Like to cut back on your energy usage at home?

There has been quite a buzz over the last couple of years within the electricity supply industry over something called AMI. Short for Advanced Metering Infrastructure, AMI is essentially a smart metering system which will allow your electricity provider to read your meter remotely through the deployment of new electricity meters with integrated communication capabilities. 

What makes this even more interesting is that a further capability of such systems is that of providing real time information on energy usage to residential users through a simple home wireless network.  For many people, this means that with the purchase of a simple display unit (usually called an in home display), they will be able to monitor and adapt their energy consumption habits. 

Why is this significant?

For many people, this will mean they will reduce their energy bills through reducing consumption or being able to better take advantage of the reduced cost of off peak electricity.  For the industry as a whole, such a change in consumption habits is likely to reduce the peak power consumption amounts, reducing the investment in infrastructure  and generally resulting in a better quality service for everyone.

There are a whole range of additional capabilities integrated into such systems including optional load control, peak pricing and general customer notifications, better feedback on network infrastructure status, and option to integrate with other meters such as gas and water.

Standards

One of the key standards supporting such a system is the ZigBee and the Smart Energy Profile.  This profile supports all the wireless home network functionality mentioned above and provides an opportunity for many product vendors to deliver innovative products to energy consumers.

If you would like to understand this technology further or would even like to know more about what is specifically going on in Australia, feel free to give us a call.

About Procept

Procept provides world class engineering services to some of the world’s most innovative companies.  Procept focuses on electronic and software development of embedded products and provides turnkey solutions for the design and deployment of wireless technologies.

Procept is advancing its technology portfolio through a program of continuous research and development of the latest advances in silicon and wireless standards.

Visit www.procept.com.au or www.procept.es

For more information please contact:

Procept APAC
Sean Worth, General Manager WNS
Tel: +61 3 9224 6636
Email: sean.worth@procept.com.au

Procept Europe
Adrian Crouch, Director
Tel: +34 93 218 6964
Email: adrian.crouch@procept.com.au