Texas Instruments (News - Alert), a global semiconductor design and manufacturing company, recently unveiled new solutions for intelligent and future-proof smart grid deployments. The new technologies and tools support the development of smart metering, grid infrastructure and communications systems, including smart homes and the Internet of Things (IoT) and provide the flexibility to adapt a device for many countries, regions or standards.

TI has increased the availability of its field-tested metrology evaluation kits and grown its portfolio of metrology ICs with more memory, security and accuracy. The new polyphase metering kit based on the MSP430F6679 SoC provides developers with best-in-class accuracy, more integrated memory and advanced anti-tampering protection.

The large 512KB integrated Flash memory enables more sophisticated metering features like dynamic pricing tables, DLMS/COSEM or stacks for connectivity. The MSP430F6779 SoCs also include several advanced anti-tamper protection features that track meter tampering so utilities can easily reduce and prevent additional meter corruption.

The company has unveiled a 128-bit hardware-accelerated Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) module speeds encryption time compared to a traditional software implementation, improving meter security, performance and reducing energy consumption.

TI’s growing portfolio of Sub-1 GHz wM-Bus solutions, such as the SimpleLink CC1120 RF transceiver, is perfectly suited to support the massive smart water and gas meter deployments in France, Italy and the U.K. The company has developed a reliable MCU and RF combo solution with a longer range and more robust communication for difficult environments across Europe and Asia.

Featuring advanced software and robust hardware, TI's ultrasonic flow metering solution is a complete ultrasonic flow meter reference design with advanced early leakage detection for gas, water and heat meters that balance the demands of power, accuracy and connectivity to provide an ideal starting point for developers in Europe and Asia.

Additionally, TI offers the industry's broadest portfolio of Sub-1 GHz, 2.4 GHz, Wi-Fi, ZigBee, Near Field Communication (NFC) and power line communication (PLC) connectivity for the smart grid. TI makes sub-meters less complex by packaging its complementary metrology, connectivity and processors in an easy-to-use, low-power solution.   

The recently announced Smart Data Concentrator delivers the ultimate level of flexibility and scalability with numerous performance, cost and connectivity options so developers can design data concentrators that adapt to any worldwide smart grid standard.