The open metering system of the Open Metering System Group e.V. stands for a manufacturer- and media-independent standardization for Meter-Bus (M-Bus) based communication between utility meters (electricity, gas, water, thermal energy), submetering (cold/hot water, thermal energy, heat cost allocators), and systems in the field of smart meters.
In response to Directive 2006/32/EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services of the European Union (in particular Article 13 of the Directive), several German multi-utility-companies (public utility offering more than only one type of supply like electricity, gas, water and district heating) joined and asked international manufacturers of meters intended for billing to create a common standard. The goal was to have meters with standardized communication interfaces and systems in the future. On the manufacturer side, members of the technical associations FIGAWA (German Association for Gas and Water), KNX and ZVEI (German Electrical and Electronics Industry Association) came together and, on the basis of the European Meter-Bus standard (EN 13757 Part 1 to Part 7), and the Dutch NTA 8130, have made joint specifications that guarantee manufacturer-independent interoperability.
Several working groups – first in the Open Metering System initiative, since 2015 within the Open Metering System Group e. V. – have checked the application of existing standards for interoperable communication of measurement systems since May 2007 and developed additions and specifications. For the data transmission defined as primary communication between the actual meters and a gateway (e.g. a Smart Meter Gateway), the EN 13757-x series of standards has been identified as the currently applicable communication standard. This series of standards describes the M-Bus both as a physical interface, wired and wireless, as well as the data protocol. Both the OMS specification and the KNX standard use the EN 13757-4 standard for wireless communication. This means that both measurement data and data from the field of building automation can be transferred via the same system.
Wide area communication is not the focus of the Open Metering System specification. This is solved with proven Internet standards, whereby the transmission should be independent of the physical medium as long as the necessary security mechanisms are observed.
For data visualization (consumer display), the connection of the building automation at the end customer, and for future services (e.g. tariff or load management) devices are used that work according to the popular KNX standard (ISO/IEC 14543-3 = EN 50090).
In the specification work, European concerns were also considered. On the basis of Mandate M/441 of the European Commission, smart metering should function with an open architecture including communication protocols that enable interoperability. For this purpose, the OMS-Group cooperated with KEMA (now DNV) for harmonization with the Dutch regulations NTA 8130/DSMR.
The requirements for data security and access protection were considered as a decisive prerequisite for the acceptance of intelligent metering systems. A device-specific encryption of the consumption data on the basis of common algorithms (AES 128) is part of the OMS specification.
Compliance with the Open Metering System specification can be checked using the OMS test specification and the OMS conformance test tool. The actual proof of OMS conformity is provided by checking the device through an independent testing institute and having issued a certificate by an independent certification body.
The outcoming results have been brought into European via the Technical Committee CEN/TC 294 since 2009, which maintains and develops the EN 13757 series of standards. This means that essential components of the OMS specification have been incorporated into updated European Standards. The standards or the published draft standards are available to everyone for purchase. The OMS specification documents are in English and available for free.
List of local grid operator policies for HAN (Home Area Network) remote reading. This gives an overview how energy savings and efficiency goals can be implemented in practice under local legislation and network operator policies. Energy consumption and savings are also important part of today's home automation integration which are able to visualize statistics in user interfaces.
| country | network | status | meters | method | notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | allowed [1] | Sagem Siconia | HAN P1 USB-cable | P1 is by default closed, operator activates it from request. | |
| Estonia | Elektrilevi | disallowed | Landis+Gyr E360, E450 | All wires forbidden for security reasons. | |
| Finland | Helen Oy | allowed | HAN RJ12 | Supporting meters coming at the end of 2022. Finnish law requires open standard interface that is used in other EU country, with RJ12 modular connector and ASCII-message format [2] | |
| Luxemburg | allowed | HAN P1 USB-cable | |||
| Netherlands | allowed | HAN P1 USB-cable | |||
| Norway [3] | allowed | HAN RJ45 | |||
| Sweden [4] | allowed | HAN RJ12 | |||
EU directive 2019/944 says that consumer is entitled to connect own devices to the smart meter and receive metering information in real-time [5]
KNX is an open standard for commercial and residential building automation. KNX devices can manage lighting, blinds and shutters, HVAC, security systems, energy management, audio video, white goods, displays, remote control, etc. KNX evolved from three earlier standards; the European Home Systems Protocol (EHS), BatiBUS, and the European Installation Bus.
Power-line communication, abbreviated as PLC, carries data on a conductor that is also used simultaneously for AC electric power transmission or electric power distribution to consumers.
Profibus is a standard for fieldbus communication in automation technology and was first promoted in 1989 by BMBF and then used by Siemens. It should not be confused with the Profinet standard for Industrial Ethernet. Profibus is openly published as type 3 of IEC 61158/61784-1.
Open Platform Communications (OPC) is a series of standards and specifications for industrial telecommunication. They are based on Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) for process control. An industrial automation task force developed the original standard in 1996 under the name OLE for Process Control. OPC specifies the communication of real-time plant data between control devices from different manufacturers.
A fieldbus is a member of a family of industrial digital communication networks used for real-time distributed control. Fieldbus profiles are standardized by the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) as IEC 61784/61158.
