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Design and Implementation of Remotely- Monitored Single Phase Smart Energy

Meter via Short Message Service (SMS)

Article  in  International Journal of Computer Applications · July 2013

DOI: 10.5120/12912-9835

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013

Design and Implementation of Remotely- Monitored Single

Phase Smart Energy Meter via Short Message Service
(SMS)
D.A. Shomuyiwa J.O. Ilevbare
Momas Systems Nigeria Limited Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering,
Lagos, Nigeria Faculty of Technology,
University of Ibadan, Nigeria

ABSTRACT In most developed nations, pre-paid metering is being employed

on a full scale with remote monitoring capacity. Such energy
This paper focuses on the design and implementation of a single metering technology is yet to be implemented on a large scale in
phase energy meter with remote monitoring capacity using short- most sub-saharan Africa region [4]. For example, since 1896
message service (SMS). The energy meter was designed using when the first power station was commissioned at Marina, Lagos,
ADE7755 metering chip and other discrete components. The SMS Nigeria, it has been observed that post-paid metering is ineffective
communication with the meter was established with the aid of due to unavailability of human resources, the manual methods of
Neoway M590 GSM module; AT-commands are sent to the GSM reading and storing data, human manipulations/errors and
module from a mobile phone for communication. Also, a 4x3- unavailability of the meters in rural areas [5]. The problems
keypad was employed for loading energy tokens and obtaining identified with manual metering system motivated the
energy information from the meter; the energy data (query) is then development of alternative methods (automatic) for determining
viewed on the liquid crystal display unit. The project was the consumption of electricity. The primary aim of automation in
implemented on a locally- made single layer printed circuit board meter reading is not only to reduce labor costs but also to resolve
with the aid of Diptrace software. Simulation of the electronic the problem of high system cost, inaccurate energy calculation,
circuit designs was carried out using Proteus software, 8051 grounding and noise interfacing, tamper detection and fault
development kit and a serial port monitor. Results obtained show clearance. In some cases, electricity meters are located in places
that the energy meter is capable of measuring instantaneous and that cannot be accessed by the utility company and require an
average real time power consumed while being remotely appointment with the home owner for the purpose of meter
monitored and queried. The energy meter has a capacity of reading. Electricity is a valuable commodity and the consumed
measuring minimum and maximum loads of 2mA and 40A energy should be measured through actual readings rather than
respectively. estimated readings.

Keywords: The conventional energy metering system has poor accuracy and
lacks configurability; it also does not have means of detection
Energy meter, Remote Monitoring, Microcontroller, Tokens, when it is tampered with; however, recent research and industrial
Simulations, SMS developments have provided opportunities in implementing
energy efficient metering technologies that are more precise,
accurate and error free [6]. Energy metering started with the
conventional electromechanical meter whose mode of
1. INTRODUCTION measurement is through a coil and rotating disc [7]. Advancement
Energy is an essential input to all aspects of human life [1]. It is in technology brought about electronic meters with ability to
employed for all levels of human activities. However, increased measure using ADCs coupled with EPROM, RAMS and FLASH
energy consumption and its rising cost per kWh informed the as storage devices. The only short comings of the electronic meter
consumers of the need for effective energy utilization and is the proprietary protocols which is resolved by smart meters
monitoring [2]. Low energy consuming appliances such as with an open protocol such as DLMS protocol, and other
Compact Fluorescent Lamps (CFL), Light Emitting Diodes capabilities such as remote connection/disconnection and
(LED), etc, are being used for domestic and industrial PLC/GPRS/CDMA mode of remote communication [8].
illumination nowadays to reduce energy consumption costs. In the United Kingdom, electronic token prepayment metering has
However, whether appliances possess low or high consumption been widely used for customers having poor record of payment
capacity, it is necessary to monitor the quantity of energy [9]. A scholarly research work on Digital Tele-wattmeter System
consumed at any particular time. This is achieved by an energy as an example of a microcontroller- based meter was presented by
metering system. Therefore, metering could be defined as the Shwehdi et.al [10]. The energy meter was implemented for the
process of effectively determining and monitoring power purpose of transmitting information about the energy consumed
consumption [3]. Prepaid metering requires the customer to make on a monthly basis to a remote central office through dedicated
advance payment before electricity can be used while postpaid telephone line and a pair of modems [9]. Also, Zhang et al [11]
metering involves payment of energy consumed after usage. employed a DSP-based meter in measuring energy consumption
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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013

