Experimental analysis of various communication
technologies in AMI systems
Ching-Yi Hsueh Wei Huang
Internet of Things Laboratory, Internet of Things Laboratory,
Telecommunication Laborateries, Telecommunication Laborateries,
Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom
Taiwan, R.O.C. Taiwan, R.O.C.
cyhsueh@cht.com.tw raymond88@cht.com.tw
Ming-Feng Dong
Internet of Things Laboratory,
Telecommunication Laborateries,
Chunghwa Telecom
Taiwan, R.O.C
jasperdong@cht.com.tw
Abstract—The low-voltage (110V and 220V) AMI (Advance
Metering Infrastructure) test site of various building (four types) and
floors (B2-4F, 8F and 18F) in CHTTL (Telecommunication
Laborateries, Chunghwa Telecom) have been established. The effects
of various communication technologies (RF( Radio Frequency )
Wireless, PLC(Powerline Communication) and Cellular) on the
communication performance in CHTTL test site were investigated.
The results indicated that the HES(Head-end server) successfully
obtained the meters data through various communication modules
(RF, PLC and Cellular) on different building types and floors,
especially the basement of stairs and power distribution room.
However, the results also revealed that various external factors such
as the power line distance, the surrounding wireless signal and the
integration of meter and communication module play a significant
effect on communication performance and must be considered. These
test results provided an efficient way to characterize the
communication performance for AMI; the results will benefit the
future construction of AMI for Taiwan and other countries.
Keywords—AMI; communication technologie; communication
performance
I. INTRODUCTION
In the global climate change, many countries promote
various policies for smart grid. AMI (Advance Metering
Infrastructure) is the infrastructure for the development of
smart grid. AMI is an information system for collecting,
storing and analyzing power data. AMI consists of three parts,
namely, smart meter, communication system and
MDMS(Meter Database Management System). MDMS
receives power data from smart meter by communication
system to analyze and manage data, and further integrate with
other application systems.
AMI also can apply to home energy management. AMI
can help to reduce the cost and manpower for manual meter
reading, and provide power information for users or utilities to
978-1-5386-2910-9/18/$31.00 ©2018 IEEE
Wu-Chieh Wu Chin-Yao Chang
Internet of Things Laboratory, Internet of Things Laboratory,
Telecommunication Laborateries, Telecommunication Laborateries,
Chunghwa Telecom Chunghwa Telecom
Taiwan, R.O.C. Taiwan, R.O.C.
wcwu@cht.com.tw hinyaochang@cht.com.tw
Chien-Tang Chiu
Internet of Things Laboratory,
Telecommunication Laborateries,
Chunghwa Telecom
Taiwan, R.O.C
joseph810129@cht.com.tw
plan energy management, and achieve the purpose of energy
saving and carbon reduction[1].
AMI network includes Wide Area Network (WAN) and
Local Area Network (LAN). LAN usually use PLC(Power
Line Communication) and RF (Radio Frequency) technologies
to transmit meter data. The PLC communication technology
has been studied by several investigators. The communication
performance of the DCU(Data Concentrator Unit) connected
with 14 PLC communication modules was examined
experimentally by Kim et al. [2]. The results showed average
operating rate of DCU is 99.3 percent and average operating
rate of modules is 98.5 percent. González-Sotres et al.
established a PLC communication model to study the
communication performance in the scenarios with 108 or 144
users [3]. Numerical simulation results predicted the time of
received data to read all nodes has been always lower than 5
minutes. A NB-PLC(Narrowband PLC) which performed over
a week on an extremely power noisy test site simulated the
worst case scenario and was conducted experimentally by
Mishra et al. [4]. The results showed data loss rate is less than
1%. Sheikh et al. [5] developed a test site to verify
communication performance of NB-PLC(Narrow Band-PLC).
The results indicated that the places for high connection
density, noise inducing loads, residential consumers and
special distribution network have a lower communication
performance for NB-PLC. There have appeared a number of
RF communication technologies in the published literature. A
model of the RF communication to explore the communication
performance in a typical rural area with an extension of
240km2 was developed by Malandra et al.[6]. The results
showed the data (1 collector, 114 routers and 3300 smart
meters) can be received within 342.52(s) as soon as possible.
Mafra et al.[7] developed a hybrid communication module
which can work as well as a bridge between RF and PLC
communication technologies. They found optimal the
transmission rates and data payload to prevent network traffic
jam.
 Ratasuk et al. [8] discussed NB-IoT design targets that
included low-cost devices, high coverage , long device battery
life (more than 10 years), and massive capacity. Wenjie Yang
et al. [9] indicated that the low-power wide-area network
(LPWAN) is supporting massive IoT with limited radio
spectrum which included LTE-M and NB-IoT.
As for the communication protocol and information
security for AMI, the literature survey has existed in the past
decade. Huh et al. [10] studied the Zigbee, WiMax and PLC
communication/transmission technologies. They found
Datagram Protocol (RUDP) for the Transmission Layer has a
