Date: 13/10/2010

New energy metering chip from NXP for non-billing electricity metering applications

NXP Semiconductors has unveiled the EM773 energy metering IC, a 32-bit ARM-based solution designed for non-billing electricity metering applications. The NXP EM773 can integrate energy metering functionality into almost any type of device. This device helps users to monitor energy consumption in real-time, in devices ranging from smart plugs, smart appliances and green consumer electronics, to building sub-meters, industrial sub-meters, and even clusters of rack-mounted servers in the data center.

The NXP EM773 is built on an ARM Cortex-M0 processor. This chip features a metrology engine with automatic single phase, power and energy measurement. This device also integrates an API that simplifies the design of non-billing metering applications.

The ARM Cortex-M0 platform enables the NXP EM773 to support communication tasks such as running a wireless m-bus stack and thus allowing data on energy use to be transmitted throughout the home or business, and displayed on other devices such as PCs and smartphones. The standard demonstration kit for the EM773 ships with a wireless plug meter transmitting data from the metrology engine via the wireless m-bus to a USB-based dongle. The USB dongle uses the OL2381 wireless transceiver and LPC1343 microcontroller, both from NXP. The 32-bit Cortex-M0 platform provides performance of up to 48 MHz. The platform has a 32KB of flash and 8KB SRAM memory.

"Saving energy is high on the agenda for consumers and businesses, but with most electrical devices today, it's difficult to know how much energy you are actually using at any given point in time. Smart devices measuring and communicating how much energy is being used are potentially a powerful tool for managing energy consumption," said Rolf Hertel, director of smart metering, NXP Semiconductors. "The EM773 energy metering IC is 'metrology made easy' - it makes the design of non-billing metering applications accessible to designers without a deep background in metrology. With the EM773, NXP is enabling the rapid design of innovative devices that will transform the way we consume energy - in the home, on the go, and in industrial environments."

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