2nd Int'l Conf.

on Electrical Engineering and Information & Communication Technology (ICEEICT) 2015

Jahangimagar University, Dhaka-I 342, Bangladesh, 21-23 May 2015

Arduino and GSM Based Smart Energy Meter

for Advanced Metering and Billing System

Md. Masudur Rahman; Noor-E-Jannat; Mohd. Ohidul Islam; Md. Serazus Salakin
Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Pabna University of Science & Technology
Pabna-6600, Bangladesh
[email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]

Abstract- Every management system is trying to make The Energy Monitoring System is appropriate for
automatic, portable and remote control. This work presents a
Industries, manufacturing plants, commercial buildings or any
novel smart energy meter for an automatic and superior
situation where an electrical system is used. The system
metering and billing system. The integration of the Arduino and
provides the centralized energy monitoring and control. The
GSM Short Message Service (SMS) provide the meter reading
system with some automatic functions that are predefined.
Energy Management System leads to savings in the overall
Firstly, we have simulated the project in PROTEUS 8.0 then cost. These savings may be come from better utilization of
successfully implemented on the circuit board in laboratory. The manpower, servicing cost, savings in the energy consumption,
proposed energy meter system can incorporate with embedded and non-breakdowns in the system. The smart energy meter
controller and GSM modem to transmit the data like consumed contains an energy meter, a GSM modem, a microcontroller
energy in kWh, generated bill, security services (line Cut/On) (Arduino) and a relay circuit, which is connected between the
over GSM mobile network such as data can be then fed and
energy meter and the load. The proposed smart energy meter is
integrated into existing energy management systems located at
able to provide all the metering and billing services like
power companies or organizations to provide the services among
counting the consumed energy, sending the generated bill by
the customers without man-power. Our implemented project is
able to provide all required services remotely for metering and
the SMS (short message service) over the GSM network as
billing with high fidelity. well as the security services. Factually at present, the metering
and billing system of our country is totally conventional and it
Keywords- Smart Energy Meter (SEM), Arduino is very much slowed, faulty and corrupted so our proposed
(microcontroller), Global System for Mobile (GSM), Short smart energy meter is highly deserved for national
Message Service (SMS) implementation. The overall operation of the proposed system
is discussed in the next section.
I. INTRODUCTION

II. ENERGY METERING SYSTEMS

It has become a trend to integrate automatic systems via
wireless applications over network. Along with the A. Conventional System
advancement of technology development, research on wireless
Electricity meters operate by continuously measuring the
applications and remote control has become significant and
instantaneous voltage (volts) and current (amperes) to give
popular today. An electricity meter, electric meter, or energy
energy used (in joules, kilowatt-hours etc.). The meters fall into
meter is a device that measures the amount of electric energy
two basic categories, electromechanical and electronic. The
consumed by a residence, business, or an electrically powered most common type of electricity meter is the electromechanical
device. A smart energy meter (SEM) is electric device having induction watt-hour meter. The electromechanical induction
energy meter chip for electric energy consumed measurement, meter operates by counting the revolutions of a non-magnetic,
wireless protocol for data communication (such as GSM but electrically conductive, metal disc which is made to rotate
Modem) and peripheral devices for security purpose, data at a speed proportional to the power passing through the meter.
showing, meter controlling etc. Energy meter systems [1-2] can The number of revolutions is thus proportional to the energy
be incorporated with embedded controllers such as GSM usage.
modem to transmit the data over the mobile network. Such data
Electronic meters display the energy used on an LCD or
can be then fed and integrated into existing Energy
LED display, and some can also transmit readings to remote
Management Systems located at power companies and
places. In addition to measuring energy used, electronic meters
organizations. The problem of efficiently collecting data from a
can also record other parameters of the load and supply such as
large number of distributed GSM Modems in the energy instantaneous and maximum rate of usage demands, voltages,
meters is still a challenging problem. GSM modem should power factor and reactive power used etc. They can also
needs the terminal to control that part. Our Embedded support time-of-day billing, for example, recording the amount
controller interfaced with energy meter reading systems and of energy used during on-peak and off-peak hours.
GSM modem to control both.

