Universal PLC SoC Platform for

Smart Metering and Smart Grids

Dr.-Ing. Bernhard Rauscher

VP Applications EMEA Region
 Smart Grid Applications Scenario 2

Home & Building Automation

Smart Energy Distribution

Energy monitoring systems

Street Lighting Control Command and control

Narrowband PLC is one of the most suitable

communication technology for smart grid applications, but
silicon implementation has to effectively address some
major challenges….

Smart metering

Electric Vehicle charging

2
 Narrowband PLC first challenge:
protocols fragmentation 3

• B-FSK / n-PSK modulation

• +50 Munit deployments in Italy, Spain, Romania + WW pilots
• Evolving specifications driven by Meters and More Association
CLC/prTS 50568-4

• OFDM modulation
• +6 Munit deployments in Spain, Portugal, Poland + WW pilots
• Evolving specifications driven by PRIME Alliance
ITU-T G.9904

• OFDM modulation
• G3-LINKY&SOGRID programs started by ERDF in France + WW pilots
• Evolving specifications driven by G3 Alliance
ITU-T G.9903

• S-FSK modulation
• G1-LINKY program by ERDF in France (300 kunit installed) + WW pilots
IEC61334-5-1

• OFDM modulation
• WW pilots start , certification in development (HP Netricity)
1901.2 • Evolving specifications driven by IEEE 1901.2 WG

OTHERS, • FSK,PSK,OFDM, SS, …

PROPRIETARY • x - Millions units installed in China, Africa, Russia, …..
• New technologies/protocols coming...
 Narrowband PLC second challenge:
regulatory fragmentation 4

• PLC Frequency bands in Europe (CENELEC)

• Band A (3 kHz – 95 kHz) dedicated to electricity suppliers
• Band B (95kHz-125 kHz) and Band D (140kHz – 148.5kHz) general end user apps
• Band C (125kHz – 140kHz) end user apps regulated by CSMA
• FCC (non-CENELEC)

• PLC Frequency bands in USA (FCC)

• 10kHz – 490kHz
• Evolving regulations
• PLC Frequency bands in Japan (ARIB) • WW trend to exploit full
• 10kHz – 450kHz
500kHz band
• PLC Frequency bands in CHINA
• 3kHz – 500kHz

CHINA
FCC

CENENEC ARIB
A B C D
 Narrowband PLC third challenge:
silicon integration 5

Typical Smart Grid node chips-set Local Display

Port Com
•Power Line Modem IC
• PLC SoC or DSP
• Possible dedicated MCU for upper
layers FW management FLASH

PLC PLC
Application
•PLC Analog Front End EEPROM Modem AFE
MCU
• RX, TX AFE
• Power Line Driver

•Metrology AFE
• High accuracy Analog Front-End Metrology
AFE
• Possible dedicated MCU for metrology
management

•Application MCU
Sensor
• Application management Mains

• Need for system higher integration, lower cost, smaller size…

 ST answer to narrowband PLC challenges:
“STCOMET” Platform
6

Local Display
Port Com
• Full system in a single chip
• Unique HW
• Multiple PLC standards by SW
• full 500kHz band support

PLC PLC
STCOMET
Application
AFE
MCU
Meter-on-Chip Modem

Metrology
AFE

Sensor
Mains
 STCOMET Platform Highlights 7
7

 Power Line Modem

• Low power, high performing, Re-programmable DSP engine
• Multiple PLC standards: G3, PRIME, G1, P1901.2, Meters &
More,…
• Integrated RX and Tx PLC Analog Front-End
• Integrated low distortion, Smart Power Line Driver
• Compliant with CENELEC, FCC, ARIB regulations
• 500kz extended band capabilities

 Application Engine
• Cortex-M4 Core @ 96MHz, FPU
• 1MB Flash & 128kB RAM embedded memories
• State of the art RTC and Encryption engines
• Full set of peripherals

 Communication blocks:
• 4 USART, 5 SPI, 2 I2C, 2 CAN  Embedded Energy Metering
• 86 multiplexed GPIOs • Exceed Class 0.2 Meter requirements
• 3 Independent 24-bit SD converters (Vp, Ip, In)
 Embedded Security
• 0.1% accuracy over 1:5000 range
• AES 128/192/256, Advanced mode (GCM, CCM, ECB, GMAC…)
• 3.6kHz bandwidth, up to 72th (60th) harmonic
• True random generation, ISO7816 compatible USART content @ 50Hz (60Hz)

