Wireless meter reading solution for the power industry

Requirement Background

At present, the electricity meters in residential areas and buildings collect meter data into concentrators for unified data transmission and control. The traditional wired method of data transmission is achieved through XPON fiber optic access network or twisted pair cables, which is relatively stable and reliable. However, the construction of the transmission network requires a large investment and the owner needs to provide necessary conditions for equipment placement and wiring, which has many limitations.

For this, an efficient, real-time, and cost-effective way is needed to achieve remote automatic reading of electricity meter data. Using wireless networks for meter reading has the characteristics of good mobility, wide coverage, and low communication costs, making it an ideal supplementary solution for wired meter reading networks.

Solution

The meters, concentrators or distribution automation equipment used for electricity generally support RJ45 network ports, which are connected to DTU through Ethernet cables and forwarded to the power LTE private network or operator network through DTU to achieve data transmission and billing between meters and meter reading data service centers.

In addition, real-time communication is maintained between the DTU terminal and the supporting terminal integrated network management, and terminal information is sent on a regular basis, as well as network information detected by the terminal. Implement a comprehensive network management platform for terminal management and operation maintenance.

Applied to power grid environment

Some regional power companies have built LTE wireless private networks for meter reading, monitoring, and remote control. DTUs applied in this scenario need to support dedicated frequency bands of 1.4Ghz or 1.8Ghz; It can achieve terminal registration and normal communication under the private network.

Compared to operator networks, power private networks have high security but weaker network coverage, so DTUs generally do not use VPN or other security encryption functions. But it is required that the terminal has good network environment detection function and can cooperate with the operation and maintenance department for network optimization.

image1.Architecture diagram of power grid system

Applied to the public network environment of telecom operators

Most of the distribution equipment in the region is connected to DTU for data transmission through the operator's public network. This method requires DTU to support VPN and IPSec encryption functions to ensure user data security and accessibility. In addition, the terminal also needs to have self traffic statistics function, so that the power company can grasp the usage of terminal traffic and facilitate the comparison of operating tariff bills.

image2.Operator Network Architecture

Features of the Solution

Stable communication qualityThe device has strong sensitivity and the ability to receive and transmit wireless signals. Support link self check function, when the wireless link drops, the device will restart the network search mode.

Industrial grade reliable qualityThe hardware circuit structure design and equipment protection of the device need to fully consider the impact of aging and other factors on the device, ensuring the stable performance and long-term availability of the terminal equipment. The device supports software and hardware watchdog, which can automatically detect the device status. When an abnormal device status occurs, it will automatically initiate a device restart.

Remote management platformThe terminal supports remote management, remote content updates, scheduled updates, and access to specific areas for updates. It has a comprehensive network management platform that can display the location, network status, and traffic of the terminal; And remote updates and management of terminal content can be achieved through the network management platform.

Report statistical analysis functionThe terminal is equipped with local storage solutions such as TF card, USB flash drive, SSD, etc., and can support remote uploading of daily reports for remote viewing through network management.

Introduction to the core equipment BI6450 in the plan

The core equipment in the plan is the industrial grade LTE data transmission terminal (DTU) independently developed by Bote Data Communication for the power industry. The device integrates the functions of LTE modem, router, and access point, providing users with secure, reliable, convenient, and flexible wireless broadband connections, remote data access, video surveillance, and other 7x24 unmanned application functions.

appearance diagram

Product Features

High speed wireless transmission:The product is based on the 4G TD-LTE international standard, supporting a maximum transmission rate of DL: 100Mbps, UL: 50Mbps, and supporting 2 × 2 dual antenna MIMO technology. The downlink MIMO transmission supports TM1/2/3/4/7/8 mode, and the uplink transmission supports single antenna port transmission mode;

WiFi supports 2R × 2T with a maximum transmission rate of 300Mbps.

Rich professional interfaces:5 FE ports, 1 RS232 serial port, 1 RS485 serial port, 2 external USB interfaces, 1 external Mini SD card interface, supporting GPS and extended I/O, meeting various mainstream data access needs.

High reliability:Adopting dual protection of software watchdog and hardware watchdog, providing multi-level link detection mechanism and automatic fault recovery mechanism, and offering wired and wireless backup.

高安全性：Supports VPN functions such as GRE, PPTP, L2TP, and IPsec.

Functional universality:Equipped with routing management, configuration import and export, dynamic domain name resolution, firewall NAT、PAT、DMZ、DHCP、 Basic functions such as multiple IP settings, link backup, and network status monitoring.

Efficient use:Traffic management technology and intelligent bandwidth allocation technology; Support SNMP protocol and customized protocol network management software, one click reset; Equipment configuration free; Support USB and SD card diagnostics.

Easy to maintain:It can support remote automatic software upgrades without the need to replace hardware or manually operate the terminal to add new features.

Customized development:Customized development functions can be developed according to industry requirements.