Institutional development · Research, innovation and assessment · Japan
Kyoto University team runs two Wi-SUN smart-meter standards on a single radio
Kyoto University researchers report that one radio with shared firmware can handle both the utility-facing and home-facing wireless links of a smart meter, which they say could make metering hardware cheaper and smaller.
Why it matters: For research leaders in communications engineering, Kyoto's group reports a single-radio method that it says could lower the cost and size of smart-meter and home energy hardware.
Kyoto University said a group led by Professor Hiroshi Harada of the Graduate School of Informatics ran Wi-SUN FAN, used between smart meters and power companies, and Wi-SUN HAN, used between meters and home energy management systems (HEMS), simultaneously on one radio with common firmware.
According to the university, the work adds a radio-sharing arbitration function and a physical-layer switch of roughly 1 millisecond round trip to the common firmware the team announced in May 2026.
In tests modelled on a HEMS device, the group reported data delivery above 99.99% on the Wi-SUN FAN side and a 99.95% on-time response rate for power readings requested every 10 seconds on the Wi-SUN HAN side.
The university said the technique is expected to allow cheaper and smaller radio components in smart meters and HEMS equipment, with possible uses in joint gas and water meter reading and wide-area energy management.
Editor’s view
Scott James, Research and Innovation Editor
The reported figures come from demonstration tests in two usage models, one for smart meters and one for HEMS devices, and the university presents the cost, size and gas, water and wide-area energy applications as expected benefits rather than achieved ones. For research leaders, the work shows a group extending its own May 2026 firmware release towards metering and home energy equipment.
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