A sensor device, such as a consumption meter, has an LTE modem, a processor
system connected with the LTE modem, and a
sensor system including at least one sensor configured to sense a physical parameter and generate an output to the processor
system accordingly. The sensor device is configured to receive an activation time via the LTE network, where the activation time includes an absolute time and / or an indication of a particular LTE frame number. The processor
system is configured to cooperate with the LTE modem to time synchronize to a current LTE frame number. This can be particularly accomplished by the processor system sending a
signal on the electrical pin to the LTE modem, in response, the LTE modem outputs the current LTE frame number, and the processor system starts a
timer while sending the
signal on the electrical pin. Accordingly, by starting a
timer at a known LTE frame number, the sensor device can accurately calculate to initiate a predetermined action in synchronization with the absolute time indicated in the received activation time and the specific LTE frame number time. The action may involve performing a measurement using a sensor in the sensor device in
time synchronization with the received activation time. This provides high precision
time synchronization for a set of sensor devices, allowing the set of sensor devices to perform measurements simultaneously. This enables group measurements that cannot be achieved by the time accuracy of the internal clocks of a group of sensor devices, and this
time synchronization may be very important for certain applications, such as acoustic
leak detection in a
utility network.