VOL 1, ISSUE 1, JAN 2020

Page 16-24
eISSN 2710-6691 || ISSN 2716-6260
ILSAS International Journal of Learning and Development ilearned.iclad.com.my

Open Access

Communication Technology Options for Better Customer Experience

– The Case of Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) at TNB
M H F Mohd Subhi*

Abstract
Malaysia’s Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has become the first electric utility provider in the ASEAN
region to embark on the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) project. The first phase of this project
involves over 340,000 ordinary power consumers (domestic and low voltage commercial customers)
in the state of Melaka. The deployment of smart meters for the first phase started in January 2018 and
is scheduled to complete by the end of the second quarter of 2019. The second phase will cover
selected areas in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Selangor) involving 1.2 million
ordinary power consumers for the Regulatory Period (RP) 2 (2018-2020). AMI is an integrated system
with a communication network being one of its primary components apart from smart meters, meter
data management system and back-end IT systems. Radio Frequency (RF), Power Line
Communication (PLC) and Public Cellular Network are the three main communication technology
options used in the first phase in Melaka. Each technology has its strengths and weaknesses,
depending on the various situations and requirements, and the technology adopted may differ for other
utilities. This paper shares the experience and challenges faced during the implementation process
and the performance of the network.

Keywords

Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI), smart meter, communication technology

Address for Correspondence:

* Mohd Hanif Faiz Mohd Subhi (hanif.subhi@tnb.com.my)
TNB AMI Project, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB), Malaysia

Article history:
Received Accepted Available online
15 Jul 2019 10 Nov 2019 1 Jan 2020

© 2020 by the authors; licensee TNB Integrated Learning Solution Sdn. Bhd.
(ILSAS), Bandar Baru Bangi, Malaysia.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution license CC BY 4.0, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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1. INTRODUCTION

In general, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) uses the best practices and benchmarking approach to
select the communication technology for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) implementation. A
series of visits to other utility providers using AMI in the US, UK, Spain, Japan and Australia were
conducted between 2010-2014. Upon considering the cost, the population number and topography,
three technologies have been selected to provide the link between the smart meter and the back-end
IT systems, namely: (i) Radio Frequency (RF) Mesh using 2.4GHz and 5GHz; (ii) Power Line
Communication (PLC) using G3-PLC protocol; and (iii) Cellular Network.

TNB started the demonstration in 2014 by deploying 1,000 smart meters in Melaka and Putrajaya mainly
to evaluate the performance of the chosen communication technology (Garieb, 2019). The project was
completed in 2016 as all three technologies registered sufficient performance to be deployed on a
bigger scale (Figure 1) (Landau, 2019). As a result, TNB has decided to deploy the same technologies
for Phase 1 AMI in a larger scale pilot roll-out for the whole state of Melaka.

FIGURE 1 - AMI Network Coverage for Melaka state

2. TNB AMI NETWORK COMMUNICATION DESIGN

TNB AMI infrastructure comprises three main components which include smart meters,
communication network and back-end IT systems. The communication network bridges smart meters
and back-end IT systems to allow data recorded by the meter to successfully reach the back-end
system. Figure 2 below illustrates the TNB AMI infrastructure end-to-end design.

The communication technology selection for each meter is based on population, premise type and
location. The RF Mesh is the main technology for future expansion to other services including
Distribution Automation (DA), street lighting and video surveillance (CCTV). By design, RF Mesh
infrastructure provides 85 % coverage of meter points in Melaka but only 70 % of RF meters will be
deployed. The remaining 30 % will be covered by PLC (25 %) and Cellular Network (5 %). The distribution
of meter points and communication network is illustrated in Table 1.

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 FIGURE 2 - TNB AMI network communication design

TABLE 1 - Communication network allocation for 340,000-meter point in Melaka

Allocated Meter
No. Communication Network Percentage of Meter Points
Points

1. RF 238,000 70%

2. PLC 85,000 25%

3. CELLULAR 17,000 5%

3. RADIO FREQUENCY (RF) MESH NETWORK

3.1 RF Mesh Network Equipment

The RF Mesh network deployed in Melaka is provided by Trilliant Network Inc. (Trilliant, n.d.). This
solution is divided into two portions, namely Neighborhood Area Network (NAN) using 2.4Ghz
frequency and Wide Area Network (WAN) using 5GHz frequency. RF Mesh has 3 main pieces of
equipment operating in the field to provide wireless network links to TNB Network, which include
Communication Module (CM) (embedded in RF meters), RF Extender Bridge (EB) and RF Gateway (GW).
9 GW and 114 EB are installed in Melaka. The CM can also act as a repeater and is able to hop to other
CM to find the best route to EB. The hardware installation for RF Mesh Network is shown in Figure 3.