978-1-4673-6676-2115/$31.00 ©2015 IEEE

 There are many flaws and errors in conventional billing. in the metering unit, Arduino turns OFF the relay, turns ON
Some human mistakes may also occur in manual billing [3]. the buzzer and sends SMS to the service provider.
Analyzing the conventional billing some of the common
observed errors and mistakes are: III. SYSTEM ARCHITECTURE OF SMART ENERGY METER

• It's a time consuming procedure. The system architecture of Arduino and GSM based smart
energy meter is shown in the Fig. 1. The energy consumption
• There is always a chance of human error while taking is being calculated using the energy meter IC and
the manual meter reading. Arduino(Uno 3). In order to prevent a tampering, detection
• There is no check and balance and verification program is present in the Arduino. Arduino and GSM based
procedure of this meter reading. smart energy meter can be divided into several parts as Energy
Meter IC, LCD, Arduino, GSM modem [11], Relay,
• There is always a chance of theft and corruption. Optocoupler, Control Unit, Display Unit and Power Supply
Unit etc. The hardware description of different parts is
• Extra human power is required.
separately introduced as follows:
• Consumer is not updated of his usage.

• Consumer may not get the bill slip within due date.

B. Proposed System

A smart meter works by communicating directly with

wireless data protocol with your energy supplier, so the
company will always have an accurate meter reading and
there's no need for you to take a meter reading yourself. Smart
meters can work in a variety of different ways, including using
wireless mobile phone type technology to send data. There are
many benefits of smart energy meter such as:

• Your smart energy monitor shows you how much

Fig. 1. Block diagram of the proposed smart energy metering system.
energy you're using in money. So you can see what
you're spending by the minute. Knowing more about
how much energy things use, will help you choose the A. Energy Meter Ie (BL6503)
way you use them.
In BL6503 [10], the two ADCs digitize the voltage signals
• Your smart meters send us accurate, regular from the current and voltage transducers. These ADCs are 16-
information about your energy use. So your bills will bit second order sigma-delta with an oversampling rate of 900
be accurate and there will be an end to having to kHz. This analog input structure greatly simplifies transducer
submit meter readings [5].
interfacing by providing a wide dynamic range for direct
• If you want to get the most out of being a smart meter connection to the transducer and also simplifying the anti­
customer, let us know and we'll update your smart aliasing filter design. A programmable gain stage in the current
meters to record readings for every half-hour. Your channel further facilitates easy transducer interfacing. A high
smart meters will continue to only send one 'batch' of pass filter in the current channel removes any dc component
readings through to us each day but this will enable us from the current signal. This eliminates any inaccuracies in the
to provide you with a Smart Energy Report a week real power calculation due to offsets in the voltage or current
after your bill. signals.
The proposed system consists of digital energy meter, an The real power calculation is derived from the
Arduino (microcontroller) and GSM modem. After switching instantaneous power signal. The instantaneous power signal is
power on the Arduino and the GSM modem, turn on the relay generated by a direct multiplication of the current and voltage
and connects the energy meter to load via relay. Then read the signals. In order to extract the real power component (i.e., the
EEPROM and display the current data. Arduino checks the dc component), the instantaneous power signal is low-pass
impulse from energy meter Ie. If impulse occur increase the filtered. This scheme correctly calculates real power for non
data and display current data. GSM modem checks the new sinusoidal current and voltage waveforms at all power factors.
SMS. If there is a new SMS and read it. If the SMS is All signal processing is carried out in the digital domain for
"DATA", send data to the specific number. If the SMS is superior stability over temperature and time. The low
"LINE CUT", turn OFF the relay, so load will disconnect. frequency output of the BL6503 is generated by accumulating
Again the SMS is "LINE OK" and then turn ON the relay so this real power information. This low frequency inherently
load will connect. If there is any other SMS in any other means a long accumulation time between output pulses. The
formats, then delete the SMS. Any tampering attempt occurs output frequency is therefore proportional to the average real

