[China Instrument Network Instrumentation Industry] In the past few years, with the broadcast of a light comedy, the term “water meter” has been extended to the language of ridicule. With the advent of the smart wave, the word that has been closely related to the lives of our people is gradually drifting away from us in daily life, because the traditional three watches have realized smart metering and wireless data collection, real-time data storage and wireless collection. As one of the key links, the low power consumption and reliability of data storage are getting more and more attention. At the recent WATER & GAS METERING China 2016 summit, Wang Tao, general manager of the Asia-Pacific market of Fujitsu Electronic Components (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., delivered a keynote speech on three-table data storage.



Figure 1: Fujitsu's FRAM keynote speech venue in the metrology industry

As the smart meter that was earlier in the three-meter model, its intellectualization popularity far outstripped gas and water meters. The industry has predicted that the penetration rate of smart meters will exceed 90% in 2016. "Fujitsu's global FRAM memory sales have already surpassed 2.5 billion units in 2015, and a large part of this is used in electricity meters, and China is the center of global electricity meter manufacturing," Wang Xiao pointed out. However, there is a considerable gap between the electrification capacity of water/gas meters and electricity meters. “The application of FRAM in water/gas meters can also see this. The intelligentization of water/gas meters has just begun and is far behind that of electricity meters, but the trend has already started. At present, there are already more than a dozen water/gas meter companies adopting one after another. Our plan is listed in batches," Wang Xi introduced. “The ladder price policy has also further promoted the development of smart water meter gauges, which have higher requirements on the performance of water/gas meters. Performance programs are ushering in good opportunities."

Water vapor metering smart storage new demand ladder charges require that the meter/gas meter store more information, but also low power consumption, which puts forward higher requirements for water meter/gas meter devices that store critical data. In particular, for the construction of a water-saving society, the relevant national authorities have explicitly proposed that water use should implement ladder charging. The implementation of water meter reform will rapidly promote the application of data storage and other electronic components in water/gas meters, especially for memory power consumption. , durability and reliability make new demands.

“With the introduction of a stepped water pricing policy, China’s water and gas prices are increasing. The reason for the increase in price is that ladder fees will increase the cost of water/gas meters, because ladder fees require water meters/gas meters to store more information. But also low power consumption, which put forward higher requirements for water meter / gas meter storage of critical data devices." Wang Hao pointed out.


Figure 2: Performance comparison of several storage solutions

The traditional three-table storage scheme is usually based on EEPROM or Flash. However, these two types of devices have obvious performance deficiencies. "The EEPROM and Flash memory can be written about 1 million times. If you calculate the data calculation in 0.5 seconds, the EEPROM will be "finished" for only 5 days, making it difficult to support the requirements for real-time recording." Wang Hao said. It is reported that when using EEPROM, many manufacturers frequently use wear leveling technology of EEPROM/Flash in order to avoid reaching the writing limit of EEPROM. In addition, as a battery-powered device, the power consumption of the water/gas meter is also a consideration. How to save the power consumption of each uW in the storage ring?

FRAM is a positive solution to overcoming the three major pain points in storage. “FRAM storage is a 'natural' alternative to EEPROM, and it has gained popularity in smart meters.” Wang Xiao pointed out, “This kind of substitution started around 2015. With the maturity of FRAM technology, products are becoming more extensive and prices are gradually declining, which has become the mainstream choice of smart meters.There are six meters in Top 10, a well-known global power meter, adopting Fujitsu FRAM in water/gas meters. The industry, like the smart meter industry four or five years ago, is rapidly introducing FRAM into the industry's new design."

Why can FRAM continue to write about the success of the smart metering industry? Wang Hao believes that the main reason for FRAM is to perfectly solve the pain points of water/gas meter design from the following three aspects:

FRAM is an ultra-low power non-volatile memory, and its power budget is extremely low (Fujitsu FRAM power consumption is only 1/50 of EEPROM);

FRAM has a high-speed write feature, no need for supercapacitors;

FRAM has high reading and writing durability, running software is simple, without wear leveling.


