STCOMET Smart-Meter System-on-Chips from STMicroelectronics Continue to Soar, Powering ERDF-Led Smart-Grid Pilot

New 500kHz certifications, additional new ICs supporting modular design, and key role in SOGRID pilot confirm leading position

Geneva, November 3, 2015 - STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader servings customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, has surpassed important milestones with its STCOMET smart-meter System-on-Chip family, enabling utilities worldwide to deliver sustainable electricity, incorporating multiple sources including renewables, by leveraging smart-grid technologies.

STCOMET simplifies the design of smart meters by implementing key functions on a single chip, including a powerline communication (PLC) modem compliant with major smart-metering industry standards. Vital to wide-scale adoption, ST has recently achieved certification to the latest G3-PLC^[1] and PRIME^[2] v1.4-profile 2 specifications covering frequency bands up to 500kHz, such as FCC^[3] bands. Together with existing G3-PLC and PRIME v1.4 approvals covering European CENELEC-A^[4], STCOMET is now certified according to all major standards in force globally.

In addition, ST has extended the STCOMET family to four devices, allowing meter designers the flexibility to scale their applications to the needs of various markets and territories. STCOMET05 and STCOMET10 contain either 512Kbyte or 1Mbyte of program Flash, together with an application-processing subsystem, dedicated security engine with privacy and anti-hacking protection and high-accuracy metering front end, and the PLC module. The simplified STCOM05 and STCOM10 give designers flexibility to combine their own proprietary metering front end with ST's on-chip application processor, security engine, and PLC module, and to leverage ST's global approvals to accelerate project completion.

ST has also confirmed that STCOMET is the IC powering smart meters currently rolling out to 1000 households in the Toulouse area of France, as part of the SOGRID^[5] smart-grid pilot. ST is a member of the consortium led by ERDF^[6], which is conducting SOGRID to study automated network control under real operating conditions.

"The vision of the future world, enabled by the smart grid, becomes more real and more exciting day by day," said Matteo Lo Presti, Group Vice President and General Manager, Industrial and Power Conversion Division, STMicroelectronics. "Our STCOMET smart-meter SoCs are leading the advance, combining outstanding technical features with unrivalled integration and flexibility to realize the smart-energy revolution everywhere from developed economies to emerging markets."

As projects such as SOGRID continue to drive evolution of smart metering and the smart grid, ST's unique programmable and firmware-upgradeable architecture allows designers to create multiple product variants leveraging a common design, and take advantage of future-proof adaptability to minimize lifetime ownership costs. ST has a fully featured development ecosystem supporting rapid development of single-phase or three-phase smart meters based on STCOMET ICs, which includes certified protocol stacks, reference designs, prototyping hardware, and tools such as metrology-management software and drivers.