This work is partially funded by the Dept. of EEE, Pabna University of

Science and Technology, Bangladesh.
power. This average real power information can, in turn, be powered. In this way, the microcontroller and expensive
accumulated (e.g., by a counter) to generate real energy additional electronics are completely protected from high
information. Because of its high output frequency and hence voltage and noises which are the most common cause of
shorter integration time, the CF output is proportional to the destroying, damaging or unstable operation of electronic
instantaneous real power. This is useful for system calibration devices in practice. The most frequently used optocouplers are
purposes that would take place under steady load conditions. those with phototransistors on their outputs. When it comes to
the optocouplers with internal base-to-pin 6 connection (there
B. Arduino (Uno R3) are also optocouplers without it), the base can be left
unconnected.
Arduino is an open-source platfonn used for building
electronics projects. Arduino consists of both a physical
E. Relay
programmable circuit board (often referred to as a
microcontroller) and a piece of software, or IDE (Integrated A relay is an electrically operated switch. Many relays use
Development Environment) that runs on our computer, used to an electromagnet to mechanically operate a switch, but other
write and upload computer code to the physical board. The operating principles are also used, such as solid-state relays.
Arduino [12] platfonn has become quite popular with people Relays are used where it is necessary to control a circuit by a
just starting out with electronics, and for good reason. Unlike low-power signal (with complete electrical isolation between
most previous programmable circuit boards, the Arduino does control and controlled circuits), or where several circuits must
not need a separate piece of hardware (called a programmer) be controlled by one signal. The first relays were used in long
in order to load new code onto the board - you can simply use distance telegraph circuits as amplifiers: they repeated the
a USB cable. Additionally, the Arduino IDE uses a simplified signal coming in from one circuit and re-transmitted it on
version of C++, making it easier to learn to program. Finally, another circuit. Relays were used extensively in telephone
Arduino provides a standard form factor that breaks out the exchanges and early computers to perform logical operations.
functions of the micro-controller into a more accessible
package[14]. The Uno is one of the more popular boards in the F. Power Supply Unit
Arduino family and a great choice for beginners.
A power supply is an electronic device that supplies
electric energy to an electrical load. As all know any invention
C. Arduino GSM Shield (SIM 900)
of latest technology cannot be activated without the source of
The GPRS Shield is based on SIM900 module from power. All the electronic components starting from diode to
SIMCOM and compatible with Arduino and its clones. The Intel IC's only work with a DC supply usually ranging from
GPRS Shield provides you a way to communicate using the ±5v to ±12v. We are utilizing for the same, the cheapest and
GSM cell phone network. The shield allows you to achieve commonly available energy source of 230v-50Hz and stepping
SMS, MMS, and GPRS and Audio via UART by sending AT down, rectifying, filtering and regulating the voltage to
commands (GSM 07.07, 07.05 and SIMCOM enhanced AT convert it into suitable DC voltage. In our project the required
Commands). The shield also has the 12 GPIOs, 2 PWMs and voltage is +5V & +6V to run Energy meter IC,
an ADC of the SIM900 module (They are all 2V8 logic) Microcontroller and the display unit.
present onboard [11]. The Arduino GSM Shield connects your
Arduino to the internet using the GPRS wireless network. Just
IV. CIRCUIT CONNECTIONS AND POWER CALCULATION
plug this module onto your Arduino board, plug in a SIM card
from an operator offering GPRS coverage and follow a few The complete circuit diagram has shown in Fig. 2. Energy
simple instructions to start controlling your world through the meter we have used is based on the energy meter IC BL6503.
internet. You can also make/receive voice calls (you will need In energy measure, the power information varying with time is
an external speaker and microphone circuit) and send/receive calculated by a direct multiplication of the voltage signal and
SMS messages. the current signal. The energy meter IC is producing impulses
according to real power consumption. It calculates lKWh for
D. Optocoupler 1600 impulses. For this the meter is rated as 1600imp/KWh.
For every impulse the LED will blink. We have connected an
An optocoupler is a device commonly used to galvanically
Optocoupler high voltage side to this LED so that the
separate microcontroller electronics from any potentially
Optocoupler will switch for every impulse. The direct
dangerous current or voltage in its surroundings. Optocoupler
connection from energy meter IC may dangerous for high
usually have one, two or four light sources (LED diodes) on
voltage and make error for ac component to the Arduino. The
their input while on their output, opposite to diodes, there is
pin 6 of the Arduino is connected to the Optocoupler
the same number of elements sensitive to light
switching side for detecting the impulse of the energy meter.
(phototransistors, photo-thyristors or phototriacs). The point is
While an impulse occurs the Optocoupler is switched, a pin 6
that an optocoupler uses a short optical transmission path to
detects a digital O. On the other hand when the Optocoupler is
transfer a signal between the elements of circuit, while
not active the pin 6 will go in undefined state, then the
keeping them electrically isolated. This isolation makes sense
Arduino may detect many pulses on this pin. So, to avoid this
only if diodes and photosensitive elements are separately
 V. SOFTWARE SIMULATION
We have simulated the project in PROTEUS 8.0 which
one of best simulation software for electronic design. The
simulated view of the project is shown in Fig. 3. First we have
designed the counter using the Arduino where pulse on the pin
is given by signal generator then the data will be displayed in
the LCD. We have connected the GSM shield using a 'USB to
Serial Converter' at USB port of the Pc. The modem is
connected to Pc. The connection of the Arduino with GSM
modem can establish using 'COMPIM' of the proteus. The
component 'COMPOM' contains all serial connection pin. We
have also used 'Virtual Terminal' of proteus to see the data
exchanging between the GSM modem and Arduino. The
virtual terminal shows everything that occurring or
exchanging in the GSM modem and Arduino. We have to set
all BAUD rate of virtual erminal and COMPIM port to 9600
kbps because of the GSM modem will communicate at this
BAUD rate. Otherwise garbage value will show in the virtual
terminal. Before RUN the software, the '.hex' file of the
associated project i.e. the program should give to the Arduino
otherwise it will show error. We have connected button for
tampering attempt detect. When any one try to open the meter
cover the button will
Fig. 2. The complete circuit diagram of the proposed smart energy meter.

