secure technology protecting a customers' identity.  This is a very serious issue and fortunately, recent advancements in secure wireless protocols and more importantly, the network tools to monitor these applications by utilities 24/7 are being deployed today.

Conclusion

 Utilities truly are the Swiss Army Knife of wireless applications with Smart Grid deployments representing only one of the many technical tools they will deploy in this developing market.   The evolution of this Smart Grid market will bring about several technical advances and interoperability in hardware improving the energy and power industry overall. Yet, this comes at a cost.  Utilities cannot afford to maintain large IT departments and will rely upon their suppliers to fill this void in a supportive role with: 

• Connectivity for a wide range of devices to the service platform
• Openness in their platform design and support at each step of the relationship with solutions that are easy to port, maintain, adapt and enhance by the customer

While the regulators and their private sector partnerships continue forward with regulations and standards to improve interoperability for smart grid solutions, it will be the value chain of energy suppliers that will backfill this requirement in joint cooperation with utilities.

Note:

Sierra Wireless products connect people and machines to wireless networks around the world. We offer an advanced, comprehensive product line, addressing consumer, enterprise, original equipment manufacturer, and specialized vertical industry markets. We also offer a wide range of professional and operated services. Our solutions are used for mobile computing, transportation, industrial M2M (machine-to-machine), enterprise, residential and consumer communications applications. For more information visit www.sierrawireless.com.