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Automated Meter Reading System - A Study

Article in International Journal of Computer Applications · April 2015

DOI: 10.5120/20440-2783

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

Automated Meter Reading System - A Study

Satish Raghul Asokan Srinivas Sujaudeen N

Palaniappan SSNCE, Anna Bharathwaj Assistant Professor,
SSNCE, Anna University SSNCE, Anna CSE
University OMR, Kalavakkam, University SSNCE, Anna
OMR, Kalavakkam, Tamilnadu 603110 OMR, Kalavakkam University
OMR, Kalavakkam,
Tamilnadu 603110 Tamilnadu 603110 Tamilnadu 603110

ABSTRACT readings cannot be taken if no one is available at the home or

Automated Meter reading systems are a invaluable where the meter is located. The current system does not
technological advancement that can lead to a better standard provide any scope for the user to conserve energy or does it
of living, owing to the fact that metering has become a part provide energy consumption predictions for near future that
and parcel of our mundane lives. It solves many issues of the enables the user to act in a more planned way. There are many
traditional meter reading system like need for human such problems that cause inconvenience to the power provider
resources, efficiency, accuracy, delayed work, unavailability as well as the consumers. Even though the conventional
of customer during metering visit by employee, etc. Moreover meters were replaced with more efficient electronic energy
it is more economical and helps to save energy in a more meters these problems still persists.
efficient and effective way. Furthermore it has a very notable Automatic meter reading system is a technology which is used
advantage of having the ability to predict the energy demands to gather data from energy metering devices and transfer it to
of the future, starting from every household to the entire a central station in order to process it for billing purposes.
planet. Automated meter reading systems have been Automatic meter reading system helps the customer and
implemented using many different technologies like GSM, energy provider to access the accurate and updated data from
ZigBee, PLC, D-SCADA, WiMAX and Hybrid Technologies the meters. AMR system can fetch energy consumption in a
that comprises of a mixture of the above. This survey paper hourly, monthly, yearly basis on request or even in Real Time.
describes the working models, strengths and weaknesses of This Real time energy usage can be seen by the users to
each technology by considering various factors like control the use of power and be more economical. With the
feasibility, cost, reliability, efficiency, maintenance and user help of the collected data the service provider will be able to
experience. This paper not only surveys the existing send energy saving ideas to the users. This kind of real time
Automated Metering systems but also provides an abstract data collected from each of the individual houses is really a
view of developing the most optimal automated meter reading boon to data scientists, who use machine learning and data
system. mining tools to build a predictive model over this valuable
data to predict the future energy demands starting from every
General Terms single house, area, city to the entire planet. Thus leading to
Automatic Meter Reader, Smart Energy Meter. sophisticated and predictive energy production, conservation
and management.
Keywords
AMRS, Smart Meters, Zigbee, GSM, Scada, PLC, WiMax. 2. METHODOLOGIES:
1. INTRODUCTION 2.1 GSM Based AMRS:
Electrical power has become indispensable to human survival Among the various implementations of Automated Meter
and progress which leads to the enhancement of the people’s Reading System the main modules that make difference are
standard of life by the introduction of automation in to energy the Automated Meter Reading Module and the
distribution and management. With the constant development Communication Module. The following systems consider the
in technology, the need of automated meter reading systems is GSM Network for Communication purposes. GSM network
also increasing. The technology of e-metering (Electronic provides a global coverage across countries thus enabling
Metering) has gone through rapid technological advancements communication to every nook and corner without the need to
and there is increased demand for a reliable and efficient implement a new communication infrastructure solely for this
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) system. purpose. Apart from seamless coverage the GSM technology
also provides services like SMS (Short Message Service) and
The traditional meter reading process involves using the GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) for requesting and
analog meters to collect the data of the energy consumed and retrieving reading from individual houses back to the energy
display it either on a number dial or a digital display. The provider wirelessly. Moreover the GSM network is a more
service provider person comes to the place of the meter and efficient, reliable and secure communication standard that is
notes down the reading at the end of every billing cycle. But being widely used for more than several years now without
the traditional meter reading process not only wastes labor any technical issues. The low cost, simple setup, wide
human power, but also is error prone. The procedures of operating distance, less human intervention are some of the
sending the bills to customer are very laborious and other salient features of this GSM based system. One of the
cumbersome. The conventional process is time consuming as implementations of this system has a GSM modem and a P2C
well. Another major problem in this system is that the