better transmission speed and reliability for the PLC networks
over TCP and UDP. Lekshmi et al. [11] investigated various
protocols such as AODV, DSR, DSDV and AOMDV for AMI
network by using simulation. They successfully simulated the
best communication protocol for various data types. The
security mechanism is also a very important issue for AMI.
Ozgur et al. [12] employed ECDSA and OpenSSL certificates
to investigate AMI information security. The results showed
that appropriate security mechanism can improve the
throughput, packet delivery ratio and average completion time.
From the literature presented above, it was found that some
literature is available on communication technologies of RF,
PLC and cellular, but little information is available on
developing real test site to verify communication technologies
performance, specially similar to the building environments of
Taiwan, which has many meters are installed on the basement
and high floors. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to
establish a AMI test site to investigate communication
technologies performance for various building conditions in
Taiwan.
II. COMMUNICATION ARCHITECTURE
The meter communication system refers to meter data
transmission path, which ranged from meter communication
modules to AMI Head-end server(HES). Therefore, meter
communication system consists of three parts: communication
module, network and HES, the architecture is shown in Fig. 1.
The meter communication needs to be chosen the
appropriate communication technology in different
environment. Meter data is transmitted back to the control
center through one-stage (only WAN) or two-stages(WAN and
LAN), and the two-stages architecture uses concentrator as a
relay point. The LAN communications contain PLC and RF,
and the 3G/4G/BPL/Fiber/NB-IoT are adopted for WAN
communication.
The selection of communication architecture depends on
the area of meter, such as rural areas transmit meter data by
Wide Area Network (WAN) communication technology to
AMI Head-end, the meter data in the cities and towns
(centralized) use Local Area Network (LAN) to the DCU, then
DCU via WAN sent the meter data to AIM Head-End.
Therefore technology of the communication system involve
LAN, DCU, WAN, and AMI Head-end. The DCU integrates
LAN side and WAN side communication module, and plays an
important role in connecting meters and AMI Head-End. DCU
may provide temporary meter data and management meters
functions to simplify AMI Head-end server(HES) receiving
meter data, and achieve decentralized management.
Power Line Communication (PLC) or Radio Frequency
(RF) are the Common techniques in AMI field. PLC is a
communication method that uses power line to carry data, but
the communication quality may be affected by power line noise
or the impedance which does not match at load change, and the
long transmission distance may cause signal attenuation.
Therefore, RF technology is another LAN communication
option, each country has its own RF channel to choose RF
specification. The general RF technology use in open areas and
need meter concentration, and the data transmission have high
success rate. The big challenge of LAN communication
technology is complexity environment and communication
interference at present, It may be the reason that
communication technology can’t be applied in all
environments. And DCU to AMI Head-end or meter to
AMI Head-end WAN communication that usually is wired or
wireless, wireless solution often Apply Cellular
communication technology , and wired solution is the optical
fiber.
NB IoT technology emerges in recent years. NB IoT
include low power consumption, wide coverage (18 ~ 21km),
low cost of construction, stable data transmission advantages
for long time Monitoring and applications.Telecom operators
do not have to rebuild the cell cite, but through upgrading the
existing 4G cell cite to provide NB-IoT service. It promote the
telecom operators to actively build NB-IoT cell cite, thus
opening the first trend of NB-IoT applied to smart meter which
also contain huge business opportunities, so this experiment
also included NB IoT solution to validate the transmission
performance of NB IoT.
It can be seen that the AMI can be composed of different
heterogeneous transmission technologies, to use in different
communication environments such as cities, suburbs,
mountains, islands and other environment, so this study use
RF, PLC, and cellular communication to test, as shown in
Table I. The module A, module B, and module C are used RF
communication technology, frequency band are 840 MHz, 920
MHz, 920 MHz, respectively; transmit power are 60 mW, 20
mW, 500 mW, respectively. The module D and module E are
used PLC communication technology. Module D is broadband
PLC, used in home network and home AV entertainment, high-
frequency signal is not susceptible to household appliances.
The module E is narrowband PLC, narrowband PLC is not a
new communication technology, but it grow with
communication technology, whether communication rate or
anti-noise modulation technology has grown significantly. And
module F is used Cellular technology, it directly transmitted to
Head-end server by NB-IoT communication standard. This
study analyzes above six kinds of communication modules in
Taiwan, supply the resolved and notice of AMI communication
network architecture planning.
 Fig. 1. Architecture of AMI

