Smart grid leverages ARM - based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust end-to-end communication network

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Smart grid leverages ARM - based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust end-to-end communication network
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
Smart grid leverages ARM - based solutions to enable intelligent power consumption with a more robust end-to-end communication network
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 network
Texas 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 network
4    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 network
Texas 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 network
6    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 network
Texas 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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