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Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

(Power to Communication) interface card installed inside it meter from anywhere in the world by using the SMS
and is interfaced externally through RS232 from which the system[1][2].Another implementation of the AMRS as shown in
meter readings are obtained. This method suggests the Fig.1 is very much similar to our previous system but for it
tampering of the existing energy meter and integrating a P2C includes a RTC (Real Time Clock) for round the clock time
interface card to it, however the tampering of the energy meter stamping even on power failure (powered by a 3V CMOS
is against the government law in most countries and could be Battery) and EEPROM to store readings history. It also has a
implemented widely if and only if the existing meters where PC with GSM Receiver at the energy provider end that acts as
replaced by the government. The SMS system is used for the billing point. AT commands set which stands for attention
requesting and retrieving energy meter readings from every terminal are used by energy meter to communicate with the
house at anytime and even for cutting off the electricity GSM Modem. Both of these systems provide E-Commerce
connection if the bill remains unpaid. The user is also features like billing, printing, etc and an interface to view and
intimated, given feedback and able to check the status of his analyze the history of all billings.[3][4].

Fig. 1 Detailed Design Blocks.[2]

2.2 Zigbee Based AMRS:

ZigBee is a collection of communication protocols used to power usage reading using information back to the energy
build small personal networks using low power digital radios. provider wirelessly. At the power provider side an e-billing
and is based on IEEE 802.15.4 standard. The range of an system is used to manage all received meter reading, compute
average ZigBee based device is restricted to 10 - 100 meters the billing cost, update the data base and to be published
and can be further extended using a mesh network of ZigBee billing notification to its respective consumer through
devices. The low cost allows the technology to be widely wireless.
deployed in wireless control and monitoring applications.
ZigBee was designed to provide high data throughput in Another way of using ZigBee in automated meter reading
applications where the duty cycle is low and low power system is a system that consists of control terminal, GPRS
consumption is an important consideration. The rate of module and user metering module. ZigBee network is for
ZigBee is definite with 250 kbit/s, best suited for intermittent short distance communication, and GPRS is networks for
data transmissions from a sensor or input device[14]. The remote communication. Clustering structure is used to reduce
structure of WAMRS using ZigBee is shown in Figure 2. the redundancy in data transmission. The software is designed
with the aim of saving energy with every communication
ZigBee digital power meter is installed in every consumer unit protocol. ZigBee devices are cheap, easy to operate and
and an electricity e-billing system at the energy provider side. consumes less energy but they are extremely limited in
The ZigBee digital power meter is a single phase digital kWh resources including processing, memory, and power. They
power meter with embedded ZigBee modem which sends the also have a short operating range[5].

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Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

Fig. 2 Structure diagram of WAMRS.[5]

