Power line modem solution with embedded IPv6 protocol
Author: STMicroelectronics Filippo Colaianni, Nunzio Dipaola, Vincenzo Mormina
Summary
When you drive home, the garage door automatically opens without pressing any buttons; when you walk through a small road, the street light automatically increases the brightness. If there is no one else behind, the street light will automatically reduce the brightness; when you open the door, The speakers automatically play your favorite music, LED lights light up your room, light color and brightness are your favorite type. All appliances such as washing machines and dishwashers are managed by smart meters, and you can save energy according to your power curve.
Whether it is a bustling city or a remote village, as the intelligence of buildings continues to increase, we see that new buildings around the world are undergoing tremendous changes, and the pace of change is very fast. The concept of building intelligence will help the construction industry achieve great success in the future.
In order to realize the above-mentioned scenarios, STMicroelectronics has developed various semiconductor products, such as power chips designed for efficient power management, high-performance micro-integrated ultra-low-power technology based on ARM CORTEX M0/3/4 core. Controllers, secure microcontrollers that secure communications, and environmental and motion sensors using MEMS technology, RFID memory, NFC controllers, and more.
To realize these ideas, it is impossible to build intelligent buildings alone. It is also necessary to build an intelligent building community. To this end, STMicroelectronics has developed intelligent building communication products, such as radio frequency transceiver chips below 1 GHz, power line modems, communication chips such as 2.4 GHz radio frequency transceivers.
This article describes a power line modem solution with built-in IP (Internet Protocol) technology.
Foreword
Today's smart building concept includes not only anti-theft alarm systems and traditional home automation (HVAC, blinds control, lighting control), but also energy-efficient building systems that use new cutting-edge building materials and monitor the energy consumption of each appliance. In this way, a house can provide consumers with the right amount of energy at the price of the energy company. The intelligent building system can collect relevant energy consumption information from outdoor smart water meters, gas meters and electric energy meters, for example, water and electricity charges and average usage, and then use the indoor display for consumers to inquire, thereby improving consumers' awareness of energy conservation. In addition, the Automatic Meter Reading Infrastructure (AMI) enables the system to update this information in real time, enabling energy companies such as hydropower and gas to remotely monitor and read meters and exchange information on a regular basis. In this way, the smart meter will be able to report actual energy consumption data instead of just estimating usage data. The smart meter has two different channels, one channel exchanges information with the home area network (HAN) and the other communicates with the energy supply companies on the residential area network (NAN) and the large area network (WAN).
In the above intelligent building automation scenario, information exchange can use different technologies: Ethernet, WiFi, Bluetooth, RF below 1 GHz, Power Line Modulation and Demodulation (PLM), and different communication protocols such as KONNEX, WMBUS, and IP.
We will discuss how to use IPv6 technology to monitor smart appliances, lighting, smart meters and other devices on narrowband or broadband power lines.
The traditional 110V-230V power line is used as the physical communication medium, and the power line modem uses digital technology to transmit data. There is an interconnection regulation in Europe called CENELEC, which specifies which frequency modulation technique should be used by power supply companies and power users.
The Internet Protocol, also known as IP, is an information and communication technology (ICT) protocol standard that is used by people who access the Internet every day. The introduction of IP technology in intelligent building communication has one big advantage: the building's environmental devices, sensors, meters and standard PCs, laptops and network services can be easily interacted, and the expansion capability is close to infinity. The unique environment created by these devices is called the Internet of Things (IoT).
There are currently two versions of the IP protocol: IPv4 and IPv6. The latter will replace the former.
In the Internet of Things, each smart device is assigned an IP address when it is connected to the Internet, while having an acceptable level of communication security.
Power line modem with built-in IPv6 protocol
IPv6 overview
IPv6 Internet Protocol technology will replace today's IPv4, further expand networking capabilities, extend the network address space from 32-bit to 128-bit IPv4, import a simpler address allocation process and router information forwarding, and natively support network security. IPv6 technology is inherently operating on IEEE-802.3 (Ethernet), IEEE-802.11 (Wi-Fi), and data link layers that natively support IPv6 traffic. However, IoT products must maintain low power consumption, support low bit rates and small data packets, based on the IEEE-802.15.4 derived data link layer. Therefore, the IPv6 protocol requires an adaptation layer to operate on the data link layer; the most commonly used adaptation layer is the 6LowPAN adaptation layer. This technical specification is collectively referred to as IPv6 and IEEE-802.15.4 as the three major standards of the Internet of Things. The 6LowPAN adaptation layer is used to adjust the packet size, address resolution and routing of two different networks to suit different network topologies. Even if most application designs use IP layer routing, an adaptation process is required.
STMicroelectronics Power Line Modem Embedded in IEEE-802.15.4 Technology
The IEEE-802.15.4 data link layer specification and the 6LowPAN adaptation layer were originally designed for wireless networks. Today, as the performance of narrowband network technologies continues to increase, this specification is equally applicable to power line modems. G3 is the first power line modem communication specification evolved from the IEEE-802.15.4 specification and can be used in other non-OFDM modems.
In accordance with data throughput and communication protocol specifications, STMicroelectronics offers a variety of different power line modem chips.
The ST7540 is a low-speed (up to 4800 bps) B-FSK modem that is ideal for all application layers (from the physical layer to the application layer) that require custom application design. The ST7570 is another low-speed communication product (belonging to the STarGRID series). The compatibility with the IEC 61334-5-1 standard reaches the MAC layer, and high-level communication protocols, such as DLMS / COSEM, are handled by the main microcontroller.
ST's ST7580 is the most flexible high-speed (28.8 kbps) product in the STarGRID family, supporting multiple different modulation methods: S-FSK or BPSK, QPSK and 8PSK, natively implementing physical layer data framing. However, the high protocol layer can be customized. ST also offers OFDM solutions with a maximum speed of 128.8 kbps, which is PRIME compliant.
Because of its application flexibility, the ST7580 is the preferred non-OFDM IEEE-802.15.4 solution. The main features of this product are as follows :
· B-PSK, Q-PSK, 8-PSK modulation at rates up to 28.8 kbps
· Dual channel working mode
· Convolutional error correction coding
· Signal to noise ratio estimation
· B-PSK modulation PNA mode with anti-pulse noise
· Framing service
· Error detection function
· Monitor function
· Embedded AES-128 hardware engine
STMicroelectronics Application Evaluation Board
The IPv6 solution includes the ST7580 xPSK modem and an STM32F1 microcontroller. The following figure shows the STMicroelectronics demo board with the product order code STEVAL-IPP003V1.
Figure 1: STEVAL-IPP003V1
The demo board includes the coupling circuit required for the AC and DC power buses. It uses a dual-voltage DC power supply (13V, 3.3V) to provide a small port USB port for easy connection to PC applications. The STM32 runs the IEEE-802.15.4 data link layer firmware and wrapper program to communicate with the ST7580 main interface.
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