Wireless M-Bus Communications Module Reference Design

The design enables wireless M-Bus communication with a single-chip solution, reduces power use, simplifies integration, and supports metering applications.

The TIDA-01531 is a reference design from Texas Instruments (TI) that shows how to use TI’s wireless M-Bus stack with CC1310 and CC1350 wireless MCUs for smart meters and data collectors. The software is compatible with the Open Metering System (OMS) v3.0.1 specification. The EN13757-1 to EN13757-7 standards define wired and wireless M-Bus communication, widely used in ultra-low-power metering and sub-metering applications. This design includes ready-to-use binary images for wireless M-Bus S-, T-, and C-modes at 868 MHz, supporting unidirectional and bidirectional setups. It provides multiple pre-compiled binaries for metering applications, including heat cost allocators (HCAs), gas, water, heat meters, and e-meters with an external host MCU.

The design supports metering and sub-metering systems using wireless M-Bus at 868 MHz, including water, heat, gas, and heat cost allocators. It is also suitable for e-meters as meter devices, data collectors, and e-meters that collect data from flow meters. Additional applications include in-home displays and handheld readers.

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The European wireless M-Bus standard EN13757-4, introduced in 2005, defines a star network architecture for wireless meter reading using the 863-870 MHz ISM band. In 2013, it was updated to include support for 433 MHz and 169 MHz narrow-band communication. The reference design focuses on the 868 MHz ISM band and features a wireless module compatible with S-, T-, and C-mode wM-Bus, using a single-chip CC13x0 Wireless MCU running the TI OMS v3.0.1 software stack. The solution supports various metering applications, including mains-powered e-meters, battery-powered gas and water meters, heat cost allocators (HCAs), data collectors, and in-home displays.

The reference design features the wM-Bus stack developed for CC1350 and CC1310 devices. Combining a CC13x0 Wireless MCU with the field-proven wM-Bus OMS v3.0.1 software stack provides an actual single-chip wireless M-Bus communication subsystem with excellent RF performance and ultra-low power consumption.

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The design supports unidirectional and bidirectional RF communication in S-, T-, and C-modes within the 868 MHz band. Its compact size and low power requirements make it ideal for battery-powered sub-meters, including gas, water, heat meters, and heat cost allocators (HCAs).

A wM-Bus module typically includes an ultra-low-power MCU running the software stack and a Sub-1 GHz ISM band RF transceiver. These modules follow either a single-chip or two-chip approach, and in some cases, a third chip, such as an external PA or LNA, is added to increase transmit power up to 27 or 30 dBm or improve receive sensitivity. Wireless M-Bus modules simplify integration and reduce development time by handling the protocol stack separately from time-critical metrology tasks. They are often pre-certified for R&TTE (now RED) compliance.

TI has tested this reference design. It comes with a bill of materials (BOM), schematics, assembly drawing, printed circuit board (PCB) layout, and more. The company’s website has additional data about the reference design. To read more about this reference design, click here.