Europe's first smart metering technology standard based on an open architecture is the target of a collaboration between ETSI (the European Telecommunications Standards Institute) and the European Smart Metering Industry Group (ESMIG).
In a move which is expected to accelerate the deployment of smart meters in Europe, the two organisations will implement a European Commission standardisation mandate (Mandate M/441) related to the development of an open system architecture for utility meters involving communication protocols.
The work will look at the various communications technologies already proposed for use with smart metering systems. These include wireless short-range communications, power line communications (i.e. the transport of data over electricity supply networks), mobile communications and communications on wireless sensors networks.
According to ETSI, its experience in specifying "communication protocols for many different types of network, serving diverse types of data and security criteria, is also highly relevant to this initiative".
ETSI will also draw on its role in defining radio spectrum requirements for new communication applications within Europe. "A need for more spectrum for short-range radio devices to support metering has already been identified," said ETSI.
The metering market is currently undergoing considerable change and, as smarter metering systems become available, they are being viewed as the future for utility metering, the term smart meaning "intelligent" and "connected" Smart Metering entails the exchange of various types of data between different entities and this implies communication channels of various forms.
See: Anatomy of a smart meter