Advanced metering infrastructure: Technology and challenges

Smart Grid has evolved as a recent topic of discussion and research in many parts of the world and thus the smart metering systems. The electrical supply industry is in the process of integration with bidirectional information and power flow infrastructure commonly called smart grid. In laymen's terms Smart grid is the integration of Information Technology and Electrical Grid. Advance metering infrastructure (AMI) is an important component of the smart grid in which data and signal are transferred from consumer smart meter to smart grid and vice versa. In this work, design of smart meter scheme, its hardware and software requirements, and its technologies has been discussed. This paper also focuses on the communication protocol developments as well as information security associate with smart meters. A detailed discussion on the financial and other technological issues related to smart meter has been presented in this paper and a few remedies have also been suggested.