2.3 AMRS Using SCADA System: to both control the devices remotely and also retrieve data
SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is a from it in a half duplex manner [15]. PLC is like any other
system operating with coded signals over communication communication technology whereby a sender modulates the
channels so as to provide control of remote equipment. It is a data to be sent, injects it onto medium, and the receiver de-
category of software application program for process control, modulates the data to read it. The main advantage of PLC is
the gathering of data in real time from remote locations in that the existing wiring can be re-used. Thus Power Line
order to control equipments. Communication can be used to transfer meter readings data to
the central servers along with the use of GSM/GPRS. The
SCADA refers to the combination of telemetry and data data from every meter is collected using PLC. This data is
acquisition. SCADA includes the collecting of the information then transferred to a central server using GPRS connectivity.
via a RTU (remote terminal unit), PLCs (programmable logic The server in turn feeds the data to service provider’s billing
controllers) and IEDs (intelligent electronic devices), servers thus creating a totally automated and reliable
transferring it back to the central site, carrying out any measurement and billing infrastructure. Value added services
necessary analysis and control and then displaying that can be used to send alerts for prepaid users, SMS facility to
information on a number of operator screens or displays. The switch off gas supply, alerts on gas leak detection and
D-SCADA control algorithm and distribution security automatic switching off gas supply, credit card payment
monitoring is demonstrated in Fig 3. A system using SCADA facility.
isolates and precisely locates faults and optimise for energy The communication between concentrator and collectors is
saving. Centralised monitoring and control to manage done using Power Line Carrier(PLC) as shown in Fig 4. A
multiple facilities from a single location and remote software collector is used to store and process the data from different
administration for better control is possible. Systems using electric meters with the supervision of the concentrator. A
SCADA are prone to network attacks[6]. concentrator sends commands to collector to receive meter
readings periodically.
2.4 AMRS using Power Line
Communication:
Power Line Communication Systems use the existing power
cables as a communication medium. This ultimately allows us

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Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

Fig. 3 AMR based distribution security monitoring and D-SCADA control algorithm.[6]

The two major factors causing PLC meter readings unstable to 40 megabit-per-second data rates. WiMAX supports
are the electric network signal attenuation and random mobile, nomadic and fixed wireless applications. WiMAX
interference. Because of the attenuation, wave carrier reading brings with it the ability to transmit over far greater distances
system cannot read meters reliably if there isn’t any relay or and to handle much more data.
anti-attenuation techniques. The existence of random
interference equals to increasing the attenuation of the electric The reading unit identifies the disk rotation of the energy
network and decreasing the receiving sensitivity, if the meter and the data is stored in a microcontroller. So it is not
sensitivity of the meter reading device is constant. This affects required to change the current analog energy meter. An
the meter reading system severely. A system using PLC can external module is added with the current energy meter. In the
make use of existing electrical wires and has a better communication unit WiMAX transceiver is used for wireless
communication range than wireless communication. PLC is communication between meter end and the server end because
easy to install and maintain. It cannot consistently read the of its wide coverage area. In the data receiving and processing
data. The long term interference on the electric network unit meter reading is collected from the transceiver which is
causes the household appliances to over-heat, motor output controlled by another microcontroller. There is a computer
decreasing etc[7]. application that will take the data from the microcontroller.
This will also help to avoid any tampering or break down of
2.5 AMRS using WiMAX Technology: energy meter. The conceptual diagram of the proposed system
WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access)
is a wireless communications standard designed to provide 30

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

Fig 4.Block Diagram of AMRS Using Power Line Communication.[7]

in shown in Fig 5.This system is cheap, flexible and supports get the digits out.C328R serial VGA Camera is placed in front
high speed data transfer over long distances. WiMAX has of the energy meter to capture images which is transferred to
security vulnerabilities in both PHY and MAC layers, the server where the characters and numbers are recognized.
exposing to various classes of wireless attack including This also avoids tampering of energy meter. For extraction of
interception, fabrication, modification, and replay attacks. digits from the whole image only the digits plate is cropped. It
Weather conditions like rain could interrupt the signal. Other undergoes preprocessing such as RGB to grey, B/W image &
wireless equipment could cause interference[8]. then each digits are segmented. After this, each digit
undergoes the process of grid technique to find the value of
2.6 Mixed Type this digit with previously stored digits in database & numbers
The following system automates the meter reading process by are recognized easily. This reading gives the current meter
capturing images of the Energy meter and transferring them to reading. Use of Matlab renders the system costly. The system
Customers using ZigBee technology. It generates the bill and consumes less power but has a short range and low data
sends the current reading and previous meter reading as a speed.[9]
SMS to the customer. Matlab is used to process the image and

Fig. 5 Conceptual Diagram of proposed AMR.[8]

