What are the signal transmission methods of water meters?
Equipped with a high-precision sampling module, they accurately capture water usage data. Combined with a diverse communication module, they easily enable remote collection of meter information. This data can be transmitted remotely to meter reading systems and securely stored locally for easy traceability, revolutionizing water supply management.
1.Wired transmission
RS-485 is a commonly used serial communication protocol suitable for connecting multiple devices, supporting multi-point connections and strong anti-interference capabilities. It is often used for water meters in industrial environments.
M-BUS is a bus standard designed specifically for remote meter reading. It uses a master-slave communication method and features a simple structure, reliable transmission, and low cost. It supports a variety of communication rates and transmission distances and is widely used for water meters and other metering instruments in remote meter reading systems.
2.Wireless transmission
GPRS/4G: These mobile communication technologies provide water meters with wide coverage and stable network connections. GPRS is the foundation of 2G networks, while 4G offers higher speeds and lower latency. Water meters can upload data to the cloud in real time using a SIM card.
NB-IoT: A low-power, wide-coverage communication technology designed specifically for the IoT. Utilizing narrowband cellular communication technology, it offers advantages such as deep network coverage, wide connectivity, and low power consumption. Its stable, reliable, and secure communication makes it suitable for applications requiring long battery life and wide-area coverage.
LoRa: A low-power wide-area network technology that enables long-distance, low-power communication and boasts strong signal penetration, even through buildings in urban environments, making it suitable for decentralized water meters. Water meter data is transmitted via a LoRa module to a LoRa concentrator, which then uploads the data to a cloud platform using wireless methods such as GPRS/4G.
LoRaWAN: A low-power wide-area network communication protocol based on LoRa spread spectrum technology. Data is transmitted between water meters and gateways using radio frequency signals. The LoRaWAN module in the water meter encodes and modulates metered water consumption data, sending it as a LoRa signal. The signal is then received and processed by a gateway and uploaded to a cloud server or meter reading system. This technology can be used for remote meter reading and monitoring of a large number of distributed water meters in a city. Bluetooth offers low power consumption, low cost, and ease of operation. Users pair the meter with a mobile device such as a phone or tablet, then access data and configure settings through a dedicated app. This technology is suitable for local meter reading and other functions for individual users or small-scale managers.
Wi-Fi is primarily used for indoor networks. Some smart water meters utilize this technology. Using Wi-Fi, users can easily transmit meter data to the local network, facilitating management for both home and commercial users.
Wuxi Zhongyi Smart supports multiple advanced communication methods, including NB-IoT, 4G, GPRS and LoRaWAN.
NB-IoT, with its low power consumption and wide coverage, ensures stable transmission of water meter data, making it suitable for large-scale deployments. 4G networks, with their high speed and strong real-time performance, enable instant updates of water usage information. LoRaWAN strikes a perfect balance between long distance and low power consumption, making it suitable for water meter data exchange in complex environments, fully meeting the needs of diverse scenarios. Smart water meters have fundamentally transformed traditional manual meter reading and payment methods, enabling remote collection and transmission of water usage data, as well as intelligent operations such as tiered water fee control, water data analysis, remote payment, and remote control. These smart meters effectively address a range of challenges associated with managing user water usage using traditional mechanical water meters, bringing significant benefits to water utilities, end users, and smart water meter manufacturers.
