Case Study

CUSTOMIZING DLMS SERVER LIBRARY TO MEET

CLIENT SPECIFICATIONS

Company
Emlite Ltd.
Website
www.em-lite.co.uk/
Region
Europe
Industry
Smart Metering

Kalkitech Solutions
Automatic Meter Reading
(AMR)
Kalkitech Products
Interface Communications
Unit (ICU)
Data Concentration Unit
(DCU) - SYNC 2000
Meter Data Acquisition
System (MDAS) - SYNC
5000

Client Context
Emlite Ltd planned to develop energy
meters complying with smart metering
specifications laid down by the Tokyo
Electric Power Company (TEPCO),
the largest utility in Japan. TEPCO
is the first utility in Japan to adopt
AMI on a large scale and decided to
opt for DLMS protocol standards as
the default application protocol for
enabling communication between
smart meters and control center
systems. As TEPCO specifications
had
several
customer
specific
enhancements/changes
compared
to those prescribed by the DLMS
User Association (DLMS UA), Emlite
wanted to include them in its solution
to ensure conformity to TEPCO

The TEPCO Smart Grid project envisages installing 27 million smart

meters to transmit electricity consumption data of consumers by
Mar 2021.

specifications. Also, TEPCO had strict

specifications with regard to timing
and the DLMS Server library needed to
incorporate the necessary encryption/
decryption to meet them. While Emlite
had installed a micro-controller the
default TEPCO configuration of the
server source code library was found
to require more more memory than
available. Resolving this issue would
necessitate a change in hardware
design and installation of a bigger and
costlier micro-controller or dual microcontroller that had serious cost and
timeline implications.

DLMS UA specifications and the TEPCO

mandated specifications, incorporate
new features to meet TEPCO
requirements, pinpoint customization
areas in the DLMS Server library,
conduct performance tests, check
conformity to TEPCO specifications
and optimize memory usage. Kalkitech
with its abundant expertise and vast
experience of multiple DLMS protocol
implementations was the natural
choice for this engagement.

Emlite was looking for a partner to

identify the deviations between the

www.kalkitech.com

Emlite is an advanced technology company providing smart metering solutions for many
applications including residential smart metering, micro-generation metering, prepayment,
energy monitoring and so on. It offers customized design solutions and uses lean processes to
deliver optimization through the smart metering value chain.

Kalkitech Solution
Kalkitech implemented an end-to-end
solution to resolve all the issues faced
by Emlite. A five-member Kalkitech
team held numerous discussions with
Emlite to understand the deviations,
reviewed
TEPCO
specifications,
clarified doubts and identified queries
that needed to be addressed by
TEPCO. Kalkitech modified the inhouse DLMS Source Code Library
and added new features to meet
TEPCO specifications, tested data
DLMS services to check processing
and response time, optimized RAM
usage by removing and re-using global
variables, stack and heap. The various
components of the solution can be
summarized as follows:
Reviewing DLMS UA and TEPCO
specifications to identify deviations
Clarifying Emlites doubts from its
position as a subject matter expert
partner
Assessing the standard DLMS Server
library from TEPCO perspective to
identify customization areas
Modifying the DLMS Server library
and incorporating new features to
meet TEPCO specifications
Conducting performance tests
to ensure adherence to TEPCO
specified timing requirements and
suggesting measures for further
optimization
Conducting
tests
to
ensure
conformity to TEPCO specifications
Evaluating RAM and ROM memory
usage
Performing detailed code review of
DLMS Server library from TEPCO
perspective
Optimizing RAM usage by removing
and re-using global variables, stack
and heap

Results
The TEPCO Smart Grid project
envisages
installing
27
million
smart meters to transmit electricity
consumption data of consumers by Mar
2021. TEPCO will hold multiple bids for
the supply of smart meters and invite
tenders from global companies. With
Kalkitechs solution, Emlite was able to
participate in the tender process. The
benefits can be summarized as follows:

Achieved reduction of 50% in RAM

usage thereby eliminating the need
for making expensive changes in
hardware design and investing in a
bigger micro-controller

Met TEPCO smart metering

specifications as well as the timing
requirements
with
millisecond
precision enabling Emlite to submit
a bid

As TEPCO specifications had several

customer specific enhancements/
changes compared to those prescribed
by the DLMS User Association (DLMS
UA), Emlite wanted to include them
in its solution to ensure conformity to
TEPCO specifications.

Contact Us
KALKI Communication Technologies Private Limited
#147, 5th Main Road, HSR Layout Sector 7,
Bangalore 560102, INDIA

Telephone: +91-80-4052 7900

Fax: +91-80-2572 5473
Email: info@kalkitech.com
sales@kalkitech.com

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