AMI & AMR PROJECTS IN JORDAN

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Transcript AMI & AMR PROJECTS IN JORDAN

Slide 1

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 2

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 3

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 4

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 5

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 6

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 7

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 8

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 9

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 10

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 11

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 12

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 13

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 14

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 15

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 16

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 17

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 18

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 19

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 20

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 21

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 22

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 23

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 24

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 25

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.


Slide 26

E. FERAS AL-ASALI
Electrical Distribution Company
[email protected]

Two communication media between meter and
server are applicable in our company “EDCo –
Jordan”, The target is to discuss the advantages
and dis-advantages of using a such grid of
AMR/AMI based on a different
communication media :



GPRS
PLC

Automated meter reading (AMR) technology dawned primarily between the
mid-'80s and early 1990s. In the beginning, there were three primary
options:

(1) walk-by/drive-by solutions.
(2) one-way, inbound systems.
(3) two-way, dial-up, phone-based solutions.
Walk-by/drive-by solutions are used still for AMR data collection where
radio frequency (RF) modules chirp their readings periodically and a
device, either handheld unit, picks up the data when nearby.
One-way, inbound systems involved programming meters to send in
readings at periodic rates–typically daily–sometimes called bubble-up
networks. These used consumer phone lines, radio technology or oneway, legacy power line carrier (PLC) signals transmitted over the utility's
distribution lines.
Dial-up phone systems are straightforward and use a computer to dial
modems attached to electric meters, particularly at commercial accounts.
A few of these solutions have evolved, allowing adequate data transfer
with modern telephony technology, predominantly still used for small
batches of meters rather than entire service territories.

Utilities now look at the deployment of
AMR/AMI systems to reduce the operating
costs, improve meter-reading accuracy,
eliminate manmade errors, and improve
efficiency through demand management.
Advanced metering can be implemented with
different levels of intelligence associated to the
meter. Typically three types can be
distinguished, in order of increasing interaction
level and feature contents.







AMR (automated meter reading) is a remote reading system based on an
advanced technology that permits utilities to read electronic meters over
long distances. Through AMR, the energy consumption can be read on an
annual, weekly, daily or on an hourly basis. Consumption and status
data, such as time stamps, are through various connection media being
transmitted to a central system for billing and analysis. The automatic
data collection enables billing based on real time consumption as opposed
to an estimated consumption.
AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) refers to systems that measure,
read and analyses energy consumption. AMI systems can be defined as
an extension of the simpler AMR-system. The AMI always
communication two-way and comprises the whole range of metering
devices, software, communication media, and data management system.
AMM (automatic meter management) or smart metering is another
expansion of a remote reading system that includes the possibility of
performing technical measurements and functions and carrying out
customer-oriented services.







Electrical meter: An electronic device that
measures the amount of electrical energy supplied
to a residence or business. It is electrically fed and
composed of electronic controllers. It has an
interface which allows data to be transmitted from
the remote terminal to the central device.
Central office: Equipped with a system which
includes receivers, data concentrators, modems,
and computers that are able to store and to process
received information.
Communication system: A communication system
needs to be implemented in order to transmit data
and to control the different signals between the
remote device and the central office.











Highly Person dependent.
Human errors cannot be avoided.
Accessibility of meters in rural/ Agricultural zones.
Energy Audits performed based on bill collection
which is highly inaccurate.
Billing done mainly on estimated/ monthly average
basis
Inability to monitor and control discrete loads
Billing cycle requires excessive time.
Meter data used only for billing, cannot help in
analysis like demand analysis, energy audit,
pinpointing losses, etc.









Real time Pricing: Customers are charged tariffs that vary over a short
period of time, hourly for example. It helps customers control their
consumption and helps utility providers to better plan for the energy
market. Provide an in-depth study of the real time pricing.
Power quality measurement: The electric utility engineers need more
detailed readings than KWH so that they can efficiently plan the network
expansion and deliver a higher quality of supply. Power quality involves
the measurement of voltage sags, swells, under and over voltages,
harmonics distortion, voltage and current imbalances, and record
duration of each event.
Automated Billing: Once the metering data is available at the utility
company premises, billing, acknowledgement of received payments, and
power consumption reports can be fully automated and made available
to customers, on the web for example.
Load management: This is another industrial area that will be feasible
after having an AMR system in place. The service allows sending control
signals to appliances such as air conditioners, and heaters.





