Wireless voltage reference broadcast in a distributed energy metering system

1. A method of wireless distributed energy metering, the method comprising:

determining a voltage reference sampling clock at a distribution hub;

generating one or more digitized voltage samples from an alternating current (AC) line under measurement coupled to the AC line by a voltage sensing device;

encoding a voltage reference data frame comprising the one or more digitized voltage samples; and

broadcasting the voltage reference data frame over radio frequencies (RF) to one or more wireless metering units each coupled to an AC load circuit of the AC line where a current sample clock of each of the wireless energy metering units is synchronized to the voltage reference sampling clock of the distribution hub, and the one or more voltage samples from the distribution hub and one or more current samples obtained by one or more current sensing devices at the one or more wireless metering units are utilized in calculating energy parameters sampled by the wireless energy metering units from the respective AC load circuit.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the voltage reference sampling clock is a high-rate free-running clock which is non-synchronized to an AC-line rate.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the voltage reference sampling clock is a high-rate clock synchronized to a zero-crossing of the AC line.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the broadcast voltage reference data frame further comprises a clock synchronization identifier in direct relation to the voltage reference sampling clock.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the each of the one or more wireless metering units uses the clock synchronization identifier to synchronize the current sample clock to the voltage reference sampling clock of the distribution hub.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the voltage reference data frame is broadcast slightly ahead of the voltage reference sampling clock based upon a set transmission delays proportional to transceiver processing delay between the distribution hub and the one or more wireless metering units.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein determining the one or more voltage samples further comprises determining a respective voltage sample for each phase of a multi-phase AC circuit and encoding the voltage reference data frame comprises encoding each respective voltage samples for each of the phases in the voltage reference data frame.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the energy parameters comprises one or more of active, reactive and apparent power/energy parameters.

9. A system for wireless distributed energy metering comprising:

a distribution hub for wirelessly broadcasting voltage reference data frames providing voltage samples from an alternating current (AC) line as measured by a voltage sensing device at the distribution hub, and

one or more wireless metering units each coupled to an AC load circuit for receiving the broadcast voltage reference data frames wherein a current sampling clock of each of the one or more wireless metering units is synchronized to a voltage reference sampling clock of the distribution hub for determining current samples from the respective AC load circuit as measured by one or more current sensing devices at the one or more wireless metering units to calculate energy data parameters.

10. The system of claim 9 wherein the voltage reference sampling clock is a high-rate free-running clock which is non-synchronized to an AC-line rate.

11. The system of claim 9 wherein the voltage reference sampling clock is a high-rate clock synchronized to a zero-crossing of the AC line.

12. The system of claim 9 wherein the broadcast voltage reference data frame further comprises a clock synchronization identifier in direct relation to the voltage reference sampling clock.

13. The system of claim 12 wherein the each of the one or more wireless metering units uses the clock synchronization identifier to synchronize a current sample clock to the voltage reference sampling clock of the distribution hub.

14. The system of claim 9 wherein the voltage reference data frame is broadcast slightly ahead of the voltage reference sampling clock based upon a set transmission delays proportional to transceiver processing delay between the distribution hub and the one or more wireless metering units.

15. The system of claim 9 wherein the voltage samples are determined for each phase of a multi-phase AC circuit and data frame is encoded for each respective voltage samples for each of the phases in the reference data frame.

16. The system of claim 9 wherein each of the one or more wireless metering units further comprising an inductive power supply coupled to a current sensing device for harvesting operating power from the AC line under measurement to power the wireless metering unit.

17. A wireless energy metering unit comprising:

a current sensing device coupled to a load circuit of an alternating current (AC) line under measurement;

a wireless interface; and

a processor for:

receiving a broadcast voltage reference data frame through the wireless interface from a distribution hub;

decoding one or more voltage samples from the broadcast voltage reference data frame that were obtained using a voltage sensing device at the distribution hub;

synchronizing a current sampling clock of the wireless metering unit based upon the broadcast voltage reference data frame; and

determining a current sample from the current sensing device, wherein a current sampling clock of the wireless energy metering unit is synchronized to voltage sampling clock of the distribution hub.

18. The wireless energy metering unit of claim 17 further comprising a phase-lock-loop (PLL) for receiving a synchronization identifier from the broadcast voltage reference data frame to generating the current sampling clock.

19. The wireless energy metering unit of claim 17 further comprising an analog-to-digital converter for receiving an analog current sample from the current sensing device and converting it to a digital current sample in synchronization with the sampling clock.

20. The wireless energy metering unit of claim 17 wherein the processor further calculates energy parameters using one or more voltage samples and one or more current samples, the energy parameters comprising one or more of active, reactive and apparent power/energy parameters.

21. The wireless energy metering unit of claim 17 wherein the current sensing device is one of: a current transformer (CT), a Rogowski coil, a shunt, a hall effect sensor; or a Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEM) based sensor.

22. The wireless energy metering unit of claim 17 further comprising an inductive power supply coupled to the current sensing device for harvesting operating power from the AC line under measurement to power the wireless energy metering unit.