of multiple users in a residential area. A Personal Computer (PC) 2.2 The Energy Metering System
positioned at the control centre was used in sending commands to
a remote meter, which in turn transmits data back [9], using the The line voltage which is of the range of 180V-220V is fed into
Power Line Communication (PLC) technique but the major short- the volatge and current channels. This is essentially a network of
coming with this system is that it cannot detect tampering by resistors to attenuate the voltage to about 200mV. The line
consumers. A design which can be used for data transmission voltage applied across the load produces the load current which is
between the PC and smart card is proposed by Kwan et al [12]; fed into the metering chip (ADE7755) for computation via
data transmission from the personal computer to the smart card is current channel as shown in figure 2 [15]. The two ADCs digitize
possible via the smart card interface device. This has led to the the voltage signals from the current and voltage transducers.
development of an intelligent prepaid energy meter modeled and These ADCs are 16-bit second order sigma-delta with an over-
simulated by MATLAB/Simulink tools. Koay et al [13] presented sampling rate of 900 kHz. A programmable gain stage in the
the design and implementation of a bluetooth-enabled energy current channel further facilitates easy transducer interfacing.
meter in which the user can get data on energy consumption from Also, a high-pass filter in the current channel removes any direct
the meter through a wireless system. This system presents a current (d.c) component from the current signal. This eliminates
challenge of distance coverage as bluetooth arrangement works any inaccuracies in the real power calculation due to offsets in the
effectively at close range. voltage or current signals. The real power calculation is derived
from the instantaneous power signal which was generated by a
The objective of this work is to design and implement a class 1 direct multiplication of current and voltage signals. In order to
single phase meter (meter with a 1% tolerance) capable of extract the real power component (i.e., the d.c component), the
measuring instantaneous and an aggregation of real time power instantaneous power signal is low-pass filtered. This scheme
consumed, which can be remotely monitored or queried. The correctly calculates real power for non-sinusoidal current and
remote monitoring is achieved through short message service. voltage waveforms at all power factors. All signal processing is
This design solves the challenge of taking readings manually from carried out in the digital domain for superior stability over
the meter, manual disconnection of meter and vending of tokens temperature and time [15]. The low-frequency output of the chip
as a means of billing. (ADE7755) is generated by accumulating the real power
information. It indicates a long accumulation time between output
pulses. The output frequency is therefore proportional to the
2. METHODOLOGY average real power. The average real power information is
accumulated by the MCU (AT89C55WD) to generate real energy
2.1 System Design information. Because of its high output frequency and shorter
integration time, the output of the calibration frequency (CF) is
The system designed has the following specifications: line voltage proportional to the instantaneous real power. This is essential for
range of 180V - 250V, class 1 meter (±1% error) [14], starting system calibration purposes under steady load conditions [15].
current, Is = 0.004Ib, 3x4 LCD system, Neoway M590 GSM
module, AT89C55WD Microcontroller programmed in C
language-using Keil uVision3 compiler and Printed Circuit Board
(PCB) designed with the aid of Diptrace Software. Figure 1 shows
the components of the metering system.

