Automatic Meter Reading Radio Technology
Our AMR solution is aimed at meter manufacturers and meter reading companies who wish to implement a proven and efficient proprietary radio technology to differentiate their products. Licences are available on a territory and/or application basis.
Plextek offers a radio telemetry solution for automatic meter reading and smart metering, based on proprietary UNB technology. The Plextek solution is unique in its combination of long range with low power radio end points. This is achieved using narrow bandwidth digital modulation combined with proprietary digital signal processing techniques to produce best in class receiver sensitivity, even in the presence of interference in licence free bands. The radio protocol includes forward error correction, error detection, automatic retransmissions, power control, automatic base station selection and all signalling to setup and maintain data connections.
The offering comprises:
- Meter radio module
- Base stations that can each support up to 5,000 meters (for typical smart metering data loads)
Two variants of the technology are available:
- CE compliant 868MHz band system
- FCC compliant 915MHz band frequency hopping system
This technology is suitable for large volume applications where cellular based radio technology is not cost effective. The system is designed for a minimum of tens of thousands of meters over a wide area such as a city or region covered by many base stations.
Meter Module
The Meter Radio Module has an internal antenna. It can be customised for integration into third party meter designs.
Size: 75 x 55 x 7mm for standard module.
Average power consumption: <0.5W
Base Station
Each base station comprises an indoor or street cabinet mounted Base Station Controller connected to a mast mounted Base Station Radio unit. Each radio can support up to 5,000 meters and up to four radios can be connected to a controller. Base stations are positioned to create a cellular network covering the area, typically located at electricity substations.
There is a central database interface to allow control of meter connections and data messages to and from meters. This can be connected to the customer’s aggregation and billing system.
Average power consumption: <100W