STCOMET10 fully mature since May 8th 2015

 STCOMET 3ph Solution 8

3ph approach with isolated current sensing (CT/RoCoil)

N L1 L2 L3
STPM34

L3 Voltage V1 ΣΔ
• For sampling synchronization, COMET
can deliver the dedicated 16MHz clock
V2 ΣΔ
L2 Voltage
signal to STPM34
DSP
L3 Current C1 A ΣΔ
SPI /
• Internal MCU (Cortex-M4) computes
L2 Current C2 A ΣΔ UART
all the data (coming from the DSPs) to
provide the total measured energy
COMET
SPI /
UART
LCD
L1 Voltage V ΣΔ
GPIO
L1 Current C1 A ΣΔ DSP
Cortex-M4
N Current C2 ΣΔ
A
PLC

• Note : Raw data can be used to

N L1 L2 L3 implement proprietary algorithms in
the MCU (DSPs by-passed).
 STCOMET FW Stacks Flexibility 9

• Application: Application
• Metering
management M&M
COSEM Metering Object model
Data Model High
M&M Layers
COSEM App. Layer (IEC62056-53)
• Non Real-Time App. Layer
Cortex M4

Firmware Wrapper Layer

IEC 62056-47 Transp.
IEC
• Data handling
TCP/UDP 61334-4-32
• Network LLC M&M Network
management IPv6 IPv4 CL
• Priority to
CL CL CL
Application 6LowPAN
IPv6 IPv4 4-32
(Legal) tasks Other
Data
Link

G3 1901.2 PRIME MAC M&M

• Real-Time G1
PLC Modem

MAC MAC LL
Firmware MAC
• Coupled with G3 1901.2 G1 M&M Other
PLC HW features PRIME PHY Physical
PHY PHY PHY PHY
 STCOMET-based Meter on-field update 10

Meters
&More
• the STCOMET protocols can be
upgraded remotely through FW
PRIME
SW upgrade procedure.
STCOMET

• This way, the Utility can switch

G3 SW from one protocol to another one
during meter life time, or during
pilots
G1 SW

...

Enabled by bootloader, MPU, freeRTOS, autonomous metrology

 STCOMET ready for G3 11

• STCOMET first platform certified in LAN in October 2014

• STCOMET CENELEC G3
• October 2014: PAN device certified
• Feb 2015: PAN Coordinator certified

• STCOMET FCC G3
• October 2015: PAN device certified (Differential mode).
• December 2015: PAN device certified (Coherent mode)

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 STCOMET Ready for PRIME
• PRIME 1.3.6 CENELEC band certified
• PHY, MAC and CL certification: October 2014
• Fully compatible and interoperable with previous STarGRID
ST7590 implementation

• PRIME 1.4 FCC band

• Interoperability tests passed
• Service and base nodes
• PRIME 1.4 Transitory mode certification: October 2015
• PRIME 1.4 full certification following PRIME Alliance tools
avaialbility

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Recent Updates + Version 1.4

Expanded Frequency PRIME bands span from CENELEC A band

Expanded (<95kHz) to FCC and ARIB spectrums (<500 kHz)
Frequency with data rate up to 980kbps

Fully backwards compatible with the 6+ million installed meters,

Backwards corresponding Data Concentrators and Gateways with PRIME
Compatibility Specifications 1.3.6.

Increased New PHY PDU defined, adding increased robustness without

Robustness additional complexity or cost implication

Data Security for successful roll-out of large scale PLC-based

Security networks. State-of-the-art encryption and authentication at MAC and
APP Layer by new Security Profile

IPv4 and IEC 61334-4 -32 support, IPv6 support as a convergence layer over
IPv6 Support PRIME MAC and PHY layers.

Sep-15 © 2014 PRIME Alliance AISBL. All Rights Reserved. Proprietary & Confidential 13
 STCOMET within SOGRID 15

• STCOMET is being used in a pilot in Toulouse (South of France ) to

build e-meter, concentrator and coordinator

• DATA concentrator integrates two modems: one for FCC band and
one for CENELC-A band

ERDF MV – 20 000V LV – 230V

backbone PLC FCC PLC CENELEC-A

SA SA SA

Coordinator E-meter
HV A Concentrator
Cen-A and FCC

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 SOGRID project with STCOMET 16
see www.metering.com Sept. 8th
Funded by the French Agency for Environment + Energy Management

