STMicroelectronics Power Line Communication Chipset Solution Helps New Smart Power Infrastructure

STMicroelectronics Power Line Communication Chipset Solution

Pave the way for the launch of new smart power infrastructure

Programmable modular solutions simplify the design and deployment of new smart meters, smart grid hardware, smart street lights, home controllers and industrial controllers

China, October 9, 2017 – STMicroelectronics (ST; NYSE: STM), the world's leading semiconductor supplier across multiple electronic applications, is driving the global wave of power usage and management intelligence New modular power line communication (PLC) modem chipset. The new chipset gives equipment manufacturers the flexibility to design electric meters, smart grid nodes, street lights, home controllers, and industrial controllers. This new product is currently being used by three world-class smart meter manufacturers to design new solutions.

As a total solution, the new chipset integrates the protocol processing functions required for data encapsulation and conversion, can send data, and has the line-driven functions required to send data over the grid, enabling customers to develop cost-effective power line communication products. It can be either the internal component of the new design or the core of the external module of the old device, which can perfectly meet the requirements of certain specific regulations. In these applications, the ST PLC modem chipset acts as an external communication module for connecting existing or new meters or controllers. In addition, flexible programmable features allow multiple different models to share the same hardware platform and support software field updates, further reducing the cost of ownership.

Domenico Arrigo, General Manager of STMicroelectronics Industries and Conversion Products, said: "Since the introduction of the first generation of digital meters, ST has served the world's leading smart meter manufacturers. Today, the number of chipsets deployed exceeds 60 million, spread across Europe, China and Homes and buildings in the Americas. With the experience accumulated in the early stages, the world's next generation of smart meters and other IoT plans put forward new design requirements, but our new chipset is the best solution to meet new requirements. The group is a flexible and cost-effective PLC connectivity solution with full programming capabilities that make it easier to deploy globally and support different PLC standards."

Market research firm IHS Markit [1] said that the current annual sales of smart meters exceeds 100 million units, and sales growth is expected to exceed 8% by 2021.

Technical Description

The new chipset consists of two chips: the ST8500 programmable PLC engine and the STLD1 line driver.

The ST8500 is a system-on-chip (SoC) that includes a high-performance quad-core DSP processor and an ARM® Cortex®-M4F core processor for real-time protocol processing, which is used for high-level processing and system management. Each processor has its own program and data SRAM memory on the chip. The chip also provides a smart meter-specific peripheral interface, including the AES encryption engine, and an analog front end (AFE) for connecting to STLD1 line drivers.

The ST8500's received power consumption is less than 100mW, ensuring that the new smart meter has ultra-low power consumption, meeting the latest energy efficiency standards and minimizing grid load. The STLD1 line driver has high communication reliability and can even communicate on noisy cables, with low impedance, high drive capability and high linearity in single-ended 18V or differential mode 36V wide voltage output range.

The chip has built-in certified G3-PLC and PRIME power line protocol stacks and complies with CENELEC, FCC and ARIB band regulations.

The new chipset will be available in volume production from now on. The ST8500 system chip is available in a 7mm x 7mm x 1mm QFN56 package and the STLD1 is available in a 4mm x 4mm x1mm QFN24 package. For pricing information and sample applications, please contact your local STMicroelectronics sales office.