TABLE I. SPECIFICATION OF VARIOUS COMMUNICATION MODULES Fig. 2. Architecture of AMI

Communication
module A B C D E F
Communication
Wireless RF Wi-Sun
Wireless
HD-PLC G3-PLC NB-IoT
B. Test scenarios
technology RF
RF
60mW 20mW 500mW -- -- --
This test area planned 32 testing point, set up at Building A
transmit power
RF
(13 testing points), Building B (2 testing points), Building C (4
frequency band
840MHz 920MHz 920MHz -- -- --
testing points), and Staff dorm (9 testing points) as shown in
PLC
Carrier -- -- -- 2-28MHz
150-490
--
Fig.4 and Fig.5. To test the effects of distance between DCU
kHz
frequency and RF module on communication performance (ex. R12), the
PLC
maximum -- -- -- 240Mbps
300
--
effects of cubby room between DCU and RF module on
kbps
transfer rate communication performance (ex. R5, R6 and R12) and the
4G Telecom
operators
-- -- -- -- -- CHT effects of the number of DCU on RF module communication
Meter type
Simulation
meter
Real meter Real meter
Simulation
meter
Real
meter
Real
meter
performance and the effects for communication module
replacing in steel box on communication performance. This
paper placed took turns A-C (RF module) and F(Cellular
module) on R1-R18, as shown in Fig.4. This paper placed took
III. TEST SITE AND SCENARIOS turns D and E (PLC communication module) and F(Cellular
In Taiwan, the urban buildings are fairly dense and module) on P1-P14, installed place of power line as shown in
complex, and the meters are usually installed in the top floor of Fig.5. Through those test point above, it can analyze that the
the building or the basement of stairs and power distribution effects of voltage on PLC communication performance(ex.
room. The meters may not be able to transmit data by single P1,P3,P5,P7,P9,P14), the effects of voltage on PLC
communication technology. Therefore, The low-voltage (110V communication performance, the effects of DCU over different
and 220V) AMI (Advance Metering Infrastructure) test site of transformer on PLC communication performance(ex. PLC5
various building (four types) and floors (B2-4F, 8F and 18F) in and PLC6), the effects of distance between DCU and PLC on
CHTTL (Telecommunication Laborateries, Chunghwa communication performance(e.g. Whether it effects on data
Telecom) have been established. transmission while DCU installed in B1 and PLC
communication module installed in 8F or 18F), and the effects
A. Test site of PLC communication on home electricity.
According to low-voltage AMI of metropolitan area in
Taiwan, this paper planned Da-an Dist. of CHTTL (Located in C. Test method
Taipei, Taiwan) to test area, including Building A (B1/1F/ 8F), The aim of this study is stability and accuracy of AMI. The
Building B (B1/1F) and Building C (18F) and Staff dorm (1F ~ test item is included availability, success rate, alarm/power cut
4F), as shown in Fig. 2. It can simulate community types in message of HES to AMI, mesh testing, RF interference testing
Taiwan by test area above, such as apartment, house, condo. and etc.
To provide testing of PLC communication and power supply of
RF, PLC and cellular communication modules, this study • Availability testing aims to confirm communication of
prepared power distribution(power-line position, phase 6 communication modules placing different place.
sequence, voltage, number of receptacles, etc.) and six steel Above all, this study run AMI system for 2 hours, and
boxes before testing. This study used 4 power meters, 6 use HES reading real-time data from the smart meter
communication modules and 3 HES for this experiment. data by the communication module.
• Success rate testing is used HES to receive historical
data in 24 hours from 32 communication modules, and
confirm whether it can receive data completely.
• While device occurred unusual event or alarm, HES
can receive unusual event and power cut message.
• Mesh testing is used HES to confirm whether the
network can re-establish the network connection, after
removing one RF/PLC module at random.
 • RF interference testing is testing whether the
communication module interfered each other in
placing multiple RF communication modules.

(c) Building B (d) Building C

Fig. 5. Schematic diagram of PLC communication modules position

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

In order to analysis the influences of AMI communication
technologies (RF, PLC and Cellular) in Taiwan, we used varied
communication technologies on various building types and
Fig. 3. Photograph of the power distribution and steel boxes floors (B2-4F/8F/18F) and investigated the influences of those
communication technologies.
(a) Building A(B2F-8F) (b) Staff dorm (1F-4F)
For RF, all of the communication modules A, B and C were
R11 using RF communication technology. First of all, we installed
Room 14 communication modules A in R1 to R18 area, and using a
DCU to receive the data of those meters. The results is shown
4F
Steel box
R17 Office
in Table 1, the DCU could receive all the meter’s data
(including real-time and historical data) successfully. It is also
window
Steel box
R18 R10
R4 Stair 8F shown that covered by an steel box, tests of alarm and power
Room
off messages, signal interference, and RF mesh test could be
Door
3F received successfully. Secondly, we also installed 14
Lobby
Exit
communication modules B in R1 to R18 area. The results
R9 shown that HES couldn’t receive both the time data and
historical data by using single DCU neither the signals from
R3 Stair 1F
Room
Power room Steel box
R13 Exit
the building C(18F).
2F
Steel box
R5
R14
Parking area
The results are shown in Fig6. This is because the LoRa
B1
R8 transmission band in Taiwan is 920MHz, and the module
emission power was only 20mW, which probably led to the
R2 Stair

