Set Top Box

This project will demonstrate the concept of displaying smart meter information through a compliant set top box (STB). Real time information such as kWh usage will be relayed from an end point smart meter to a multiaccess gateway and will be recorded for reporting purposes. The gateway or a dedicated server device will embed the energy usage info in a web page that can be accessed through standard web browser built-in to a user terminal such as STB.

The Smart Meter Data on TV via Set-Top Box project aims at collecting real-time energy consumption data and displaying it on household TV screens through commercial pay TV service. According to the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA), in 2012, the average annual electricity consumption for a U.S. residential utility customer was 10,837 kilowatt hours (kWh) [1]; much of this consumption can be cut down by reminding the home owners to turn off idling electronic appliances. A Nielsen study shows that on average, there are 2.73 TV sets per household and the average American spends approximately 8 hours per day watching TV [2]. This work aims at collecting real-time energy consumption data and displaying it on an easily accessible medium for the public, on TV screens through TV set-top-boxes. Displaying this data will provide home owners with sufficient information that will help them manage their energy consumption. The user friendly interface has been designed to display customer’s energy usage and cost information on their TV screen while they are watching TV. The midterm and final demo were performed in order to demonstrate a proof-of-concept system design and to collect feedback on its functionality and interface design for further improvements. The Smart Meter Data on TV via Set-Top Box project is a collaboration between Southern California Edison (SCE) and California Plug Load Research Center (CalPlug). This report summarizes the work completed through phase 1 and 2 of the project, and includes the midterm and final demonstrations. The system used in this project consists of an information delivery channel from SCE deployed Smart Meters to a consumer-premises gateway system, to a connected home settop box as shown in Figure 1. Raw energy consumption data is collected by Itron Smart Meters, which are installed in most SCE customer households. The Itron meters are equipped with a ZigBee® radio, which enable this data to be transmitted to a gateway device through a ZigBee network. The gateway then sends the data to a cloud/server. Finally, the real-time data can be accessed by a set-top box and displayed on a TV screen via display web services.