Distributed Network Protocol 3 (DNP3) is a set of communications protocols used between components in process automation systems. Its main use is in utilities such as electric and water companies. Usage in other industries is not common. It was developed for communications between various types of data acquisition and control equipment. It plays a crucial role in SCADA systems, where it is used by SCADA Master Stations, Remote Terminal Units (RTUs), and Intelligent Electronic Devices (IEDs). It is primarily used for communications between a master station and RTUs or IEDs. ICCP, the Inter-Control Center Communications Protocol, is used for inter-master station communications. Competing standards include the older Modbus protocol and the newer IEC 61850 protocol.
A smart meter is an electronic device that records information—such as consumption of electric energy, voltage levels, current, and power factor—and communicates the information to the consumer and electricity suppliers. Such an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier.
NeSSI is a global and open initiative sponsored by the Center for Process Analysis and Control (CPAC) at the University of Washington, in Seattle.
In the field of Industrial Control Systems, the interfacing of various control components must provide means to coordinate the signals and commands sent between control modules. While tight coordination is desirable for discrete inputs and outputs, it is especially important in motion controls, where directing the movement of individual axes of motion must be precisely coordinated so that the motion of the entire system follows a desired path. Types of equipment requiring such coordination include metal cutting machine tools, metal forming equipment, assembly machinery, packaging machinery, robotics, printing machinery and material handling equipment. The Sercos interface is a globally standardized open digital interface for the communication between industrial controls, motion devices (drives) and input output devices (I/O). Sercos I and II are standardized in IEC 61491 and EN 61491. Sercos III is specified in standards IEC 61800-7; IEC 61784-1, -2, -3 and IEC 61158. Sercos is designed to provide hard real-time, high performance communications between industrial motion controls and digital servo drives.
The smart grid is an enhancement of the 20th century electrical grid, using two-way communications and distributed so-called intelligent devices. Two-way flows of electricity and information could improve the delivery network. Research is mainly focused on three systems of a smart grid – the infrastructure system, the management system, and the protection system. Electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of electricity are important aspects of the smart grid.
M-Bus or Meter-Bus is a European standard for the remote reading of water, gas or electricity meters. M-Bus is also usable for other types of consumption meters, such as heating systems or water meters. The M-Bus interface is made for communication on two wires, making it cost-effective. A radio variant of M-Bus Wireless M-Bus is also specified in EN 13757–4.
The Internet Protocol for Smart Objects (IPSO) Alliance was an international technical standards organization promoting the Internet Protocol (IP) for what it calls "smart object" communications. The IPSO Alliance was a non-profit organization founded in 2008 with members from technology, communications and energy companies. The Alliance advocated for IP networked devices in energy, consumer, healthcare, and industrial uses. On 27 March 2018, the IPSO Alliance merged with the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA) to form OMA SpecWorks.
IEEE 2030 was a project of the standards association of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) that developed a "Guide for Smart Grid Interoperability of Energy Technology and Information Technology Operation with the Electric Power System (EPS), and End-Use Applications and Loads".
Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) is a research and standards development effort for energy management led by North American research labs and companies. The typical use is to send information and signals to cause electrical power-using devices to be turned off during periods of high demand.
The Open Smart Grid Protocol (OSGP) is a family of specifications published by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) used in conjunction with the ISO/IEC 14908 control networking standard for smart grid applications. OSGP is optimized to provide reliable and efficient delivery of command and control information for smart meters, direct load control modules, solar panels, gateways, and other smart grid devices. With over 5 million OSGP based smart meters and devices deployed worldwide it is one of the most widely used smart meter and smart grid device networking standards.
Smart Grid Interoperability Panel or SGIP is an organization that defines requirements for a smarter electric grid by driving interoperability, the use of standard, and collaborating across organizations to address gaps and issue hindering the deployment of smart grid technologies.
Thread is an IPv6-based, low-power mesh networking technology for Internet of things (IoT) products. The Thread protocol specification is available at no cost; however, this requires agreement and continued adherence to an End-User License Agreement (EULA), which states that "Membership in Thread Group is necessary to implement, practice, and ship Thread technology and Thread Group specifications."
EEBUS is a protocol suite for the Internet of things that aims to standardize the interface between electrical consumers, producers, storages, and (logical) managing entities. It builds on Internet Protocol and related standards and is meant to be highly generic, cross-domain applicable, open, and free to the public. While its main area of application is the Energy demand management, data exchange, and control of appliances it is also specified for Home automation. A business logic is not specified by EEBUS. The EEBus Initiative e.V. is the non-profit association that manages and supports the standardization of EEBUS.
A smart home hub, sometimes also referred to as a "smart hub", "gateway'", "bridge", "controller" or "coordinator", is a control center/centre for a smart home, and enables the components of a smart home to communicate and respond to each other via communication through a central point. The smart home hub can consist of dedicated computer appliance, software appliance, or software running on computer hardware, and makes it possible to gather configuration, automation and monitoring of a smart house by communicating and controlling different smart devices that consist of for example home appliances, sensors and relays or robots, many of which are commonly categorized under Internet of things.