Figure 2: Functional block diagram of the chip [17]

Figure 1: Components of the metering system

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013
2.3 Energy Meter Design The ADE7755 metering chip converts the measured voltage and
current values from its input channels to their digital equivalents.
The energy meter design has been sectioned into three parts The digital signals are sent to the multiplier from which the
(current channel, voltage channel and the ADE7752). The features instanteneous power consumed is determined. Finally, the digital-
have also been indicated in figure 3. The voltage channel is a to-frequency converter produces a train of pulses whose
network of resistors used in attenuating the line voltage (180V- frequency is proportional to the computed value of power [16].
220V) to about 200mV. The line voltage is applied across the load The calibration frequency which is the frequency output is
producing the load current which is fed to the metering chip connected to the MCU counter/port to count the number of pulses
(ADE7755) for computation through the current channel as shown in a given integration time. This is determined by setting the
in figure 3.The current channel is a fully differential input. The MCU internal timer to 20 seconds. Equation 1 shows the
design is such that the maximum peak differential signal on the relationship between the average power and the average
input should be less than ±470mV (330mVrms for a pure frequency. Also, equation 2 represents the energy consumed
sinusoidal signal) while the voltage signal on the input must be during an integration period. Setting the integration time to 20
referenced to a common mode (ground). seconds will ensure accommodation of adequate pulses to achieve
correct averaging of the frequency. The measured energy will still
have ripples at this integration time but can be eliminated by
setting the integration time to about 1 minute or more. Equation 3
is an expression for the expected output frequency.
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 =
𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑟 (1)
𝐸𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑔𝑦 = 𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑝𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟 × 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 ×
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 = 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟 (2)
𝑓𝑟𝑒𝑞𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑦 = 8.06 × 𝑉1 × 𝑉2 × 𝐺𝑎𝑖𝑛 × 𝐹1−4 𝑉𝑟𝑒𝑓 2 (3)
where, Fout = Output frequency (Hz),

Figure 3: Block diagram of the energy meter design V1 = Differential rms voltage signal on Channel 1 (Volts) =
470mV
V2 = Differential rms voltage signal on Channel 2 (Volts) =
660mV
Gain = PGA gain selection made using logic inputs G0 and G1 =
1 (for G0 = G1 = 0) [17].
Vref = Reference voltage (2.5 V ± 8%) (Volts)
F1-4 = One of four possible frequencies selected by using the
logic inputs S0 and S1 = 13.6 (for S0 = S1 = 1) [17].
8.06×0.47×0.66×1×13.6
𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 2
2.5

𝐹𝑜𝑢𝑡 = 5.44 𝐻𝑧

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013
functioning. It is basically used to aid the communication of the
meter through the microcontroller via SMS. It is a GSM/GPRS
2.4 Interfacing the Keypad wireless module for dual band which includes SMS, data service
and other functions. The module is used in two modes, either as
The keypad contains 12 keys arranged in four rows and three
SMS or GPRS but in this design it is switched to SMS mode. The
columns. The rows are connected to port 1 bits 3 to 6 while the
modem comprises of a power supply, a voltage transition network
column lines are connected to port 1 bits 0 to 2. To detect a
and the module (Neoway M590). A 5V d.c supply goes into the
pressed key, the microcontroller grounds all rows by providing 0
regulator (MIC2930WU) in order to regulate the voltage to the
to the output latch, and then read the data from the columns. If the
required 3.5V for the module at pin 2 and 3 of the microcontroller
data read from the columns is 111, this means no key has been
(AT89C55WD). The voltage transition network is a transistor
pressed. The process continues until a key press is detected.
network which acts as a buffer isolating the supply voltage from
However, if one of the column bits has a zero, this means that a
the 2.5V expected at the output of the network. The SIM card
key press has occurred. After a key press is detected, the
provides a means of establishing communication via the GSM
microcontroller will go through the process of identifying the key.
service provider and it is interfaced as shown in figure 5. Table 1
Figure 4 shows the flowchart of the algorithm of the keypad
gives the description of SIM card interface.
interfaced with microcontroller.

