Cybernetics Energy Meter: a prepaid smart meter developed in Bangladesh

Utilities in Bangladesh are rolling out smart prepaid meters, and most of those meters are imported, largely from China. The same suppliers usually provide the head-end system (HES) and the meter data management (MDM) software, so a utility ends up tied to one vendor's meters and software, and meters from different suppliers do not work together easily.

With our managing director at Cybernetics, I set out to produce meters in Bangladesh instead. Several meter manufacturers agreed to supply meters as SKD or CKD kits, but none would share the technology inside them: the firmware, and what it takes to make their meters interoperate. So we decided to re-engineer the meter ourselves.

• Own the technology, not just assemble a kit: energy measurement, firmware, prepayment and communication.
• Interoperability: the meter has to speak DLMS/COSEM the way a utility's head-end system expects, without depending on one vendor.
• Closed systems in the field: the existing meter, DCU and HES suppliers had kept the communication inside the utility closed, so its behaviour had to be worked out from the systems already installed.
• A new team, to utility standards: the work had to be staffed and organised from scratch.

I studied the inside of a smart meter end to end: the DLMS/COSEM protocol, energy measurement, and the components and their suppliers, from latching relays and displays to communication modules for PLC and Wi-SUN.

To understand the installed base, we ran an R&D programme with a national distribution utility and worked out the meter, DCU and head-end communication that the original suppliers had kept closed.

I founded the development team, hired embedded hardware and firmware engineers and interns, and divided the work between them.

My role

Firmware and metering

Calibration routines and accuracy validation against IEC 62053-21/22 (active energy) and 62053-23 (reactive energy)
Tamper and fraud detection: magnetic, cover-open, neutral-missing, reverse current and bypass
Load profiles, event logs, billing snapshots and time-of-use (TOU) tariff engines
Real-time clock (RTC) management, power-fail handling and non-volatile data integrity
Over-the-air (OTA) firmware upgrade with rollback and image verification
Relay control for remote connect/disconnect and load limiting

Communication and integration

Integrating meters with the data concentrator unit (DCU), head-end system (HES) and meter data management (MDM) system
Communication modules: RF mesh/Wi-SUN, PLC, GPRS/4G, optical port and RS485
DLMS security (HLS authentication, AES-GCM encryption, key management)
Interface specifications and compliance with utility companion standards
Debugging the full chain from meter to DCU to HES with protocol analyzers and test tools

Quality, testing and production

Preparing meters for type testing and certification with accredited labs
Test plans, automated end-of-line test jigs and production calibration setups
Field trials, pilot deployments and on-site troubleshooting at utilities
Root-cause analysis of field failures and corrective firmware releases

Hardware and supply chain

Reviewing schematics and PCB designs for the metrology front end, power supply and communication sections
Component selection, alternate sourcing and BOM cost optimization
Technical vendor evaluation and coordination with manufacturing partners (OEMs and ODMs)

Leadership and delivery

Mentoring engineers, running code reviews and setting firmware coding standards
Release management, version control and technical documentation
Preparing tender technical responses, compliance matrices and proposals
Running technical demonstrations and acceptance tests for utilities
Planning timelines and tracking risks against delivery milestones

We have designed and developed the Cybernetics Energy Meter, a single-phase prepaid smart meter, in Bangladesh, with our own firmware for DLMS/COSEM, STS prepayment and energy measurement. Working prototypes are shown below. The next step is certification through IEC type testing.