Smart Grid Project

People:Lucas Crandall, David Fung, Sara Lickers, Jack Yung, Gabe Unger
Prof. Tom Jones, Prof. Wendi Heinzelman

Figure 1: Power meter board
Project overview: This project aims to develop a device to monitor power quality and usage in a building and relay or store the information wirelessly to be accessed anywhere online. Through this, we aim to provide an easier way for technicians as well as users to obtain crucial information about their power in order to better maintain and utilize our precious energy resource for a smarter grid.

Project Details: The device consists of an Arduino board as the master microcontroller which controls a power meter chip and a WiFly Shield. The power meter chip is able to measure 3 phase 3/4-wire circuits, and relays power information through SPI to the Arudino and WiFly Shield, and then to the internet. We have already built a prototype of the device with all the programming between the Arudino and the power chip completed and abstracted. We are currently assembling the wireless communication through the WiFly module to the internet.