Another equipment used for network tuning is the RF Repeater. The function of a repeater is to boost
the RF signal in an area with low coverage. Currently, 82 RF repeaters are installed on the site. The
number will increase based on future requirements.

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 FIGURE 3 - Hardware installation for RF Mesh Network

3.2 Locations Installed and Targeted Area

The RF Mesh equipment is installed in the TNB substation on top of a 20-meter pole. The height of the
pole is crucial to provide adequate signal coverage in the targeted area. Altogether, TNB has installed
123 poles across Melaka to ensure 85 % of the meter points get a good signal. In its planning, TNB aims
to provide RF Mesh networks in residential areas with high and medium density. Figure 4 illustrates
the 20-meter pole installed in a residential area.

FIGURE 4 - RF pole installation at residences area

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3.3 Performance

TNB intends to achieve a 99.5 % meter reporting rate by the end of 2019. As of the end of August 2019,
96 % of the installed meters have provided daily reports. For the remaining 3.5 % of the meters to
report, network tuning activity is required in certain areas. After the network-tuning is completed,
end-to-end system commissioning will be conducted to evaluate the overall performance before
handing the meters over to the operation team. The graph below shows the performance of meter
reporting in August 2019 (Figure 5).

FIGURE 5 - RF network performance for August 2019

4. POWER LINE COMMUNICATION (PLC) NETWORK

4.1 PLC Network Equipment

PLC Network end-to-end solution is provided by Sagemcom using the G3-PLC protocol. The PLC
network operates on the CENELAC-A band in the frequency of 36kHz to 90kHz. Two pieces of
equipment are deployed in the field for PLC Network, namely Communication Module (CM) (embedded
in the PLC meter) and Data Concentrator Unit (DCU). This network utilizes the existing electrical cable
to transmit data. The PLC meter should be physically connected to the substation with DCU for it to
work. The hardware installation for the PLC network is shown in Figure 6.

4.2 Locations Installed and Targeted Area

PLC meter is installed at the customers’ premises while DCU is installed at TNB substations. The two
equipment must be physically connected to allow data transmission to occur. In its planning, TNB has
deployed PLC network at high rise premises and shop lots as well as dense areas that cannot be
covered by RF. As advised by Sagemcom, the distance from DCU to the first meter should not be more
than 150 meters. The main reason is to avoid degradation and loss of signal. Figure 7 shows the sample
of DCU installation at the substation.

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 FIGURE 6 - Hardware installation for PLC network

FIGURE 7 - DCU installation at a substation

4.3 Performance

As of August 2019, 59,214 PLC meters have been installed in Melaka. From this figure, 88 % of the
meters have consistently reported on a daily basis. To improve data collection, Sagemcom has added
more repeaters to fine-tune the network. Similar to RF Network, TNB intends to achieve a 99.5 % meter
reporting rate by the end of December 2019. Figure 8 below shows the PLC network performance for
August 2019.

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 FIGURE 8 - PLC network performance for August 2019

5. CELLULAR NETWORK

5.1 Cellular Network Equipment

A cellular meter has an attached modem with a sim card provided by the local telco service providers.
The modem can operate in 2G and 3G mode based on best effort guarantees by the service providers.
In Melaka, TNB uses both Maxis and Digi as its telco service providers. The selected package has
domestic roaming capabilities to ensure no service interruption should the main service provider fail.
The meter will report to Trilliant HES; similar to RF meters but through a cellular network. A border
router is installed on both service providers’ and TNB’s sides to integrate the mobile cellular network
with the TNB network. Figure 9 shows the connectivity between the cellular meter and HES.

FIGURE 9 - The connectivity between Cellular meter and HES

5.2 Installation and Targeted Area

The cellular meter installation is as simple as putting the meter at the premises and switching on the
power. The meter will automatically report to HES once the cellular signal is acquired. In the planning,
the cellular meter will be installed in remote areas where the RF and Network are not feasible to be
deployed. Another area is the blind spot within the RF network where adding more repeaters is not
practical.

