Gateway Synchronization for Fluid Meter Data Collection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current architectures for reading fluid meters, such as water and gas meters, are energy-intensive and prone to frame collisions due to their unidirectional communication and lack of synchronization, leading to excessive energy consumption and inefficiencies in data transmission.
Innovation Solution
A method and system that utilize a gateway to manage synchronization frames, allowing fluid meters to wake up only when necessary, send data during designated periods, and use multicast synchronization frames to maintain connectivity and prevent collisions, thereby reducing energy consumption and improving data collection efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If fluid meters wake up frequently to send consumption data, then data transmission reliability is improved, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway enters periodic wake-up modes at predetermined times to collect data from multiple meters sequentially. Each meter wakes up only when the gateway is in active mode and requests data, allowing periodic data collection while minimizing the time meters spend in high-power transmission state.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway sends wake-up signals to meters before actually needing the data. Meters prepare their data in advance during low-power mode, and the gateway collects all necessary data during a single periodic active phase, eliminating the need for meters to remain continuously awake or wake up frequently.
2Ease of operation
If fluid meters transmit data independently without synchronization, then communication simplicity is improved, but frame collisions increase
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway sends synchronization frames to meters in advance, informing them of the gateway's wake-up schedule and the order in which meters should transmit. This preliminary coordination ensures that when meters wake up to transmit, they do so in a predetermined sequence, preventing collisions while maintaining simple unidirectional communication protocols.
Solution Approach 2:
The gateway acts as an intermediary that coordinates between multiple meters and the central system. It manages the transmission sequence by sending synchronization information to each meter, ensuring that meters transmit in an organized manner without direct meter-to-meter coordination, thus preventing collisions while keeping individual meter operations simple.
3Productivity
If gateways remain in active mode continuously, then data collection speed is improved, but gateway energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The gateway operates in periodic wake-up modes rather than continuously. It wakes up at predetermined intervals to collect data from all meters in sequence, then returns to low-power standby mode. This periodic operation maintains data collection capability while dramatically reducing the gateway's overall energy consumption compared to continuous operation.
Solution Approach 2:
During each gateway wake-up period, data collection from all meters is performed continuously in sequence without idle gaps. The gateway efficiently browses through the ordered list of meters and collects data from each before moving to the next, ensuring that the limited active time is used maximally for productive data collection.
Data Source
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Figure 3A~3B
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for remote automated reading of fluid meters carried out in a system comprising a plurality of fluid meters, referred to as meters, each measuring a consumption of fluids and at least one gateway, each gateway being able to exchange frames conforming to a wireless communication standard with a plurality of meters via a first communication network, and to communicate with a management entity in charge of centrally processing information representing a consumption of fluids, referred to as readings, originating from meters via a second network. The method comprises, for each gateway: defining meter reading periods for a set of meters paired with said gateway, the gateway being on standby outside each period and awake during each period; successively querying each meter of said set during each period in order to obtain a reading, each meter waking up on the date that each period starts and going into standby as soon as it has transmitted a reading.