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PULSAR’S GRIDX: A SMARTER SMART METER FOR SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA
In sub-Saharan Africa, more than half the population lives without electricity1 and internet access is still considered a luxury—but this paradigm is starting to shift as more homes are being connected to the electricity grid and as the cost of internet is coming down. Technologies like smart energy meters represent a growing opportunity to serve as critical anchor points between consumers and the grid.
Smart meters measure, record, and communicate real-time electricity consumption data to utility companies. This helps consumers understand and optimize their usage while also delivering insights that can help utility providers optimize grid operations.
Namibian startup Pulsar Electronic Solutions (Pulsar) has an even bigger vision for its innovative GRIDx smart meter. GRIDx was designed not only to enhance energy consumption, distribution, and billing accuracy but also to bridge the digital divide by enabling internet access via the same device. Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) worked closely with Pulsar to co-create GRIDx, providing deep domain expertise and intimate technical knowledge to help Pulsar overcome its unique design challenges.
AT A GLANCE
COMPANY
Pulsar Electronic Solutions was founded in Namibia in 2017. Through technology and collaboration, Pulsar aims to improve the quality of life for communities in sub-Saharan Africa while promoting safety, innovation, and the responsible use of resources.
GOAL
To facilitate onboarding the population to the electricity grid; to empower consumers to optimize their energy use; to support accurate billing and grid operational improvements with data-driven insights; and to expand internet penetration by enabling connectivity anywhere the GRIDx smart meter is installed.
CHALLENGE
The two primary functions of GRIDx, smart electricity metering and internet connectivity, each demand their own communications frequencies—frequencies that interfere with each other, making it highly challenging to offer both functions in the same device.
SOLUTION
Pulsar identified ADI’s portfolio of smart metering solutions—the ADE9153A reference design including metrology, converter, and mSure™ autocalibration technologies—as an ideal solution to support GRIDx functions. ADI experts collaborated with Pulsar to overcome the interference challenge and optimize their design at every step of the way.
THE SUB-SAHARAN ENERGY MARKET: AN INFRASTRUCTURAL DESERT
According to Pew Research Center, three-quarters of the world’s unelectrified population lives in sub-Saharan Africa.2 Limited infrastructure and a sprawling population are just some of the challenges to overcome in this market. As more homes and businesses plug into electrical resources, smart meters offer a starting point for creating a smart energy grid and could help ensure sustained proliferation of energy access across homes and industries.
Smart meters fundamentally change the average consumer’s relationship to electricity by providing intelligent insights that facilitate more accurate billing and give users more control over their energy consumption.
Utilities can leverage these same insights to support strategic resource planning based on supply and demand. Today, electricity theft can lead to loss of revenue and can negatively impact grid operations for all customers because there is no way for utilities to identify where these losses occur. Smart meters offer the insights utilities need to ensure there is enough energy to go around with minimal waste.
Simulation of how the smart meter functions in a home.
BRIDGING THE DIGITAL DIVIDE, SMARTLY
Pew Research Center shows that sub-Saharan Africa has the lowest internet penetration of any geographic region, but this is changing rapidly; their study shows that a median of 41% of residents have a smartphone with internet capabilities. GRIDx makes a compelling case for customers whose current, prepaid energy meter—the default device for this market—is due for an upgrade, as well as for those connecting to the electrical grid for the first time.
It also presents an opportunity for utility companies to create new revenue streams by adding telecommunications packages to their offerings. Enabling connectivity through GRIDx does not require any additional equipment or labor, so utilities can offer this new service for little or no additional cost, which could significantly reduce the barrier to entry for new internet users.
ADI AND PULSAR: CO-CREATING A SMARTER ENERGY FUTURE FOR AFRICA
GRIDx came to fruition through strategic co-creation between Pulsar and ADI, with ADI providing deep domain expertise and product knowledge to help Pulsar fine-tune its printed circuit board (PCB) design.
The device leverages ADI’s ADE9153A reference design, which includes metrology, convertor, and mSure autocalibration technology, all in a small form factor. mSure is uniquely equipped to help utility providers maintain grid equipment health across the equipment’s lifetime by providing comprehensive accuracy monitoring and self-diagnostic capabilities.
Pulsar also selected ADI power solutions, including the LTC4091 Li-Ion battery charger and power backup manager, which provides an adaptive output that tracks the battery voltage for high efficiency charging and seamlessly transitions the load to backup power if primary power is lost.
ADI took a very proactive approach to our relationship from early on. It started with a component and grew into a partnership. They always had recommendations to help us optimize the design, minimize cost, and get better performance or multiple functions out of each component. ADI’s design support was essential in helping us push GRIDx from concept to working prototype.Kamati Hasheela
Pulsar Founder and CEO
One of the most significant challenges was ensuring that the connectivity and smart metering functions did not interfere with each other. To provide these functions, GRIDx supports Bluetooth® as well as Wi-Fi and 4G coming from the network—but these different communications frequencies interfere with each other, making it highly difficult to offer these diverse functions in a single device.
Through innovative collaboration with ADI, Pulsar was able to leverage high switching frequencies to couple the high and low voltage sides of the PCB—enabling GRIDx to support both of its primary functions without interference.
A SMART FUTURE IS A BRIGHT FUTURE
For Pulsar, it all started with a question: What if a single device could catalyze growth and increase access to both energy and connectivity? As Pulsar looks ahead to potential opportunities to scale and add value through GRIDx, the company is once again asking, “What if?”
What if they add net metering capabilities to encourage home solar installations? What if they tap the potential of mesh networking to reach remote regions that cannot rely on costly infrastructure like cell towers and fiber optic cables for connectivity? ADI is proud to partner with innovators like Pulsar to help bring the emerging market of sub-Saharan Africa into the electrified and connected world.
References
1“Commodities at a Glance: Special Issue on Access to Energy in Sub-Saharan Africa.” United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, March 21, 2023
2Laura Silver and Courtney Johnson. “Internet Use Is Growing Across Much of Sub-Saharan Africa, but Most Are Still Offline.” Pew Research Center, 2018.
3CC BY-SA 4.0. Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International. Creative Commons.