2.5 The Modem and SIM Card Interfacing

The GSM module used is Neoway M590. The modem is
described as a module and the circuit built around it for proper

Figure 4: Flowchart of the algorithm of the keypad interfaced with the microcontroller

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013

Figure 5: SIM card pin description (Shenzhen Neoway

Technology Co. Limited, 2008)

Table 1: SIM card interface description [18]

Pin Signal I/O Function Remarks
name Description
11 SIMIO I/O SIM card module external need Figure 6: User interface of token generation software
data to connect pull up
resistance(10k) to SIM
2.7 The Main Program
12 SIMCLK O SIM card Junction capacitance The flow chart of the main program is shown in figure 7. It
clock < 20pF involves the initialization of all variables, calling of the display
13 SIMRST O SIM card and keypad functions, checking the energy flag value, checking if
reset the energy token has been exhausted and also freezing the data if
14 SIMVCC PWR SIM card exhausted until the meter is recharged. The program stores
power accumulated energy in Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-
Only Memory (EEPROM), deducts the energy tokens as it is
2.6 Generation of Tokens and SMS being used and freezes the data when it has been exhausted. It also
implements the sending of energy tokens to the meter via SMS
Application from a mobile set via UART-9600 baud rate and gives a response
The 16-digit energy tokens are codes generated using the software back to the mobile set and a Real Time Clock (RTC) is also
application program. It was developed using Delphi and C implemented.
language. The energy tokens are given in the format 1$xxx.xx.
The format is an encryption format by the software and
tokens/codes loaded into the meter and also formatted in that
order. The tokens are then loaded directly to the energy meter via
the keypad. Also, the energy tokens can be loaded remotely via
SMS sent from a mobile phone to the energy meter because the
meter incorporates a modem and SIM card through which
communication may be done. The text format for remotely
loading the energy meter through SMS is done by sending a
capital letter T followed by the 16-digit code. Apart from
remotely loading the meter, the status: energy consumed and
balances can be checked by sending a request via SMS. The user
interface of token generation software is shown in figure 6.

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013
on the PCB and figure 9 shows the MCU circuit and modem
layout.

Figure 8: Single phase energy layout

Figure 9: MCU and modem layout

Figure 7: Flowchart of the main program

2.9 PCB Design 3. RESULT AND ANALYSIS

The result has been separated into three sections namely:
The Printed Circuit Board was designed with Novarm Diptrace Simulation, Token generation and SMS application, and
version 2.1.0.7 software and printed on a transparent film paper. waveform and Test bench calibration result.
The foil protection on the ultra-violet copper clad board was
removed, and the film paper side with the printing was placed on 3.1 Simulation
the board. It is then exposed to UV-exposure machine for about The simulation of the project was done using the Proteus software
90 minutes. The board was then dip exposed into a developer and the 8051 development kit. The keypad, EEPROM, RTC and
solution (Na2CO3) and then shaken gently until prints develop. It microcontroller were all tested in these environments. The keypad
was removed quickly from the solution when tracks were was used in loading energy tokens into the meter and also used to
developed and then rinsed with water. The board was dried by query the meter. The MCU, RTC, keypad and EEPROM were all
tapping tissue on the surface and then further dipped in etching successfully interfaced. Figure 10 shows the screen shot of the
solution (FeCl2) until the copper coating on the board leaves and Proteus environment during the simulation. The Proteus
thereby leaving only the tracks on the board. After this, the board environment is basically used to test the interfacing of the keypad
was removed from the ferric solution, rinsed with water and then and the ability of the RTC to retrieve real time clock and also to
dried accordingly. Figure 8 shows energy metering circuit layout test the capability of the EEPROM to store accumulated energy
data which were displayed via the LCD.

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013

3.3 Waveform and Test bench Calibration

3.2 Tokens Generation and SMS Application results
Figures 11 and 12 respectively show the performance of the
Test power supply unit under heavy load (50A) with line voltage
A 16-digit energy tokens was software generated, figure 6 shows varied between 180V and 250V. This waveforms show stability of
the screen shot of the software. These tokens were punched the power supply design under high and low voltage. Table 2
through the keypad unto the meter to load the meter with the shows the Test bench results of the voltage-current readings while
equivalent energy. Communication was also established by the power factor (both capacitive and inductive load) is being
sending an SMS (to load energy tokens, check the energy balance varied which indicates that the implemented meter is a class 1
and query the meter) via a mobile set as formatted by the type (meter design with an error of ±1%). Figure 13 shows the
encryption used in coding the token generation software to the measured output waveform of the calibrated frequency as
meter by the GSM module and SIM card. A feedback response to discussed in section 2.2.
the mobile handset for the requested query was received.
LCD1
LM016L

