Green chip and NFC comes together with NXP & Landis+Gyr smart meter

Green chip and NFC Smart Meter tech comes together with NXP and Landis+Gyr partnership

NXP and Landis+Gyr have come together to showcase their smart meter that uses NFC so that consumers and utility companies can more easily manage and access power usage details. After NFC is ubiquitous and we all use the technology for everyday needs, the next big thing around the corner is “green chip technology.” Green chip is expected to help us manage our energy usage in everything from our cars, to air conditioning units to finding optimal settings for refrigerators and washing machines. NFC is a green technology and when it has a little green chip star dust sprinkled in the mix, it becomes really green. NXP and Landis+Gyr have taken a big step towards making green chip a reality today by announcing a collaboration that allows consumers will be able to conveniently access and read NFC smart meter data in real time using a smartphone.

“NFC opens up new possibilities for the smart grid. It will enable secure, bi-directional communication between metering points and utilities, as well as between smart meters and end-consumers. We can also envision cost-effective NFC solutions tailored specifically for local market needs – from enabling secure pre-payment via NFC-enabled phones to equipping consumers with mobile apps for personal energy management. We welcome customer feedback on the use cases we’re demonstrating together with NXP as we continue to explore new innovations in smart metering,” said Daniel Lauk, Head Platforms & Innovation EMEA at Landis+Gyr.

You may have heard of Zigbee, ZWave and Google’s @home technology, which are all essentially based on RFID and allow users to remotely control elements within their homes. A big part of what green chip technology represents is actually being able to measure the power usage that any particular piece of equipment so that financially responsible and energy efficient decisions can be made about usage. The NFC smart meter will become a center piece of this new wave of green NFC products.

To make the magic happen in the case of the NXP and Landis+Gyr NFC smart meter, the demonstration model integrates the Landis+Gyr E350 modular electricity meter and the NXP PN512 contactless transceiver IC supporting NFC. The companies will be demonstrating the NFC smart meter system at the NXP and Landis+Gyr booths at the Metering Europe event, held in Amsterdam.

“The NFC ecosystem is growing and extends far beyond mobile payments. The smart meter demonstrator we’ve developed with Landis+Gyr is another example of the numerous use cases for NFC, as new industries take advantage of its security and convenience, as well as the interaction it enables between the physical and virtual worlds. We are thrilled to be working with Landis+Gyr, the leader in advanced energy metering solutions, to explore how utilities and consumers can benefit from the growing pervasiveness of NFC-enabled mobile devices, while making the most of existing energy metering infrastructure,” said Henri Ardevol, Vice President and General Manager of Secure Transactions at NXP Semiconductors.

Facts for the NFC Smart Meter showcase at the Metering Europe Expo

NXP provided some more details about the NFC smart meter it would be demonstrating which are as follows:

• NXP and Landis+Gyr will be showing NFC use cases for visual display, including using an NFC phone to replace the LCD display in smart metering devices, for cost savings and convenience. The NFC smart meter demonstrator will also show how an NFC handset can be used to visualize current and historical energy consumption based on data stored in the meter via a mobile app.
• From a security standpoint, the demo will show how the embedded secure element in NFC handsets can be used to manage the privacy of individual households, while providing the appropriate level of access for installation and service technicians.
• In addition, authorized maintenance technicians can download metering information to handsets or tablets, or upload firmware if required to the meter via NFC.
• A further use case is secure pairing of devices to enable home area network (HAN) communication.
• Finally, NXP and Landis+Gyr will discuss how NFC phones can be used for secure and convenient pre-payment of electricity and other utilities, alongside contactless cards.
• Both Landis+Gyr and NXP are active in supporting US and EU-driven initiatives to establish smart grids.
• The NFC smart meter demonstrator will also be showcased at CarteS 2011, which will be held in Paris from November 14th to 17th, in the “At home” demo area of the NXP booth.

Possibilities are open when it comes to the NFC smart meter. Consumers that manage energy usage well could be rewarded with discounts from power companies, and tax rebates could even be setup if a system is put in place to audit energy usage based on factors as diverse as gas usage in a car combined with electricity use within the home. In theory, a system could be put in place that allows more energy aware consumers to be rewarded for using resources wisely. If you are attending the Metering Europe Expo make sure you swing by either booth to check out the NFC smart meter.