situation we have connected a lOKQ pull-up resistor with this

pin so that on the inactive state of the Optocoupler the pin 6 of
the Arduino will detect digital 1. Therefore the pin 6 of the
Arduino will detect digital 0 when the Optocoupler is
switched on otherwise the pin will detect digital 1. The change
of state of the pin from digital 1 to digital 0 will count 1 to the
data. For 1600 impulse it has to show lKWh and as the meter
display format is as it has to show two digits after radix point.
So that data will increase in the display after 16 impulses on
the pin 6 of the Arduino [8].

We have used Arduino GSM shield for interfacing GSM

modem with Arduino. It is a complete board contains all
necessary pins and ports. The data communication pins are TX
and RX We have to connect TX pin of Arduino with RX pin
.

of GSM modem and RX pin of Arduino with TX pin of GSM

modem so that data communication may occur. All ground pin
GND must connect together. As it is an Arduino GSM shield
the pin configuration is so made that we have to just put the
GSM shield on the Arduino board. It will get power from the
Fig. 2 Circuit diagram of the proposed smart energy meter.
Fig. 3. Simulation image of the project in Proteus
Arduino board. Before establish the GSM shield to the
Arduino board a valid SIM card must install in the SIM card
released and send information to the service provider. We
port for wireless data communication over GSM protocol.
used LED as load; when it is glowing the load is connected.
After power ON of the GSM shield the network light will
The program is written in Arduino IDE software will generate
blinking fast until the network coverage has got. When the
a hex code when verify. This hex code should load to the
network coverage has got, then the NET light will blinking
Arduino before compiling. Internal EEPROM will store data
slower than the previous. Sending the AT command to the
permanently. After stop the simulation if we start again data
modem it will response 'OK' after execution of every AT
will not lost. Two GSM mobile SIM number is used for demo
command that mean that the modem is connected and
interfaced successfully [7].
operation over GSM network, where one as customer and the EEPROM and calculate the data then display the data to
another as service provider. the LCD. After that relay will ON and load will connect via
relay from the energy meter. If there is any impulse occurs
VI. HARDWARE IMPLEMENTATION
from energy meter IC, the Arduino will count it, increase the
According to the simulation connection, we have data and show in the LCD. Arduino will continuously check
connected all the circuit parameters and parts of the project in the new SMS indication from GSM modem. If there is new
a project board as shown in Fig. 4. SMS, then Arduino will send related AT command to read the
SMS. While reading SMS, Arduino will cheek the instruction
in the SMS body. If there is valid instruction such as SMS
body contain 'DATA' then Arduino will send the current data
showing in the LCD via GSM modem to the specific number
i.e. service provider as
'Consumer ID: . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

ENERG Y Consumed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . KWh '.

