智能電能表的單片機選擇

　　智能電表正在迅速發展，世界各地的市場采用不同的架構（以及不同的監管要求）。由于他們正在向數以百萬計的公用事業客戶推出產品，對智能電表的成功設計有極大的興趣和巨大的回報。

　　在最基本的形式中，實用電表提供能量和功率測量、數據傳輸、實時時鐘維護和儀表面板上的數據顯示。智能電表的關鍵設計要求包括：（1）它們應該在低能量下運行，以便能在電池電量上長時間運行，（2）它們必須包括能夠保護通信內容和存儲數據安全性的安全功能。

　　基本電表還提供單向通信，使電力供應商能夠自動和遠程地使用不同的通信解決方案，包括rf無線、電力線載波和通用分組無線系統（GPRS）數據通信。

　　Smart meters with Advanced Metering Infrastructure （AMI） architecture provide two-way communications and offer the benefits of improved reliability and accuracy， the ability to monitor outages， and provide remote disconnect as well as the option of adding variable tariffs laden with incentives to consumers to shift peak loads. Smart meters can also communicate directly with other meters and with in-house display units to allow both the utilities and their customers to better manage energy consumption.

　　As implementations and architectures become more sophisticated， electricity meters demand more processing power and more flash memory for software stacks， communication protocols， and firmware updates. The meter also has a communications interface. In the U.S.， many companies have selected the ZigBee wireless radio as the link to the utility， while in Europe， a number of utility groups have agreed to use power-line communications nodes.