Figure 3: FRAM Significant Read/Write Speed ​​Advantages

Water meters and gas meters are battery-powered devices. The batteries inside need to be used for 10-15 years. Therefore, the power budget is very sensitive, and all the circuits need to reduce power consumption as much as possible. "The power consumption of FRAM itself is very low, and the read and write high-speed performance of Fujitsu's FRAM will greatly shorten the state of microprocessor arithmetic and extend its standby state, thus further extending battery life." Wang Hao introduced in his speech, under the same comparison conditions (compare component capacity of 16Kbit, power consumption includes standby current), the use of EEPROM power consumption up to 500mAh, while the use of FRAM power consumption is only 10mAh, the latter only 1/50 of the former!

It is reported that the read and write timing of FLASH is to erase first, then send a write command, and then write. This process takes 0.5 seconds! EEPROM is significantly faster than Flash, but it needs to wait until the write is complete. The FRAM directly issues a write command to complete the data write operation, requiring only a very short time. "More critically, such a long read/write time may lead to power interruptions during the writing of EEPROM or Flash data, and the risk of data loss!" Wang Xiao pointed out.

"Secondly, the reliability of FRAM is also reflected in more read and write times than EEPOM or Flash. FRAM can read and write up to 10 trillion times and can achieve high frequent data records, such as real-time recording. It is difficult to support EEPROM or Flash," Wang Xiao emphasized in his speech.

According to Wang Hao, when using EEPROM, many manufacturers frequently use wear leveling techniques of EEPROM/Flash in order to avoid reaching the write limit of EEPROM. For example, the MCU sends the data streams D1 to Dn to the EEPROM, divides the EEPROM into four storage areas, the first data is written into the address one of the area one, the second data is written into the address two, the second one is One data is written to the address of storage area two, one, third time, fourth time... thus improving the write durability by four times. FRAM has a large number of read/write operations (high durability), and does not require the use of wear leveling technology at all. This can realize a small-capacity memory and reduce the complexity of software and the possibility of vulnerabilities.


Figure 4: Water meters, electricity meters and gas meters, all of which have a common high performance data memory - FRAM

How FRAM is stored as a unique storage device for storing “unique secrets” has been applied in the fields of three-form application, medical care, industrial control, internet of things, and sensor networks in recent years, and in these applications Almost always sees Fujitsu's presence. "Our FRAM product line is quite broad, with capacities ranging from 4Kb to 4Mb, covering SPI and IIC serial and parallel interfaces," Wang Xi said. It is reported that Fujitsu Semiconductor can always guarantee the high quality and stable supply of FRAM products due to the entire process from research and development, design to mass production and packaging, and many years of rich experience. In the future, Fujitsu Semiconductor will continue to introduce more new products and gradually increase its capacity. It is reported that Fujitsu has started to develop 8Mb products.


Figure 5: Full EEPROM Compatible, No Design Changes Needed

The performance advantage of FRAM is obvious, but as a metering product, whether it is a water/gas meter or a meter, the customer's primary concern is quality. "Fujitsu Semiconductor has used proven technology to produce FRAM for more than 16 years. Accumulated sales have reached 2.58 billion pieces. The highly reliable, fully integrated supply system and ambitious business operation vision is our FRAM's wide range of customers' meter products. One of the key factors in the application."

In addition, product compatibility is also an aspect that Wang Xi emphasized, and customers do not need to make any changes to their current solutions: FRAM with serial interface can replace EEPROM or serial flash memory, and FRAM products with parallel interface can replace low power. Consumption of SRAM or PSRAM (Pseudo SRAM). In terms of packaging, FRAM can basically replace EEPROM directly at present. FRAM package and EEPROM package are completely compatible.

"The Chinese market has become the largest potential market for Fujitsu's FRAM in the world. We have given great support to Chinese customers in terms of product prices, delivery, factory capacity allocation, and technical support," said Wang Wei. In this forum, Fujitsu once again interacted with the government, water/gas meter design manufacturers, and tap water and gas companies. The outstanding characteristics of FRAM were deeply concerned by the industry. Following the smart meter, FRAM was in the water meter and gas meter industry. Another spring is coming.

(Original title: In the wave of intelligence and the Internet of Things, FRAM helped break through the three watch design)

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