Silicon Labs has shipped four million of its FG23 systems-on-chip (SoCs) for smart electricity meters as part of India’s smart meter rollout.

These SoCs use RF mesh technology from Wirepas. The availability and performance of the chip has driven the adoption of highly reliable and efficient smart electricity metering tailored to the needs of India’s dynamic and demanding power landscape.

“We are proud to support India’s ambitious advanced metering initiative with best-in-class performance for the modern smart metering demands of India’s energy sector,” said Ross Sabolcik, senior vice president at Texas-based Silicon Labs. “The FG23 SoC with Wirepas RF mesh offers distinct advantages, particularly in large, dense environments.”

The SoC, incorporating Wirepas mesh sub-GHz connectivity, is suitable for AMI deployments due to its infinite scalability, low power consumption and resilience. For example, the Wirepas network continuously adjusts to environmental changes, seamlessly optimising data paths. Even after power outages, the network quickly restructures within minutes, meeting utilities’ strict requirements for data delivery. Its capability to meet the demanding communication and reliability requirements of India’s smart metering landscape has helped providers meet and exceed customer needs with a 99.9% proven reliability.

The SoC with RF mesh offers streamlined operation with low overhead, reducing capital and operational expenses throughout the deployment’s lifecycle.It consistently achieves the 99.9% reliability required by utility providers, ensuring accurate meter data delivery to utility head-end systems every 15-minutes.

Reliable data transmission is maintained in densely populated urban areas, effectively managing heavy radio traffic and interference from surrounding meters. It delivers robust performance across extensive distances, forming extended data chains that reliably span hundreds of kilometres in rural settings.

As part of the revamped distribution sector scheme (RDSS) in India, smart metering projects must meet rigorous standards, requiring adherence to the specifications set out in the standard bidding documents (SBDs) and compliance to India’s IS 15959 standard.

The FG23 SoC, leveraging Wirepas RF mesh, meets these specifications, enabling providers to streamline integration while adhering to all regulatory requirements.

For more about the collaboration between Silicon Labs and Wirepas to deliver smart meters to India, go to www.silabs.com/blog/sub-ghz-soc-takes-on-indias-smart-metering-challenge. And for more about how Silicon Labs and Wirepas are collaborating on the 2.4GHz spectrum, go to www.silabs.com/blog/wirepas-mesh-2-4-ghz-firmware-v5-4-and-mg24-wireless-soc.

Silicon Labs (www.silabs.com) is headquartered in Austin, Texas. Finland-based Wirepas (www.wirepas.com) specialises in IoT connectivity, providing resilient, infinitely scalable mesh networks for large-scale industrial and commercial deployments.