A Technique of Synchronization of Distributed Energy Measurement in Low Voltage Electrical Grid

Abstract

Precisely synchronized watthour meter reading during the interval of around 1 second is demanded for the remote energy meter error monitoring technique suggested by authors in previous research works. As the currently used energy measurement in watthour meters is related to the grid voltage zero crossing, the trigger to start synchronous measurement has to be delivered through the data communication channel with the precision not less than the mains fundamental period. The data communication channels which play a significant role in the advanced measurement infrastructure, namely power line carrier, LoRaWAN, NB-IoT and WiFi are considered in this paper. The method of remote meter instructing to start energy measurement, while the real measurement will be initiated on the first upcoming mains zero crossing is analyzed. The assessment of communication latency between two meters seeking to acquire synchronized energy readings can be performed by exchanging synchronization packets prior to the measurement start request. It is identified that not the communication latency but the associated jitter is the most important for the accurate synchronization of the distributed energy measurement.