Smart Metering for Domestic Water Flow – Challenges and Resolutions Ayman M. Hassan Benha Faculty of Engineering Benha, Egypt +2012 3910 459 ayman.hassan@orange.com ayman.mohamed@bhit.bu.edu.eg Ali Abu-El-Magd Embedded Software Architect Orange Labs Cairo International Centers – P&S +201203081308 ali.abuelmagd@orange.com Ahmed El-Sanhoury Principal Engineer, M2M & Energy Orange Labs Cairo International Centers – P&S +201229777446 ahmed.elsanhoury@orange.com ABSTRACT In this paper, a smart metering system for domestic water flow meters is presented. The system comprises front-end readers that are attached to the legacy mechanical flow meters, and a cloud- based back-end system for data collection, monitoring and control. The paper focuses on the difficulties and challenges associated with the front-end segment, where tough requirements are imposed by utility companies. Careful firmware-hardware co- design is presented, with a main focus on the energy constraint. The processor selection and the architecture of the embedded firmware which achieves a system lifetime of 5 years yet allows daily communication is also demonstrated. Finally, the roadmap for mass production and deployment is considered. Categories and Subject Descriptors D.3.3 [Performance]: Power Consumption. General Terms Algorithms, Measurement, Documentation, Performance, Design, Economics, Reliability, Experimentation, Theory, Verification. Keywords Smart Metering, Automatic Meter Reading, Target Detection, Battery profile. 1. INTRODUCTION Egypt has a population of about 85 million, and receives an annual Nile water share of 55.5 billion cubic meters [1]. Around 85 percent of that water is used in agriculture, but a lot simply leaks away. According to [2] Egypt loses two billion cubic meters of water to evaporation, and three billion cubic meters to grass growing on the banks of the Nile and on river islands. Around 40 percent of the remaining water - used domestically and in industry (2.3 billion cubic meters) - is lost to leaking pipes and drains, while 2.5 billion cubic meters are used to generate electricity. The domestic water sector in Egypt faces many challenges. Among the approximate number of flow meters deployed, which is approximately 20 million, more than 50 % of it either provide inaccurate readings or are completely defective. This results in calculating bills according to coarse estimation, which leads to inconsistent bills and delayed payments. Furthermore, pipe leaks, tampering and un-authorized joints add to the gap between production cost and revenues. A study is presented in [3] which gives an estimate the Non-Revenue Water to be 34%. Egypt invests 3 billion Egyptian pounds yearly in the sector of water and waste matter, so the sector losses from Non-revenue water exceed 1 billion pounds (2.7 Million pound per day!) In this paper, we present and Automatic Meter Reading system for mechanical water flow meters used in domestic and industrial sectors. The system consists of a reader that is attached to the meter and is connected to a backend server through the cloud. Readers are battery-powered and are connected to the cloud through built-in GPRS modems. The backend system collects data from all meters and applies different data analysis needed for billing, tamper detection, leak detection, usage profile, and other utility-related parameters. Interoperability between system elements is achieved through Hardware-Firmware-Software co- design process. The rest of the paper is organized as follows. Section 2 presents background on AMR systems, and similar work on water metering in specific. The architecture of the system, including hardware and firmware segments, is demonstrated in section 3. Special focus on the energy management task is discussed in details. Section 4 describes the backend part of the system, and introduces the concept of mediation layer and device abstraction. Finally, the conclusion and future activities for the industrialization phase of this system is presented. 2. BACKGROUND Automatic meter reading (AMR) is a technology which automatically gathers data from energy, gas, and water metering devices and transfers it to the master station in order to analyze it for multi purposes. Data are read remotely, without the need to physically access the meter. The advantages include reducing peak demand for energy, supporting the time-of-use concept for billing, enabling customers to make informed decisions, and reducing the cost and increasing the accuracy of meter reading. AMR technologies may include handheld, mobile and network technologies based on telephony platforms (wired and wireless), radio frequency (RF), or power-line transmission. AMR for Water meters can also be used at the water source, well, or throughout a water system to determine flow through a particular portion of the system. The domestic water consumption is measured through mechanical flow meters which are generally located outdoors or within a man-hole. AMR for such meters is challenging as it implies attaching reading device (reader) to the meter. The reader should work properly under temperature, dust, rain and direct sunlight conditions, and should be completely autonomous. Generally, IP68 casing is required to ensure tolerability to such harsh conditions.