Abstract: In this paper, present situation, technical supporting and pilot project are described to analyze the importance of construction of interactive platform for smart service. To meet the needs of individual and multiple service based on smart grid, interactive platform for smart service is presented, emphases are focused on system architecture, key technologies and equipment. A pilot interactive platform of smart community in southeast of China is introduced. Finally, summary and outlook are carried out for interactive platform of smart service.

Keywords: smart service, interactive platform, smart grid, integrated gateway

I. INTRODUCTION ITH the development of technology on information and communication, the integration of energy and

information in the smart grid will change the existing mode of power service and create new mode of business operation[1][2]. In the area of power service, the State Grid Corporation of China has built the world’s largest system of application for sales business and AMI, that is, the very system of users information collection which is covering 45.49 million users, and the coverage rate of collecting is 26.41% by the end of 2010. The foundation of information systems and business systems provide the basic guarantee for informationization of smart grid, promote integration of energy and information. At same time, requirements of interactive service between grid and user are expressed clearly in the new pilot projects such as the smart community, smart building, smart park etc. A interactive platform smart service is set up by research and development of key technologies and equipment of smart power utilization to explore serving customers with high-quality, intelligent and convenient service.

Based on smart grid, the interactive service platform is supported by power information systems aimed at the application of business and smart service. By making full use of various resources[3-5] of distribution line, power communication, professional business systems and customer information. On the platform, technology such as sensor measure, intelligent control, and IT is integrated with the advanced idea of Internet of Things, cloud computing and modern service. New service of smart utilization and social

J.Zhang is with the department of Communication and Utilization, China

Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI), Haidian District, Beijing 100192, China (e-mail: zhangjing@epri.sgcc.com.cn).

B.Qi is with Research Center of Communication Technology, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, North China Electric Power University (NCEPU), Changping Distric, Beijing 102206, China (e-mail: bellqi@sina.com).

additional are created for power users.

II. REQUIREMENT OF SMART SERVICES Smart grid bring a great change which integrated energy

with information, the profound impact will be put on the traditional power service. For example, the conventional power service will be handled from manual counter to website. Smart utilization services requires to be supported by professional business systems, user data and interactive platform to realize a great deal of business application [6-8]. With the development of society progress and smart technology, personal and various service needs rise rapidly, It is showed that unlimited growth will be presented for the social increment services. Smart grid has changed the original status and expanded content and added new domain for power services. Demands of service has changed a lot.

A. Upgrading conventional power service In the past, information enquiry, fault report, application of

expanding consumption, settlement of charge are almost completed on the counter of power shop. With the development of power informationization, collection of user information, application of sales business and service website and other professional systems are put into operation, much of business which need to be processed on counter or office now can be carry out in a virtual way, such as website, mobile phones, self-service terminals etc.. The business of payment can also be accomplished through the interlink system of bank or other third-party banking institutions.

B. Increasing smart power services Smart grid creates new form and contents of power

services. The appearance of new power services such as, distributed generation, energy storage, charging of electric vehicles(EV), demand response etc., bring the challenge to mode of management and flow of business for existing conventional services of power utilization. Based on smart grid, the new service of power utilization[2] to be developed include distributed generation such as roof solar system, small wind turbines, EV charging and energy storage, demand response, energy efficiency, power quality .

C. Development of the third-party services The services are defined as non-electric services including

community property, advertising, security alarm, health care, medical diagnoses, utility payments, electronic shopping. Third-party services will expand the area of power services for the grid, widen the service channel for society and people in the future.

Studies on Interactive Service Platform for Smart Grid

Jing Zhang and Bing Qi

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978-1-4577-0875-6/11/$26.00@2011 IEEE

III. FRAMEWORK OF PLATFORM Smart service system is based on interactive service

platform, supported by power business system such as AMI, EV charging, customer service, low voltage distribution automation and sales application etc.. Extraction and analyses for data of supporting system is accomplished by the business application module. According to users’ requirement [3][9], the platform merges data and service of different systems to provide users with relative service. With the ability of distributed access and management , platform can not only access present service terminals, but also connect more terminals in parallel in the future. Platform opens standard interface of increment application to the third party, public providers of content and service can add relative application programs according to business for supporting commercial operation of project with achievement of maximization of investment benefit. At last, platform has the consistent user experience, all kinds of smart interactive terminals such as PC, mobile phone or flat PC, can be connected to platform and complete the correspondent business application and smart service.

The framework of the smart service system can be divided into three layers: sensing, communication and business, as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. The framework of smart service system

A. Layer of sensing Layer of sensing is in the user side with the function of

measuring, sensing and information acquisition. Equipment include sensor, acquiring device, public measurement instrument (water, gas, and heat), and power device. Acquiring equipment is smart device with function of data acquisition, monitoring and transmitting such as integrated service terminal, low voltage distribution terminal, meter reading device and network power meter of sensor layer. Sensor is mainly used to measure magnitude of physical quantity of sensing device, such as smart plug, entrance guard, alarm device, video camera, smart switch, electric meter. By sensing all kinds of parameters, user’s behavior of power utilization is analyzed to provide basic data for AMI and energy management service.

B. Layer of communication Layer of communication is a bridge across user and grid.

Communication network is divided into power private network and internet, power communication belongs to private network communication, which mainly includes 230MHz Wireless narrowband communication, WLAN and widespread power optical fiber communication.

