Data Interworking Model and Analysis for Harmonization of Smart Metering Protocols in IoT-Based AMI System

In the energy sector, since the adoption of remote device management for massive advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) devices and Internet of Things (IoT) technology using a representational state transfer (RESTful) architecture, a blurred boundary has been developed between traditional AMI and IoT. With respect to smart meters, the standard-based smart metering protocol, called the device language message specification (DLMS) protocol, still has a predominant role in the AMI industry. Thus, we aim to propose a novel data interworking model in this article that embraces the DLMS protocol in AMI using the most promising IoT protocol, the so-called lightweight machine-to-machine (LwM2M) protocol. We provide a 1:1 conversion model using the correlation of the two protocols with an analysis of the object modeling and resource management methods of both the LwM2M and DLMS protocols. The proposed model utilizes a complete RESTful architecture, which is the most beneficial in the LwM2M protocol. It improves the average packet transmission efficiency and packet delay on the plaintext and encrypted text (session establishment and authenticated encryption) by 52.9%p and 9.9%p, respectively, and by 11.86 ms for both cases, compared to the encapsulation method of the LwM2M protocol, KEPCO’s current approach. This work provides the key idea to unify the protocol for the remote metering and device management of field devices into the LwM2M protocol, and it is expected that this work will improve the efficiency in the operation and management of KEPCO’s AMI system.