R9 R10 R11
1k 1k 1k

VDD
VEE

VSS
RW
RS
D7
D6
D5
D4
D3
D2
D1
D0

E
14
13
12
11
10
9
8
7

6
5
4

3
2
1
1

C2 C1
1 2 3

S
R
A
33p 33p

RP1
B 4 5 6 X2
RESPACK-8

C 7 8 9 CRYSTAL
1

2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9

U1
19 39
D 0 # XTAL1 P0.0/AD0
P0.1/AD1
38
37
P0.2/AD2
18 36
XTAL2 P0.3/AD3
35
P0.4/AD4 E
34
P0.5/AD5 R
33
P0.6/AD6 S
9 32
RST P0.7/AD7
R3 R4
21 10k 10k
P2.0/A8 P2.0
22
P2.1/A9 P2.1
23
P2.2/A10 U2
29 24 R1
PSEN P2.3/A11
30 25 6 1
ALE P2.4/A12 P2.0 SCL X1
31 26 R2 5
EA P2.5/A13 SDA
27
P2.6/A14 P2.1
P2.7/A15
28 330R X1
7 CRYSTAL
SOUT
1 10
P1.0/T2 P3.0/RXD
2 11 3 2
P1.1/T2EX P3.1/TXD VBAT X2
3 12
P1.2 P3.2/INT0
4 13 DS1307
P1.3 P3.3/INT1 U3
5
P1.4 P3.4/T0
14 B1
6 15 1 6 3.3V
P1.5 P3.5/T1 A0 SCK
7 16 2 5
P1.6 P3.6/WR A1 SDA
8 17 3 7
P1.7 P3.7/RD A2 WP
AT89C55 24AA64

Figure 10: Layout of the schematic during simulation in Proteus environment

Figure 11: Power Supply output at 180V and 40A Figure 12: Power supply voltage output at 250V and 40A

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013

Figure 13: Output waveform of the calibrated waveform

Figure 14: The packaged project

Table 2: Test bench results of the voltage-current readings with varying power factors

I = 30A I = 5A I = 0.25A
Voltage(V)
1 PF 0.8C PF 0.5C PF 0.5L 1 PF 0.8C PF 0.5C PF 0.5L PF 1 PF 0.8C PF 0.5C PF 0.5L PF

264 -0.1 0 0 -0.1 -0.1 -0.1 -0.12 -0.3 -0.1 -0.2 0 0

240 -0.1 0 0 -0.2 -0.1 -0.1 0 -0.2 -0.1 0 0.1 -0.4

144 0.63 0.2 0.1 0 0.22 0.2 0.1 0.46 0.47 0.24 0.1 0.3

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 74– No.9, July 2013
3.4 Packaging [6] Mejbaul H, Kamal H, Mortuza A and Rafiqul IS,
Microcontroller based Single Phase Digital Prepaid Energy
The energy board, keypad, display and the modem and Meter for Improved Metering and Billing System.
microcontroller boards are all integrated in a white plastic casing International Journal of Power Electronics and Drive System
for compatibility. A Conlog meter casing was used to package the 2011; 1(2): 139-147
meter. The plastic casing has the LCD showing through it. The
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through the terminal block. Figure 14 shows the meter packaged and Future Development. Society of Petroleum Engineers,
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interface. A single phase energy meter with remote monitoring Phase Intelligent Prepaid Energy Meter. Innovative Systems
and energy token generation capability using SMS has been Design and Engineering 2013; 4(1).
designed, modeled and constructed. The entire design has been
[10] Shwehdi MH and Jackson C, A Microprocessor Based
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