C. Layer of business Layer of business include interactive platform and software

module of application such as marketing business, customer service, AMI and distribution automation, by the realization form of Software as a Service(SaaS), and provides basic electricity service, smart power utilization services, social increment service and other service application .

IV. KEY TECHNOLOGY AND DEVICE

A. Application software of platform Application software of interactive service platform for

smart grid is a software package, which is developed to meet the needs of smart interactive service by making full use of data information resources of power business system. The software will support[10] interactive operation with users by the technology of data interaction and demonstration. Smart service interactive devices include self-service terminal, POS machine, customer service website, smart mobile phone and family service terminal. Content of application software is shown as Fig. 2.

Fig. 2. Content of application software

B. Communication integrated technology and equipment Communication integrated technology of interactive

service platform for smart grid mainly includes:

(1)Application of various communication modes: The development of communication network combines

current network with optical communication in future, based on backbone core network of power communication, emphases should be put on access network of power broadband and sensor network. The access network includes the modes of wired and wireless, mode of wired indicate

mainly the use of optical fiber network technology, which provide with the solution of users' information access by connecting electricity meter and users' indoor smart equipment together through low voltage optical fiber composite cables. The mode of wireless, that is broadband wireless communication, will be used to solve problem of information acquisition of distribution and consumption, residents data and voice access[11][12]. Sensor network is applied to distribution network and user side, performs management and monitoring of low voltage distribution devices. At the same time, it completes the communication of user information collection and smart home.

(2) Technology of flexible communication networking: For key nodes of communication for distribution and

utilization, redundant technology of dual-channel communication will be applied to guarantee the reliability of data transmission. flexible and reliable communication network in community is set up through deployment of fiber and broadband wireless device in distribution room and equipment cabin. In user side, home area network is established with PLC, ZigBee, WI-FI and other sensor networks to support indoor communication for smart service.

Fig. 3 illustrates the frame of communication network for interactive platform.

Fig. 3 frame of communication network for interactive platform

C. Integrated services gateways The integrated service gateway is the key interactive

equipment which has the functions of equipment access, communication transferring, processing of data, information influx, protocol conversion, security authentication, local display, manual operation and so on[13]. Web server is integrated inside services gateway with which users can interact through browser of notebook computer, flat PC, smart cell phone, STB and other equipment. Service gateway support many modes of local communication such as Wi-Fi, WAPI, ZigBee, PLC, RS485 to complete protocol conversion and addressing to afford interfaces for appliance software [14]. At the same time, platform software layer can gather a variety of sensor-embedded devices, such as public utilities metering instrument, home security, and smart appliance, smart plug and so on. Service gateway is an open structured interactive service terminal that supports interactive interface , users DIY

configuration with applied logic, and third-party software to be downloaded for operation. At the same time, the built-in security chips guarantee the safety of payment, settlement and remote control.

is the first city where

V. APPLICATION PRACTICE OF THE PLATFORM The first pilot project is located in the southeast city of

Xiamen ,China, where the smart interactive community has come into construction. This project is part of community of WuYuanWan No.1 and number of users is 482. It plans to deploy platform servers in the sales center of the grid and place service gateways in the users' home of the community to connect power utilization equipment, home appliances and other intelligent devices. The 3G modules are applied to establish the communication network for data transmission among community nodes and control center of the grid. Information of electric meters, EV, distributed resource are obtained from the correspondent business systems. Release and push of information will be realized through website of customer service, integrated service gateway, smart cell phone, self-service terminals and other client systems. The time limit of project for construction is within one year, the goals of project are as follows: achieving monitoring and alarming of low-voltage distribution equipment, carrying out energy efficiency evaluation services, building of smart home, implementing management of distributed generation, building the model room to achieve the comprehensive demonstration of smart community.

VI. CONCLUSION Smart service platform is the base of informationization

upon which friendly interaction can be performed across grid and users, also the key part of system for smart utilization service. Through the platform, the existing power service can be upgraded effectively, new smart power services will be carried out. At the same time, the third parties will develop social increment services supported by the platform, which is integrative application software, communication network and sensor measurements and other techniques. Spreading and application of the platform will eliminate phenomenon of information island formed in a single intelligent system, support the access of intelligent systems and equipment, benefit information sharing and business expanding, and promote the large-scale application of the Internet of Things, cloud computing and smart services in the field of energy and information.

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VIII. BIOGRAPHIES

Jing Zhang was born in Jiangsu of China, on April 15, 1963. His major is power system and automation.

Since 1985, he is working with China Electric Power Research Institute(CEPRI), Beijing. Now, he is a research fellow and responsible for research of smart grid as deputy chief engineer for the department of Communication and Utilization, CEPRI. His special fields of interest included load management, power utilization, AMR, AMI et al.

Zhang received his bachelor degree from Nanjing Institute of Technology in 1982, and master degree

from Beijing Graduate School of CEPRI in 1984. He became the senior member of China Society for Electrical Engineering in 2007, he has published four books in his field of research and more than 20 technical papers.

Bing Qi was born in Liaoning of China, on Jan 15, 1965. His major is Telecommunications for Electric Power System.

Since 1990, he is working with North China Electric Power University (NCEPU) and he is currently a professor of Research Center of Communication Technology, School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, NCEPU. His research interest focused on the analysis and design of network and wireless sensor network under smart

grid application.

Qi received his bachelor degree and master degree from Beijing Jiaotong University in June1987 and in April 1990 respectively. He has published more than 50 technical papers in his field.