NXT GEN SMART METER: WIFI

Getting down to less than one week. It will be great to see lots of friends and meet in person at DISTRIBUTECH23. Counting down a series of topics of interest on next generation smart metering ( AMI 2.0 ).

Today, lets discuss WiFi and the new smart meters that are coming onto the market. With an increasing complexity of software and data, there is a higher demand for more immediate and higher throughput access to data from the smart meters. For some applications, this higher data rate requirement is being met using a variety of cellular technologies. Another approach is that many utilities are choosing to keep a traditional AMI connection ( RF Mesh / PLC ) and in addition, include WiFi as part of the smart meter to support these applications.

METER AS DEVICE OR ROUTER

The first interesting choice regarding the meter and WiFi is whether to have the meter connect to the home WiFi or have devices connect to the Meter as a Router and host. In the case of using this connection for purely consumer applications, using the home internet connectivity can be of utility. This is similar to residential DERMS devices connecting to the home internet for DERMS aggregator applications. One big advantage of this approach is the ability to manage the metering software through the home WiFi to provide software and configuration updates. The available bandwidth of the residential internet connection will be a design tradeoff as reduced bandwidth will affect the metering applications and increased metering application usage will affect the residential internet bandwidth.

Another option is to create a portal that is hosted within the meter. This allows for the consumer to connect directly to the meter and then either download data or view data through a meter hosted web page. The ability of the consumer to not have smart meter data going through their home WiFi comes at the expense of the remote management improvements with the faster connectivity.

The third option is to have no WiFi on the meter. This can done with a suite of out-of-the box applications preloaded onto the meter. This prevents those applications and their configurations from having the full feature set that a higher data rate would provide. This application restrained approach has the advantage of simplicity and prevents local WiFi/Internet attack points.

WIFI CONNECTIVITY

There are many cases where consumer connectivity to the smart meter through WiFi will not be possible. An apartment complex with a wall of meters that can be a mile from the consumer, will not have any remote WiFi capabilities. This necessitates the ability to provide a no WIFI functionality capability approach as part of the deployments.

TOOL CONNECTIVITY

WiFi is a useful technology for local tool connections. This allows for field personnel to remotely access and update software and configurations while still being a reasonable distance from the point of service.

PRIVACY AND SECURITY

Privacy concerns are a concern area for WiFi connected smart meters. The smart meter being part of a WiFi network can have protections, but it is reasonable to expect an expanding attack surface to have an expanding suite of attack vectors and confidentiality will be an ongoing concern.

Securing the join mechanism, ensuring the connecting device is authenticated and the correct network is joined all have suites of technology challenges. Choices regarding certificate issuance, which version of WiFi Protected Access security to utilize, how to update the WiFi drivers, edge operating system network stacks, edge application environment and many more design choices will have an increased visibility.

EXPECT THE HACK

With WiFi on a smart meter at a consumer, there will be constant attempts to attack the networking of the device. The tool sets for WiFi attacking are off the shelf devices and are easily acquired. The software suites are automated and updated on a continual basis. This is very different from the attack toolkits that have been utilized for the RF Mesh, PLC and Cellular network connectivity options. This increase in attack surface of a widely deployed device will necessitate wide area situational awareness technologies. These are still early days, and the ultimate security outcomes of these technologies are unfolding.

QUESTIONS:

With reasonable terms of service, in exchange for a comprehensive load disaggregation device at your residence, would you allow for connectivity of your power meter to your home WiFi?

What was your initial reaction when you first heard of home WiFi on a smart meter?

NEXT TOPIC:

Lets talk about whether anyone has hacked an AMI device or system?

#DISTRIBUTECH23 #AMI #IIOT #WIFI #IOT