Presentation to Ofgem smart meter security expert group on potential architectures and interfaces for the British smart meter roll out

1. ERA PAPER ON
SMIP INTERFACES
& HIGH LEVEL
ARCHITECTURE
SIMON HARRISON
PROJECT ARCHITECT – SRSM PROJECT. SG1 & SG3 MEMBER.
STEG 09.12.10

2. BACKGROUND TO
PAPER
Requested from SMDG and DCG representatives
To provide clarity on the potential E2E architecture – with a
focus on the interfaces it could include
Also attempts to do some mythbusting on interoperability
Security is specifically out of scope(!)
Only a few comments received, none stating that content is
off base or fundamentally incorrect – generally very well
received
Baseline version now presented for Ofgem to publish
Companion paper – ‘DLMS Demystified’ also available

3. HIGH LEVEL
ARCHITECTURE
User
IHD WAN
DCC
HE
SMS WAN Sec
User
HE DCC Functions
Gas Elec User
The fundamental interoperability requirement is,
subject to authorisation, for any User to interact with
any SMS component and vice versa, regardless of the
manufacturers or providers of individual systems and
components.

4. BASIC INTERFACES
User
IHD WAN 3 2
DCC 1
HE
SMS
4
WAN Sec
User
5 HE DCC Functions
Gas Elec User
Some are the same, some need to
be the same, some are potentially
out of scope

5. SIMPLIFIED
INTEROPERABILITY
Application
Transport/Protocol
Physical Carrier
ZigBee Smart Energy DLMS/COSEM
ZigBee TCP/IP
802.15.4 2.4GHz Radio GPRS
Paper is for a non-technical audience
Uses examples to provide context
Describes intra-layer support

6. HAN ARCHITECTURE
IHD WAN Data Format Smart
Device IHD WAN
HAN HAN HAN HAN
SMS Protocol SMS
HAN HAN HAN HAN
Smart
Gas Elec Radio Wire
Device Gas Elec
Doesn’t specify an owner/controller
Doesn’t go beyond SMS components
Only addresses the requirements we know
about

7. INTERFACE TO DCC
User
Interface
DCC
XML
TCP/IP User
SMS WAN Internet
User
DTC/UKLink +
Proprietary
DTN
Focus is on the application layer, this is what matters most to
Users

8. DCC FUNCTION
User
DCC Interface
WAN DCC
Interface
DLMS COSEM Head XML
WAN
TCP/IP TCP/IP User
SMS GPRS End Box Internet
User
Attempts to illustrate that the DCC may
need to provide translation/bridging
between user and WAN interfaces (should
be transparent to users and components)

9. WAN/HAN/WAN
ZigBee Smart Energy DLMS/COSEM
WAN Interface
HAN Interface
ZigBee TCP/IP
802.15.4 2.4GHz Radio GPRS
DLMS over ZigBee DLMS/COSEM
WAN Interface
HAN Interface
ZigBee TCP/IP
802.15.4 2.4GHz Radio GPRS
ZigBee Smart Energy WAN Interface ZigBee SE over DLMS
HAN Interface
ZigBee TCP/IP
802.15.4 2.4GHz Radio GPRS
To move data between SMS components and the WAN
Application layer could tunnel from HAN to WAN and vice versa

10. OVERALL
ARCHITECTURE
User
Interface
DCC Interface
Interface
IHD WAN
WAN DCC
WAN
HAN
HAN HAN Head
SMS End Box
User
HAN HAN
Gas Elec
User
Paper does not prescribe owners or solutions – illustrates
some known solution options for different interfaces
WAN Interface
Physical Carrier(s) Transport(s) Application
GPRS, PSTN, PLC etc. Any supported DLMS COSEM
HAN Interface
Physical Carrier(s) Transport(s) Application
802.15.4 RF ZigBee ZigBee Smart Energy 1.x
Homeplug 1.0 Homeplug
DCC Interface
Physical Carrier(s) Transport(s) Application
DCC defined As supported GB Smart Meter XML
Schema