Remote Connect/Disconnect: The utility provider
can remotely and quickly configure the meter to
enable or disable energy to certain customers.
Outage notification: This offers an effective way to
improving response time. Liu et al. propose an
algorithm that involves two steps: outage locating
and outage confirmation through meter polling.

What AMR/AMI can offer is not limited to what have
been mentioned in above. Generally, with a two
communication medias , definitely enables many
sophisticated services . AMR/AMI network
reliability will be discussed a head

The beginning of smart meters application was an
AMR with PLC which had took a place
successfully in our company “EDCo” as a pilot
project. With the load growth, high losses had
been noticed in our electrical grid of certain areas.
An experimental sample -Jordanian village- “was
chosen where the losses exceeds 60%”, the pilot
project of (250) single phase meter, (20) three phase
meter and (2) three phase meter CT operated.
EDCo diced to use Power Line Carrier (PLC) for
communication purpose to reduce any capital or
operational cost for this pilot project.





Meter Built-in PLC Module
Meter communicate with Concentrator directly
Concentrator communicate with Master Station

PLC System advantages :
By using existing cable infrastructure PLC system
eliminates the need for installation and
maintenance of dedicated communication links.
Already every building or household is connected
to the electrical power grid and moreover; every
room has power line contact points installed.
Without doubt the extent of this existing
infrastructure cannot be matched by any other
telecommunication technologies that are available
today and PLC have many international standard
DLMS, IEC.



As the electric power distribution lines were not
originally designed for communication purposes as a
result they exhibit highly variable and unpredictable
levels of channel noise, signal attenuation and
distortion
Noise and disturbances (Major Obstacle):
Common causes of noise on the high voltage electrical
power networks include corona discharge, power
factor correction banks and circuit breaker operation.
On the low voltage network, much of this noise is
filtered by distribution transformers, so the most
common interference in low voltage domestic
networks can be attributed to the various household
devices and office equipment connected to the
network.

In our project PLC system with about 200 PLC meters, it
takes more than 24 Hours to read all the data and
sometimes we don’t get any reading from some
meters (10-12%).

A hazard area on the Jordan Valley itself where the losses exceeded
75%; the regular meters were hanged up on the top of power
transformers suspended to a wooden pole. And this procedure
was temporarily taken to avoid customers’ easy reach and
tampering (see Figure in next slide)
Despite of the above solution, it becomes also very difficult to retrieve
the required data without transformers’ switching off. EDCo
decided to use AMI system to settle down this case through the
pilot project with AMI & GPRS reducing all risks of PLC.
For the target project, (95) single phase meter, (225) three phase meter
and (60) three phase meter with CT operated were used supported
by AMI & GPRS.The price of AMI system is still at a level where it
usually cannot be applied widely to all customers. The price of
AMI is mainly determined by the costs of the hardware, the
installation and the communication infrastructure and the running
cost. The cost issue plays a key factor in replacing traditional
metering system with AMI system.






Meter Built-in GPRS Module.
Communication area (GPRS with SIM card).
The master system
Customer interface unit.






High–speed.
Unlimited transmission range.
GPRS is very suitable for power applications.
Low capital cost where we don’t need
Consecrator for data collection nor licenses
when comparing with RF technology.





Covering GPRS network area depends on
Mobile phone operator.
Wireless communication method such as GPRS
high operational costs especially for a long run
projects

Table (1) provides a summary of the attributes
reach ability, costs, operator, flexibility,
reliability and suitability for advanced
metering applications for the different
communication means discussed above.

Despite of some notes against AMI application
and communication media operational costs
especially on the third world area, it’s highly
expected to overcome all obstacles in the
coming years.

Once the communication media through GPRS
are being settled down , AMI system will be a
worldwide application.