Modem Plc Transceiver Ic Meets Low-cost/high-performance Needs

E ver since the advent of the concept of the smart grid, public utilities, businesses, consumers, the U.S. and other governments worldwide, as well as equipment and IC chip manufacturers have been eager to cash in on and tap into energy savings and new market opportunities through higher energy efficiency usage levels. One of the hottest areas in automating the smart grid is in residential and commercial automated meter reading (AMR) as part of the advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). Today, two general methods are being used for AMR, wireless and wired via the ac power line. The former is relatively inexpensive but suffers from a lack of reliability, a limited range, and potential security breaches. Wired communications using power line communications (PLC) are more secure, but they also suffer from a lack of reliability due to challenging power line noise and interference effects, not to mention high costs as well. Using power line communications is a lower-cost option than wireless communication in several areas. PLCs use the existing power line infrastructure whereas wireless methods require repeaters and other infrastructure. Wireless modules that use ZigBee and other protocols are typically more expensive to implement than PLC modules. Another area is concentrators and data management. Using PLCs, a single concentrator can support up to 200 m, providing a bridge to utility communications methods like Ethernet, etc. Wireless routers and repeaters add to the installation cost. In addition, using wireless communications, particularly in larger-scale implementations, raises reliability issues. Wireless connectivity depends on the environment it is used in which changes. The value of wireless communications is its mobility which is not a required attribute for smart grid applications. PLC is used in a fixed and controlled environment that will not change over time, affording less maintenance and support costs. In addition, no general interoperability standard for power line communications has yet to be agreed upon by everyone (see the sidebar “Competing Power Line Approaches Agree To Co-Exist”) in the online version of the article at http://powerelectronics.com. Semitech has proved there can be interoperability across various devices. Semitech Semiconductor has now unveiled the SM2200, a next-generation PLC transceiver designed for AMR where low cost and high performance levels are preA power line communications chip from Semitech provides a cost-effective, versatile communications option for designers implementing automated meter reading systems. Modem PLC Transceiver IC Meets Low-Cost/High-Performance Needs designfeature