If there is SMS body contain 'LINE CUT' then Arduino will

turn OFF the relay so load will disconnect and a conformation
message will send to service provider that line has been cut. If
there is SMS body contain 'LINE OK' then Arduino will turn
ON the relay so load will connect and a conformation message
will send to service provider that line

VII. CONCLUSION AND FUTURE WORK

Arduino and GSM based Smart Energy Meter for
advanced metering and billing system is built which is able to
read and send data via wireless protocol using GSM
Fig.4. The prototype of the implemented smart energy meter technology through GSM modem, capable of manage the
meter as well as the line connection. However this project
We have established all the equipment in a board and needs more modification for more reliable and higher degree
connected the energy meter, Optocoupler and Arduino on a of satisfaction and safety. For GSM module the network
project board. We direct connected GSM shield with Arduino coverage of the SIM used is one of the important facts. The
through male connector. Relay placed on the project board network strength should strong so that the GSM module can
control the circuit board contain a socket and a bulb holder. work well.
The load can be connected through the socket though the bulb
also is a load but low power. While connecting all the One of the most important facts for this project is high cost
elements one matter must be keep in mind that leakage flux of of the component so that the overall cost of this project is
the 230V AC component may interfere data communication of high. Due to educational purpose and for research the
the Arduino and GSM modem. So high voltage equipment equipment is provided with all pin connection, features and all
have to keep appropriate place where it may not interfere. All possible events. As a result the manufacture cost is high. But
the connection have to connect carefully with good quality when we implement this project commercially the cost may
male connector. The power of the GSM modem has to take reduce by two or three times or more than the demo project. In
from the Arduino board. The Arduino board should supply commercial production for this project all the necessary
with 9V DC and the current ratting must not be bellow component should provide only necessary pin connection and
lOOOmA. A 9V lOOOmA adapter may use for power supply. A features. As a result overall cost may reduce more. In spite of
9V rechargeable battery may connect in parallel with power being high cost at first time that mean when buy or install the
supply will work in case of power fail. overall cost of the system will reduce for this meter. The
human labor that is taking data from energy meter in present
Two mobile phone set with GSM SIM, where one is used day has to pay a good amount of salary for every month.
as customer end and another is used as service provider end Comparing this case Smart Energy Meter saves enough money
for demo operation. As the Arduino has been burned via PC for every month. In case of line cutting present system is very
using programming with predefmed functions i.e. energy complex, time consuming and need much labor. Labor come
meter reading code, SMS reading, checking and sending code, to the pole from where the line taken, ride on the ladder and
AT commands for SMS and security services, it will work on cut the line through pliers. This process is dangerous and risk
the following process. After powering ON the Arduino goes to of high voltage and high current electric shock. In case of line
its initial condition and powering ON the GSM modem and reconnect have to follow same procedure. For this system also
delete all the SMS. After a short delay the Arduino will read need labor cost. But a Smart Energy Meter can easily do these
tasks only by sending SMS. So a Smart Energy Meter saves Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology Taxila, Pakistan,
2013.
money, labor and time.
[4] Md. Mejbaul Haque, Md. Kamal Hossain, Md. Mortuza Ali and Md.
Rafiqul Islam Sheikh "Microcontroller Based Single Phase Digital
This project is very important for modem time. If this Prepaid Energy Meter for Improved Metering and Billing System",
project is implementing commercially it will be benefited us International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive System (IJPEDS),
Vol. I, No.2, December 2011.
in many ways. If we can implement this project in our
[5] Abhinandan Jain, Dilip Kumar and Jyoti Kedia "Smart and Intelligent
country, Bangladesh will go ahead one step. Here we used one GSM based Automatic Meter Reading System", International Journal of
GSM modem for one meter but in future work of this project Engineering Research & Technology (lJERT), Vol. I Issue 3, pp. 1-6,
one GSM modem may use for more than one which make it May 2012.
[6] Mrs. Mahalakshmi N, Mr.Krishnaiah Pararnesh and Ms. Elavarasi E
more cost effective.
"Design of an Intelligent SMS Based Remote Metering System for AC
Power Distribution to HT and EHT Consumers", International Journal Of
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