A distributed IT architecture for deploying a secure Advanced Metering Infrastructure

摘要

When discussing IT systems, everyone tends to think on centralized systems in a ‘cooled air-conditioning’ Data Processing Center. This paper will discuss the challenges an AMI poses onto this type of information systems.First of all, it should be noted that an AMI deployment is no longer a centralized IT system but a geographically spread IT solution. Many AMI deployments – mainly in urban environments, where MV-to-LV transformers can service up to several hundred users – are based on the installation of data concentrators at the transforming station integrating the readings of all meters connected to that transformer. In this case, the information system cannot be reduced to the Meter Data Management System that runs in the DSO office. The data concentrators are also a key part of the Information System. And they will be thousands all over a regionation.This new Distributed Information System for AMI should account for:1. Meter Data Collection.2. Complex Event Processing. Several thousand small IT systems may trigger events simultaneously. How can we transform this huge amount of events and raw data into true information and knowledge of the grid?3. IED’s management (in terms of configuration, firmware upgrade). Operation will be more and more complex.All the features outlined above need to be done in a secure way. Data concentrators will be installed in different sites, where the DSO may not have their own telecom infrastructure.This paper will propose a distributed IT solution based on a services oriented architecture, where data concentrators are seen as the most critical element, due to its cost impact (both directly and indirectly) to the overall AMI deployment.