Room
signal be sheltered. Therefore, each building placed a DCU to
Door
Steel box
R15
Parking area
Exit 1F
avoid the signal being covered, it is found that the HES could
Steel box
R16
receive all the meter’s data (including real-time and historical
R1 Stair B2 Exit data) successfully(except for R12). The results also shows that
the alarm messages, power off messages, signal interference,
(c) Building B(B1F-5F) (d) Building C(B2F-18F) and RF mesh test could be received successfully. Finally, we
installed 14 communication modules C in R1 to R18 area. The
results had shown that both real-time and historical data could
be collected by single DCU, and LoRa masking effect didn’t
happened. It is because that the module communication
transmission power was 500mW. Besides that, we found that
the signal which integrated module B and meter of brand X
couldn’t transport to faraway distance (1F~18F), but the signal
Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of RF communication modules position integrated with the meter of brand Y would not have this
phenomenon. It probably caused by the meter and
(a) Building A (b) Staff dorm communication module integration model. The defect of
integration model led to lack of power supply, which
influenced the maximum transmission power. And the tests of
alarm message and power cut message, RF mesh test were
passed successfully. In term of reading data speed, module B
was the fastest among all modules. It probably both module B
and module C were the same brand products, which let HES
read the data from meter quickly.
In term of PLC communication technology, both module D
and E were used PLC communication technology. Module D
used broadband PLC and Module E used narrowband PLC. We
installed 14 modules D in P1 to P14 area, and the results were
shown as Table II. The results shown that the both real-time
data and historical data could be successfully received by HES,
other such as tests of alarm message and power off message,
mesh test could also be received successfully. Next, we
installed 14 modules E in P1 to P14 area. The results shown
that the data from building A(P1~P6) couldn’t be received. So
we tried to move the DCU(building A) to other places. When
the DCU installed in P2 area, the data of P1~P6 could be
Fig. 6. Potograph of the spectrum analysis
received successfully. This is due to the length different
between S-phase and earth wire for The original preset device
placement, which led to unsynchronized phenomenon during V. CONCLUSIONS
communication. Besides that, although module E used NB
In this paper, the effects of various communication
PLC and there were lot of appliances in the dormitory. It worth
technologies (RF, PLC and Cellular) on the communication
to mention that both the real-time data and historical data could
performance in the low voltage AMI test site of CHTTL in
be received successfully. It probably that there were no air
Taiwan have been investigated experimentally. According to
conditioning and dehumidifiers in this area, so the commission
the present measurements, the following conclusions can be
signal wasn’t be influenced. In term of reading data speed,
drawn.
module D was faster than module E. Because the fastest
transmission speed of module E was 240 Mbps. • HES successfully obtained the meter data through
In term of Cellular communication technology(NB-IoT), various communication modules(RF, PLC and Cellular)
module F was installed in R1 to R18 area. The results had on various building types and floors(B2-4F, 8F and
shown that the historical data could be received by HES 18F).
successfullye. In the future, when the NB-IoT communication • The effects of power line length and diameter which
module is commercialized and the telecom operators are communication module of narrowband PLC is installed
officially negotiated. We can expect that cellular in have a significant impact on the communication
communication technology will be replaced by NB-IoT. performance. The communication performance
decreases due to communication transmission is not
TABLE II. SPECIFICATION OF VARIOUS COMMUNICATION MODULES synchronized.
Communication • It is important to note that a better integration with
A B C D E F
module communication module and meter will provide a better
R1 O O O -- -- O
R2 O O O -- -- O
communication performance. It is found that the
R3 O O O -- -- O communication performance decrease as a poor
R4
R5
O
O
O
O
O
O
--
--
--
--
O
O
integration with communication module and meter due
R6 O O O -- -- O to the transmit power decrease.
R7 O O O -- -- O
R8
R9
O
O
O
O
O
O
--
--
--
--
O
O
• In Taiwan, communication module of RF using 920
R10 O O O -- -- O MHz band requires a higher transmit power due to the
R11 O O O -- -- O signal may be masked by LoRa, which decrease the
R12 O X O -- -- O
R13 O O O -- -- O communication performance.
R14 O O O -- -- O
R15 O O O -- -- O
R16 O O O -- -- O References
R17 O O O -- -- O
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