Universal Metering Interface

UMI is a set of 3 free specifications to help you develop secure, inter-operable smart metering and smart home products. The UMI specifications define a module interface based on SPI, an optical interface based on EN62056-21 (FLAG port) and a security interface based on ECC-256 and AES-128. A head end computer can also operate as a UMI virtual device enabling secure end-to-end tunnelled communications for reads, writes and software upgrades to remote UMI products in the field.

The specifications can be downloaded freely here and there is no licence fee to use UMI in your products.

UMI enables companies to protect their R&D investment by separating the stable requirements (such as MID metrology) from the unstable (Communications, Security, Payment) with an open module interface that is ultra low power. UMI also enables the optical FLAG service port to be inter-operable across many manufacturers. All of this is supported by advanced PKI security, enabling manufacturers to select and restrict the organisations their equipment will operate with.

These UMI features enable smart metering rollouts around the world to start sooner with lower risk, helping the world to reduce carbon emissions. The IET recognised these benefits by picking UMI as the winner of their 2010 Innovation Award for Information Technology.

The smart gas meter below has been developed with UMI, enabling different modules to be fitted to meet the varying requirements from one region to another. It will be used in large installations such as the UK Smart Metering system, shown in the diagram below.

Please see the sections on the right for more information on how UMI is being used by many organisations, including UMI modules for ZigBee, M-Bus (wired and wireless), GSM, DECT and WiFi. Downloads for specifications, presentations and articles are also on the right.

UMI and the UMI logo are trademarks of Cambridge Consultants Limited, registered in the UK.