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5.3 Performance

As of August 2019, 82 % out of 4,289 cellular meters installed at customer premises have reported
consistently every day. Currently, the service providers are working to strengthen the signal coverage
in certain areas to improve the reporting trend. At the same time, Trilliant is tuning the HES system to
overcome any communication interruption during the transmission of data. Figure 10 below shows the
cellular network performance for August 2019.

FIGURE 10 - Cellular network performance for August 2019

6. CHALLENGES

6.1 RF Network

One of the major challenges for RF Network is the geographic features or topography (Murray, 2013).
Meter points in the outskirt areas are usually surrounded by hills and forests that make it difficult to
identify suitable locations to erect the pole for RF network deployment. High-density areas that meet
the criteria for the RF network cannot be covered because of this reason. Another option to allow the
use of RF networks in this area is by diverting the signal around the hills and forest but that will
require more equipment which is not feasible in terms of cost.

Besides that, Trilliant RF technology currently permits for only 15 hops for a CM to reach its parent or
EB. Registered reads sometimes can still be retrieved but on-demand operation such as remote
connect and disconnect will fail if the number of hops is beyond 15. An average of 6 to 8 hops is the
optimum number of hops to ensure the meter operation runs smoothly. But to achieve such a number,
more equipment needs to be deployed, thus incurring more cost to the project. Trilliant has announced
a new scheme to overcome this problem but it is still in testing mode.

6.2 PLC Network

The main challenge for PLC network implementation is the fact that PLC meter must be physically
connected to the DCU or substation. Most of the electrical network in Melaka has been around for
more than 10 years and has gone through multiple network changes. If the documentation is updated
frequently, this is not a big issue but in most cases, it is not updated. So it is difficult to confirm the
connectivity of the network. If the meter is deployed at the wrong network, the meter will not connect
to the DCU. To overcome this situation, TNB has undertaken a separate project to identify which

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substation the meter is connected to. It may take some time but it is better than having a meter
installed at the wrong place.

Secondly, the PLC network is sensitive to noise and attenuation. Most cheap household electrical
appliances produce noise that can interrupt the PLC signal. Even though G3-PLC can work in robust
mode, but sometimes the noise is above the acceptable threshold resulting in a signal block. This is
something that is totally out of TNB control. So, the PLC network needs to fine-tune the system so
that it can handle a higher noise level to ensure AMI operation is not interrupted.

6.3 Cellular Network

The challenge for cellular networks is mainly due to the coverage. Based on the network design, the
cellular meter will be deployed in the remote area that is not feasible to be covered by the RF and PLC
network. But, most of this area has poor cellular network coverage even for 2G because telco service
providers are replacing 3G with 4G or even 5G. To deal with this situation, signal coverage survey
needs to be done before meter installation. If the received signal is within the acceptable range, then
the cellular meter will be installed. Otherwise, other technologies need to be considered; either putting
more DCU or expanding RF networks which will incur more cost to TNB.

7. CONCLUSION

A lot of options are now available in the market in accordance with TNB’s decision to deploy the
selected communication technology. The selection of technology for the AMI network is totally
dependent on the needs of the organization besides adopting the best practices by other utilities. The
business requirements and technical specifications need to be clearly defined from the start to avoid
any issues in the future. The communication technologies deployed by TNB may not be the best choice
for other utilities but they meet TNB requirements. The technologies may change in the future but for
now, they have fulfilled the objective.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This paper is the output of the TNB AMI Phase 1 project that is currently deployed in Melaka. The project started
in 2017 and is targeted to complete by the end of 2019. The author is indebted to all who directly or indirectly
involved in this project.

REFERENCES

Garieb, S. L. (2019). Digitalisation of customer billing experience via TNB smart meter deployment (TNB Ami
Project). Presented at the Asian Utility Week, Kuala Lumpur, 4th of September, 2019.

Landau, E. (2019). 9.1 million households to receive TNB smart meter by 2026. New Straits Times. Retrieved
from https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2019/09/525150/91-million-households-receive-tnb-smart-meter-
2026

Murray, D. (2013). Using RF recording techniques to resolve interference problems. In 2013 IEEE AUTOTESTCON
(pp. 1-6). IEEE.

Trilliant (n.d.). The Trilliant Platform Communications: Purpose-Built for Utilities. Trilliant Holdings Inc.
Retrieved from https://trilliant.com/communications/

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