In the era of smart grids, smart metering entails not only the measurement of electricity, gas, water or heat consumption, but also communications from meter to data concentrator, or cloud. Real-time reporting of energy consumption directly to consumers improves consumer awareness, leading to waste reduction and lower expenses.
The use of smart meters to measure and report energy consumption enables utilities and energy distributors to manage their supply and demand in real time. The main benefits of smart metering systems are lower costs, higher reliability, reduced tampering and less carbon emissions.
ST enables the vision of a smart grid thanks to its unique portfolio of semiconductor products and innovative solutions for the design of smart metering systems. It ensures more accurate energy measurement and lower power consumption.
Our solutions allow and support multiple wired and wireless communication protocols needed to interconnect the smart metering infrastructure which consists partly of smart meters, data concentrators, smart plugs and in-home user devices.
ST supports designers with a unique system-level application know-how and a wide range of energy metering ICs, multi-protocol programmable Power Line Communication (PLC) modems, long- and short-range RF transmission circuits, 8- and 32-bit microcontrollers, highly-efficient power supply and management devices, sensors, EEPROMs, secure elements and protection devices.
