Non-technical losses (“theft”) account for billions of dollars of revenue loss for utility providers around the world as individuals are able to hack meters to slow or stop the accumulation of energy usage statistics. This loss has driven increased requirements for enhancing the protection designed into new smart meters.  This training session will discuss different methods of attacking smart meters and how TI’s analog portfolio can be used to detect or even prevent these attacks. In one scenario magnets are used to saturate any transformers present in the system.

Over the last few years, the industry has been moving from mechanical to fully electronic meters. We have seen more and more functionalities such as metrology with ultrasonic technology, leak detection with audio patterns, communication with low power and long range radio being added to smart meters. These new functionalities allow utilities to deliver new services such as condition-based maintenance and remote monitoring of meters, which lead to efficient management of the network and better customer experience.

Modern battery powered motor drive applications such as power tools, drones, vacuum cleaners, eBikes, etc. show a clear trend towards permanent magnet synchronous motors (PMSM) and brushless DC motors (BLDC). The biggest challenge in designing the power stage for these applications is to meet form factor, efficiency, protection, peak current carrying capability and thermal performance. This training will explain how to do a system design to meet the design challenges  by proper selection of power FET and gate driver.