Revolutionising Smart Meters with IoT Technology | Case Study
In a world where efficiency and cost-effectiveness are paramount, traditional analogue energy meters have become a burden. For utility companies, manually reading each meter is both time-consuming and costly. But with the rise of smart-home IoT solutions, this process is being transformed.
In this case study, discover how we partnered with Skyworks to develop a ground-breaking wireless solution that not only eliminated the inefficiencies of analogue meters but also introduced long-range, low-power connectivity to improve the smart-metering process. Our innovative solution has already helped multiple European utility providers save valuable time and resources, all while enhancing the customer experience.
Explore how this new technology is revolutionising energy consumption management and paving the way for smarter, more sustainable solutions.
Every home with mains utility provision uses meters to measure consumption. Traditionally these meters were analogue devices, requiring manual meter readings.
To collect independent meter readings, a company official had to visit each property one by one – a costly and inefficient process. We recognised this process could be streamlined and made vastly more efficient if a suitable wireless solution was integrated into the meter. With clear requirements and significant demand from several utility providers, we started investigating a suitable long-range, low-power solution for the application.
However, existing wireless bands were crowded, did not offer the required range or were too costly and power-hungry to be used for this application.
Meeting market demands with a brand new solution
We worked with our partner supplier Skyworks to develop an entirely new wireless solution. A new high-performance front-end module was specified to make use of an old pager bandwidth, which could efficiently transmit and receive the tiny pieces of data from home meters to a central gateway. Mounted into a service vehicle, these gateways could connect to hundreds of modules at a time, allowing for thousands of meter readings to be gathered every day by simply driving through residential areas.
The new front-end module was the first of its kind in the marketplace and exactly met the needs of smart-metering applications. Since its launch, it has enabled multiple European utility companies to make considerable savings in time and resources, whilst providing their customers with a better user experience. The solution has since sparked further development, and we have continued to work with utility operators to deploy meters with additional Bluetooth® capabilities.
This will allow customers to connect to their energy meters using their smartphone or tablet to see their energy consumption in real-time, enabling them to take steps to reduce it, save on their energy bills and reduce their carbon footprint.
Turning great ideas into a customer success
Using our specialist technology portfolio and a pan-European team of technical experts, we have enabled thousands of designs to be realised, pushing many sectors and markets to new boundaries. The most important thing for us is to work with you to find the right solution for your requirements.
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