Water Metering and AMI

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Rosalind Lee
6 years ago
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1 Standardization of a Fast-Growing Field: Water Metering and AMI Andrew Chastain Howley

2 Current Situation AMI just beginning to take hold in USA Many AMI players Multiple platforms No definitive regulation No standard data transfer protocols No radio frequency standardization No definitive longevity tests

3 Water AMI Multiple Platforms WM Manufacturers Frequency Ranges MDM Software Neptune 450/900 MHz Itron EverBlu Sensus 956, Landis & Gyr WaterMind Elster/AMCO 952, 956, Silver Spring Galaxy Hersey I 952, 956, , Trilliant T2 Badger I 952, 956, , ESCO (Aclara) ProfilePlus Master Meter Metron Farnier Sensus Flexnet Cisco GoogleMeter icontrol Transparent Technologies MeterSense Datamatic Ecologic Mi Net, Konnex, Wavenis, Mars, Technolog, Hunt

4 Current Standards The AWWA water meter standards could be defined as compliance-type rather than approval- (or listing) type. This is because the AWWA standards define a mix of design and performance requirements but do not include testing, approvals, or product listings. AWWA can do more. IEEE. Example Task Group g (Smart Grid) Focus on Electric Grid ANSI, NERC, others

5 Water AMI is Complicated 40% of all domestic water meters in North America are installed inside of a habitation The remaining 60% of the meters installed are subterranean or buried underground Subjecting AMR electronics to such elements challenges engineers to design and package the electronics to withstand severe conditions

6 Case Analysis Analysis of other Technologies Software - Word Processing WiFi (802.11) Cellphones Electric Utility AMI Issues Solutions Possible Technology/Methodology Transfer

7 Software - Word Processing Apple Writer III Apple, Inc. Microsoft Word Microsoft PeachText Peachtree Word Perfect Satellite Software Systems Scripsit 2.0 Radio Shack Wordstar Micropro International* Many others 2010 Microsoft Word

8 WiFi Standardization This standardization of WiFi signals has been comprehensively structured IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) started to develop standards in 1997 Continuing workgroups for all new developments New development structured without making numerous previous standards obsolete

9 WiFi (802.11) 2Mbps a 5 GHz 11Mbps 54Mbps 100Mbps b g n 2.4GHz

10 Cellphone Standards Most Important Frequency Ranges 800/850/1800/1900 MHz 2100 MHz 4G Europe Issues With Meeting Demand Dropped calls Slow downloads

11 Cellphone Frequency Standards Source

12 Cellphone 0 G Single Phone 1960 Sweden 1 G Analog Japan 2 G Digital Mobile Finland 3 G Wideband Mobile Japan 4 G Broadband 2009

13 Radio Frequency Spectrum in Short Supply 4G needs a bandwidth of 100 MHz 3G needs a bandwidth of MHz 2G needs a bandwidth of KHz As more communications come online, the available spectrum will decrease. AMI needs to standardize and organize. Need to reduce interference as this will cause power drain, lower battery lifespans, and reduced range.

14 Electric Utility AMI Slightly further ahead than water utilities, but significant protocol uncertainties too Utilities Relatively risk-averse. Looking for: Reliability Affordability Clean Technology Need to beta-test much of the new technology to show it works. This is often difficult due to risk of interruptions Few long standing deployments have been monitored and analyzed

15 Reliability Batteries Reduced life when have to do more work Electronics Signal Transfer Wireless Congestion Register to Transmitter Software Single or multi-platform

16 Affordability Cost of Total System Purchase and Installation Cost for Maintenance Depends on maintenance future Time Schedule for Replacement Data requirements Life of batteries Hardware/Software upgradability Capacity of communication networks

17 Clean Clean and Green Aid to reduction of usage More accurate data More accurate pricing signals More knowledge to customer and supplier

Overall AMR/AMI many players, multiple platforms Communication Types Case Studies Licensed WiFi Corpus Christi Zigbee Cellphone Bluetooth CDMA

18 Overall AMR/AMI many players, multiple platforms Communication Types Case Studies Licensed WiFi Corpus Christi Zigbee Cellphone Bluetooth CDMA GSM Unlicensed Gothenburg Severn Trent Narrow Band Spread Spectrum Wavenis Direct Sequence Frequency Hopping Ruidoso Florida Keys Power Line TXU

19 Communication Congestion Cell towers can get overloaded GSM dependent upon number of calls CDMA, 3G dependent on usage Emergencies cause overloads High demand cause overloads New York and San Francisco (iphone usage)

20 Chairman of FCC Michael Powell, the chairman of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC), suggested that: spectrum demand is going to forever outstrip supply"

22 Water AMI Discussion Points Radio Frequency Issues Congested bandwidth Multiple frequencies High potential for increased battery usage Communication Protocols Many proprietary systems Open and closed architecture Multiple hardware and software systems Field Tests Few validated field tests

23 Reducing New Technology Time to Market Standardize communication protocols Consistent data transfer methods Reducing multiple hardware/software platforms Develop field tests and testing sites Develop monitoring and analysis methods

24 Future Developments Set up a Working Group? Need to set up working group similar to IEEE work groups. Standards Documents Literature reviews being conducted Standards committees and manuals needed Field Operation Evaluations More field deployments analyzed Flexibility Will Drive Innovation

25 Meter Reading Costs Source:

Difference Between. 1. Old connection is broken before a new connection is activated.

Difference Between. 1. Old connection is broken before a new connection is activated. Difference Between Hard handoff Soft handoff 1. Old connection is broken before a new connection is activated. 1. New connection is activated before the old is broken. 2. "break before make" connection