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Smart metering and smart monitoring systems Chapter 2 65

The communication infrastructure should be resistant against interference,
latency, noises and fading sources. The component of a communication system
along smart grid may be compliant with wireline or wireless transceivers
regarding to operation area and requirements. The prominent wireline commu-
nication system used in smart metering applications is known as power line
communication (PLC) while wireless communications are based on radio fre-
quency (RF), microwave or mesh transceivers at various frequency and data
rates. The smart metering and monitoring applications perform required control
services due to AMI technology [2, 4, 5]. In this chapter, we firstly introduce
smart metering concepts and systems and then present a deeper description
of smart meters, AMI technologies, and smart monitoring systems. The evolu-
tion of smart metering, protocols and standards of smart meters and AMI tech-
nologies, and monitoring architectures have been presented in detail in the
context of this chapter.

2.2 Smart metering concept and systems
The very early electricity meters were electromechanical and known as accu-
mulation meter since they were recording the consumption by using a mechan-
ical rotation triggering counters. The billing was performed by on-site detection
of customer consumption and by monthly periods in this system. It was a prim-
itive and unreliable management scheme against malicious interventions. The
billing periods were not applicable for many industrial plants in conventional
metering and billing system due to conventional meters. The first improvements
on electromechanical or accelerometer metering infrastructure have been per-
formed by using AMR systems that were capable to communicate in one-way
from meter to reader. The next development in metering has been achieved
around early 2000s with smart metering systems measuring, collecting, analyz-
ing, and managing energy by use of information and communication technology
(ICT). The residential and industrial applications have been integrated to two-
way communication networks by the improvement of AMI systems that is fun-
damental component of smart metering. The development and evolution of
smart metering systems have been illustrated in Fig. 2.1 where it is expected
to achieve advanced smart metering as a next step of AMI technology. The
smart metering technology have leveraged DSM and demand side integration
to real-time data transmission and advanced control applications such as
monitoring, metering, communication, and management.
Therefore, smart metering is rather than a single interfacing technology with
its capabilities of integrating intelligent control and management between cus-
tomer and system operators. It also provides estimation, decision-making and
data management technologies. Smart metering creates a fundamental connec-
tion between grid, consumer loads, generation and transmission network, and
asset management through integration of several type of area networks such
as home area network (HAN), building area network (BAN), industrial area