Every utility company operating a distribution network is aware of smart meter technology and has heard the promises this technology can bring.  Richer and more frequent data streams bring better visibility into the network infrastructure and consumption patterns, which drives a host of business benefits for both the service provider and the consumer. For electricity distribution networks, smart meters can enable smart grids with distributed generation, load shifting, and help incent sustainable and renewable business models.  Water and gas utilities can quickly detect anomalies to proactively troubleshoot problems, reduce leakage, reduce operating costs, and provide timely feedback to consumers.

The technology landscape is moving so rapidly utilities need to tread carefully. New technologies, new wireless frequency bands, new protocols, new business models, and new threat vectors are emerging constantly. Smart meters selected 2 or 3 years ago may be rendered obsolete by new regulations and technology offerings. The technology is often changing faster than the operator can scale up to a network-wide deployment.

However, by maintaining flexibility at the edge of the communications network, the right choice of gateway device can incorporate multiple generations of metering technology.

So, if you’re planning your new Industrial IoT project, after choosing your smart edge devices, IoT applications, management, and dashboards, you will probably want to consider the parameters by which to select the Industrial IoT gateway solution that is right for your project size, deployment strategy and geographic spread. There are five widely acceptable criteria for choosing the right Industrial IoT gateway:

  • Open standards
  • Flexible architectures
  • Cloud technology
  • Edge Computing
  • Cheaper and more flexible hardware

The combination of these criteria is meant to enable increased efficiency and lower costs and involves new technologies such as LPWAN for IoT LoRA and LoRaWAN gateway, Industrial IoT Edge Computing, MQTT for IoT, and IoT PLC gateway for IoT SCADA. You can read more about how to choose an IoT gateway here. The RAD SecFlow-1v has all the above features. Please click here for more details. 

Contact us today to find out more about Smart Metering.