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

The following provides two variants of the automatic meter with GSM modem. It consists of energy measuring unit for
reading system using ZigBee and GSM: 1.PIC tamper detection, relay control unit for remote switching of
Microcontroller to count the pulses generated by the metering the system, wireless communication module for data
IC.2.Wireless Sensor Networks(WSN) to detect, process and transmission and utility control center at the server side to
store sensor output. collect data, process and send SMS to customer. The system
reads the input pulses and after counting specific number of
In the first system, the metering IC creates the output in the pulses it increments the internal counter by one which
form of pulses which are counted using the default timer of indicates the number of units consumed. ARM controller
PIC microcontroller unit. A TTL inverter circuit is used to sends the no of units to the UART, which is then sent to the
reverse the produced pulse before applying to the counter. The GSM Modem. The GSM modem sends this data to the service
PIC microcontroller is programmed using software interfacing provider using SMS. User’s supply can be disconnected
for reading the data from the metering IC. The technology remotely in case of unpaid bills. Data collection and
used to send data to the Base station is ZigBee which in turn manipulation task is made fast and easier.[12]
uses GSM modem to communicate with Main EB Station.[10]
The final system under mixed type consists of a remote
In the second system, the sensor network consists of multiple control terminal, a GPRS module and a user metering module.
detection stations called sensor nodes (contains transducer, .User meter reading module consists of three parts namely
microcomputer, transceiver), each of which is small, intelligent instrument data acquisition module, data storage
lightweight and portable. The transducer generates electrical and data transfer module. The data collected is buffered and
signals based on sensed physical effects and phenomena. The sent to the remote terminal through wireless network. The
microcomputer processes and stores the sensor output. The network structure of remote AMRS in shown in Fig 6.The
transceiver receives commands from a central computer and function of communication of GPRS module in short distance
transmits data to that computer. Finally all the data is sent to uses the CC2430 chip and remote communications uses
the main station that broadcast messages of bills of individual SIM300 chip. To reduce the redundancy in data transmission,
houses, due dates for payments, confirmation of bill clustering structure is used. ZigBee network is used for short
payments. distance communication, and GPRS is used for remote
WSN eliminate a lot of wiring which is not in the case of PIC communication. They can combine with each other, through
microcontroller which requires a lot of wires. Wireless Sensor the network’s gateway to achieve a user meter copying to
Networks are very expensive compared to PIC’s. WSN is not control and transfer in distance. This software is designed
secure. On the other hand, there is no major security concern with the aim of saving energy with every communication
in PIC.PIC have more complex architecture compared to protocol. This system is inexpensive, works with water,
WSN.[11] electricity and gas meters and is greatly secure. The capacity
of the buffer area of data, affect the quality of sending and
The automation of meter reading is achieved using GSM and receiving. It does not support remote termination of the
ARM Controller. The system uses ARM processor to process supply[14].
the input data, compute the bill and UART for data exchange

Fig. 6 Network Structure.[14]

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 International Journal of Computer Applications (0975 – 8887)
Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

3. COMPARISON

Table 1. Consolidated Comparison of all the Systems

Technology Communication
Cost Feasibility Reliability Coverage
Used Protocol
GSM Low Most Feasible High High Stable
ZigBee Medium Small Scale Low Low Least Stable
SCADA High Not Feasible High Low Stable
PLC Low Least Feasible Low Very High Very Stable
WiMAX Medium Small Scale Medium Low Stable
Feasible if GSM High if GSM
Mixed Varies Varies Varies
is a part of it is a part of it

[2] Ashna. K,Sudhish N George, ”GSM Based Automatic

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Though many have tried implementing a country wide
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have hindered its development. At least in near future, the ”Automatic Energy Meter Reading using Smart Energy
cost involved in the building of this system could be Meter”.
minimized by using more efficient technology and
commercializing it by production in a large scale thus [4] Abhinandan Jain,Dilip Kumar,Jyoti Kedia, ”Design and
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Volume 116 – No. 18, April 2015

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