Automatic Meter Reading Application with Real-time Monitoring and Remote Management
Application Introduction
Driven by the Internet of Things (IoT) trend in recent years, many cities have actively installed the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) system to replace the traditional mechanical meter. Because AMI uses information and communication technology to provide two-way communication, the water, electricity, natural gas, and other information collected by the digitized smart meters can be directly transmitted to the control center of the management unit through the Internet. Supervisors can monitor the users' usage in real-time and no longer need to calculate their billing by regularly dispatching staff to the site for the meter reading.
The AMI system consists of three major parts, namely: the front-end smart meter, the middle-tier data concentrator, and the back-end management system. Among them, the data concentrator as a relay station plays a key role. It is not only responsible for collecting the information and data of multiple smart meters and then forwarding them to the management system but also provides the necessary monitoring and troubleshooting functions for administrators to remotely manage. In addition, the functions required for automatic meter reading applications in different countries or regions are not the same. Therefore, system developers must carefully choose the right embedded computer to efficiently develop the data concentrators in response to the diversified customer needs.
Artila’s Product & Advantage
Artila’s Matrix-700 is a Linux-ready ARM9 embedded industrial IoT Gateway. Equipping with the 400MHz ARM processor, 64MB SDRAM, and 256MB NAND Flash allows this computer to perform multiple tasks at the same time, and to have enough performance to handle much more complicated system functions.
The Matrix-700 is quite compact (78 x 108 x 24mm), but it offers a wide range of connectivity options, including one 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port, four high-speed TTY (serial) ports, two USB 2.0 ports, and a micro-SD slot. System developers can take advantage of these interfaces to design the required functions such as using an Ethernet port to build a wired network or plugging in a USB WiFi dongle to establish an IEEE-802.11 b/g wireless connection for the system.
It is particularly worth mentioning that the Matrix-700 has UBI file system installed in on-board NAND Flash to offer better read and write performance. The computer also utilizes a 2MB Data Flash (read-only) to provide a recovery mechanism in the presence of a fault. When the system or program cannot function properly caused by the NAND Flash file system problems, the Matrix-700 will use on-board Data Flash to automatically start the system. Administrators can restore the computer without personally going to the scene.
Product Features:
The Solution Description
An Israeli company with decades of experience in measuring, reading, collecting, transmitting, and managing data is a system developer specializing in automated meter reading solutions. The company's water meter products alone have been installed in millions of units around the world, not to mention other products. In response to the trend of smart meter applications, this prestigious system developer in the international market has also begun to design remote automatic meter reading solutions.
As we all know that smart meter is a short-range communication device. Its communication range varies from tens of meters to several kilometers depending on the setting environment. As a result, the company's automated meter reading solution must add a data concentrator between the smart meter and the monitoring center of the management unit. For the data concentrator to accurately and reliably collect data and achieve real-time two-way communication, the company wanted to select an embedded Linux-based computer that provides adequate computing performance and connection interfaces as a data concentrator control core.
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