Blockchained-IoT Smart Metering System

Abstract

The Smart Metering System, an integral component of Smart Grids, has transformed the monitoring and management of energy consumption by enabling real-time data collection and analysis. It refers to the usage of a smart meter with a pre-defined and designed architecture to measure, collect, and analyze the energy consumption of customers in real-time. The smart metering system contains some components that are connected to provide the desired application. The basic component is the smart meter that is related to energy customers and connected by a gateway to the utility supplier database. Which allows system measuring and monitoring of energy consumption remotely. However, the sensitive nature of the data collected, like customer energy usage and private data, necessitates stringent monitoring and security measures. In this thesis, we proposed a new Smart Metering System Architecture that prioritizes real-time monitoring, energy loss detection, and privacy-preserving, leveraging Blockchain and IoT technologies. By enhancing real-time monitoring, the proposed system not only ensures robust security but also facilitates energy loss detection within the system. Through the integration of Blockchain’s decentralized nature, and IoT connectivity features, Traditional Smart Metering Systems’ inherent vulnerabilities have vi been mitigated, enhancing the overall reliability and efficiency of the system. This thesis emphasizes the critical role of real-time monitoring and management in ensuring data integrity and network security of Smart Metering Systems. Additionally, it provides a technique to detect energy losses on two levels to increase energy and cost savings. We implemented the proposed system using Python, Ethereum Blockchain, and Solidity for Blockchain smart contracts. The proposed system is simulated in two scenarios to measure the performance in terms of latency packet delivery ratio and storage consumption overhead. In addition, a numeric data analysis is provided to show the energy and cost savings of the proposed system. The simulation results showed that the proposed system provides high performance while saving energy and costs through energy loss detection technology.