The state-of-the-art method for acquiring the water reading being currently used by the water companies is the IoT reading. To acquire data in this way, no reader service is required, who must contact customer and read physically the figure in the water meter in case of standard and physical reading. The water company instead installs smart IoT reading heads to the required points of supply, and the heads regularly for six years (up to 20 times a day) read the figure of the water meter and transmit it automatically to the SMG Server. In this way, the water company saves work of the readers and gets always updated and exact data on water consumption level and in addition, it is informed in real time about potential alarm conditions (e.g., freezing or flooding of the water meter).
IoT.water reading heads
IoT.water reading heads can communicate via several various IoT networks: NB-IoT, Sigfox, and LoRaWAN. Depending on data transfer configuration, the built-in battery life is up to 6 years. The configuration of the reading head occurs after physical
installation to the water meter using a user-friendly application. Immediately after installation and configuration, the reading head reads the figure of the water meter and send the acquired data to SMG Server where data may be viewed.
Integration with third-party manufacturers and systems
In case the water company has already an existing fit-out device for remote reading from other manufacturers, the SMG Server is ready to receive and process data from the reading heads by third parties or from external systems.
At this point, SMG Server supports full integration (i.e., fitting, operation, and diagnosis of the reading devices fully coordinated by the SMG Server) of the following types of the reading devices:
- IoT.water NB-IoT/LoRa/Sigfox reading heads for Sensus/Itron water maters
- Solidus Tech NB-IoT/LoRa reading heads
- Softlink reading device Diehl
- Hydrus smart water meters
In addition, the SMG Server is ready to integrate with the following external reading systems:
- Softlink CEM
- Sensus FlexNet
- Diehl Metering IZAR PLUS
Data from the external systems are acquired using the existing REST API interface or other standard methods for structured data transmission.
Therefore, the SMG Server is a central collection point for the water company’s remote reading. It receives data both from reading devices as well as some various external reading systems. The SMG Server performs processing to standard and unified form and the SMG Client presents them to the user in a clearly arranged table and graphical format. Hence, the water company may effectively administer the installations of the reading devices and diagnose the data transfer.
Owing to the use of native installation applications, the position of the installed reading head is recorded in the course of installing, and saved to the SMG Server with the fitting attributes. It is further possible in SMG Client to work with map displays and visualize the currently installed reading heads on a clearly arranged map base.
Data transfer to the ZIS is-USYS®.net system
The ZIS is-USYS®.net is a customer system widely used by the water companies for (among others) collection of the reading data and followed billing. The SMG Server is fully integrated with the system, and the deployment of the so-called Smart Metering allows transmission of received reading data and alarm data in real time from any data source directly to the ZIS system. A correct register of all installed reading devices is being built in the ZIS system, and the water company may generate on one click all required invoices with accurate reading old not more than a couple of hours without the need of physical reading.
