The first line of defense against tampering by bypassing current, reversing connections, and disconnecting leads is the meter case. Due to this, it is common for utilities to require some form of intrusion detection system to detect when someone opens a case.  In this section, we will cover how to detect someone trying to open the case of a meter.

For anti-tampering, it is common to try to detect the presence of a strong magnet. In this section, we will cover the use of hall sensors for low-power detection of strong magnetic fields in three dimensions.  Details on our magnetic tamper detection reference design, TIDA-00839, will be provided as well as some of the design considerations that were kept in mind when creating this reference design.  

In this section, we will cover how to harden a meter against these magnetic tamper attacks by using shunts for current sensors. For poly-phase implementations, I will go over how to use isolated delta sigma modulators to add the necessary isolation to use shunt current sensors and create magnetically immune poly-phase energy measurement systems. The TIDA-00601 and TIDA-01094 reference designs, which show how to implement a poly-phase isolated shunt measurement system, will be discussed as well as the associated AMC1304 high-side power supplies used in these designs.

In this section, a summary of the entire “Anti-tamper Techniques to Thwart Attacks on Smart Meters” training module would be covered.  This summary would cover the “Detecting case tamper attacks using inductive switches “, “Detecting magnetic tampering using hall-effect sensors “,  and “Hardening a meter against magnetic tamper attacks “ sections of the training series. Links will be provided for the reference designs and design tools that were discussed during this training series.

Join our webinar series, as we explore different industry trends and technologies across our diverse product portfolio. Over the coming months, our experts will cover the latest analog, power management and embedded processing topics, across both automotive and industrial applications.

Ultrasonic sensing techniques have been popular in smart water meters because the technology avoids any moving parts which are prone to degrade over the lifetime of the product. The MSP430FR6047 microcontroller (MCU) family takes ultrasonic sensing solutions to next level of performance delivering <25ps of accuracy, detection of low flow rates <1 liter/hour and high precision of <5ps.

The MSP-EXP430FR2433 LaunchPad™ development kit is a member of the MSP430™ Value Line Sensing MCU family. The LaunchPad kit provides a quick evaluation and prototyping tool for the MSP430FR2433 microcontroller (MCU). This series provides an overview of the LaunchPad kit’s features and the out-of-box temperature sensing demo.

Simple functions such as timer replacement, input/output expanders, system reset controllers and stand-alone EEPROM are common on PCBs. Low-cost, ultra-low-power MSP430™ value line  microcontrollers (MCUs) offer cost savings when replacing digital and analog functions in a system. Watch this series to see how MSP430 MCUs can be used to enhance communication, pulse width modulation, systems and housekeeping, and timer functions in your next design.

PT100/500/1000 Resistance Temperature Detectors (RTDs) are widely used in grid infrastructure and factory automation applications where high precision temperature measurement is often required. Technical requirements include either 20 mK precise Differential Temperature Measurement (DTM) for heat and cold meters from 0 to 180°C or better than 400 mK precision over the full range of -200 to 850°C for industrial sensor transmitters.

The TMP116 digital precision temperature sensor for the -55 to +125ºC range achieves higher accuracy than the Class AA PT sensor with a 1-point calibration. A small PCB including TI's TPD1E10B06 or TPD1E04U04 protection devices can be sealed into a RTD metal tube and meet the EN 61000-4-2 and -4-4 levels of ESD protection. The 64-bit internal EEPROM inside TMP116 stores user defined calibration data into the digital temperature sensor, simplifying integration with application MCUs, such as MSP430FR6047, FR6989 or CC13xx/26xx wireless MCU families.

These videos cover advanced rapid prototyping topics .

This 7 Part Series with the MSP430 5xx Experimenters Board will cover the following topics:

• Introduction
• Active and low power mode operation
• Mixed signal application example
• Hardware timers to conserve power
• Implementing a fully optimized ADC12 routine
• MSP430 tools, resources, and conclusions

The MSP430 ultra-low-power microcontroller family now includes the MSP430FR4x/FR2x series of MCUs with unmatched flexibility in the form of the industry’s lowest-power software-configurable LCD driver, abundant IO and unified non-volatile FRAM. These easy-to-use microcontroller series can be evaluated with the low cost MCU development tool, the MSP430FR4133 LaunchPad. Target Socket boards can also be paired with the MSP-FET programmer/debugger for development in a full system.