• Integrating G3-PLC communication and sensing in end-to-end backbone

• Increased granularity in grid observability with Smart Sensing (LV/MV)
• Full real time supervision and grid management (LV/MV)
• Fault detection and failure prediction
• Supervision and management of G3-PLC communication network in both CENELEC
and FCC bands

• Secure and autonomous grid management

• Low latency
• Integrated economical project

• Field experiment schedule

• Toulouse, France
• 1 000 locations
• November 2015 – June 2016

10 SOGRID Partners: ST, Sagemcom, L+G, Nexans, Capgemini, LAN, Trialog,..

 SOGRID Field test on MV using G3-FCC on
17
STCOMET
• Characterization of the link (underground cables)
in different location has been done. We observed
an attenuation of 30 to 40dB of the PLM signal with
a low and flat noise floor (max 60 dBµV)

• PHY tests shows very good results using different

G3 modulations (DQPSK, D8PSK)

• Endurance tests have also been done at higher

level (UDP) and we noticed that the quality of the
MV network is stable in time

LQI: Link quality indicator

 STCOMET for Data Concentrator 18

• STCOMET used as PLC

modem
• PHY Layer
• MAC Layer
• Adaptation layer
• Higher layers if needed

• Extension of the
embedded resources
• External Parallel RAM
• External Parallel
FLASH
• External Serial
FLASH/EEPROM
 STCOMET complete ecosystem 19
ready for final products design and full life support 19

Design Resources
Evaluation boards • Datasheet
• STCOMET Development kit deliverable: • User Manuals
• Schematics • Reference Manual
• Gerber files (4-Layer PCB) • Application Notes
• Bill of Material (BOM) • HW
• Firmware / Software / GUI • Boot
• EN50065 EMC certified • Metrology
• PRIME & G3 certified

SW Integration Support
• IAR/ KEIL toolchain
Mature product • Peripherals Drivers
PLC Protocols FW Libraries • Metrology management SW
• G1-S-FSK, IEC 61334-5-1 available • Memory Protection Unit Management
• G3-PLC (CENELEC A ) available & certified • Legal separation example
• PRIME 1.3.6 (CENELEC A) available & certified • Remote FW Upgrade example
• G3-PLC (FCC/ARIB) available, ready for certification • Free RTOS integration
• PRIME 1.4 transitory mode available, ready for certification • SW/FW Documentation
• IEEE 1901.2 (FCC) available • Network Emulator Test bench
 EVLKSTCOMET10-1 and GUIs 20

• Full STCOMET Development kit

• Full testability of each function of COMET device
• Supports today G1, G3, PRIME for customer
evaluation, future standards implementation ongoing

• IAR/KEIL Toolchains and debuggers

• Simple connection through USB connector
• Flash/Debug/Run PLC and Metrology SW

• GUI for PLC testing • EN50065 full compliance certified by IMQ in October 2014

• PHY/MAC/ADP
• Automatic packets sending with PER calculation

• GUI for Metrology testing

• Voltage/current/frequency/Sag & Swell display
• Power/Energy calculations

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 STCOM/STCOMET Platform Roadmap 21

… 512KB Flash
Customers specific
No Metrology
…
1MB Flash
No Metrology
STCOM05
Country specific


STCOM10
512KB Flash


IEEE 1901.2 STCOMET05
1MB Flash
G1 S-FSK STCOMET10

M&M Profile 1
PRIME v.1.3.6 
CENELEC
M&M Profile 2

…

G3 CENELEC A PRIME v.1.4
FCC

G3 Coherent
Modes
 …


G3 FCC Band

G3 ARIB Band

…
 STCOMET – breakthrough universal PLC
22
smart meter platform
• STCOMET Integration breakthrough
• Full Smart meter / smart grid PLC node in a single chip
• Unique HW for multiple PLC standards
• Unique HW for multiple applications (meters, concentrators, communication modules...)

• STCOMET multi-protocols flexibility breakthrough

• Full SW-based (DSP) PLC protocol stacks (PHY, MAC, CL,..)
• Multi-protocols support: PRIME, IEEE1901.2, G3, G1, Meters&More,….
• On field completely FW upgradable

• STCOMET multi-band breakthrough

• 500kHz full band support
• Unique HW to support today and future regulations (CENELEC, ARIB, FCC,…)

• STCOMET Industrialization breakthrough

• Ready for industrial massive deployments
• Selected already by major industrial players for today and future smart grid programs
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Thank you!

Visit us on:
www.st.com
www.st.com/powerline
www.st.com/metering
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