The monitoring and controlling of devices located remotely from a central location has historically provided many challenges. The ability to detect a condition at a remotely located position or to exercise control over a system (such as turning a device off and on) from a central location has oftentimes been limited by the distance of the central control location from the device that is monitored or controlled. For example, monitoring and controlling devices within a manufacturing facility or a power plant may be accomplished by hardwiring the sensors and controllers with monitors and controllers in the central control room that may be only a few hundred feet away. However, hardwired monitoring and controlling of devices in areas wherein the remotely located sensors and controllers are positioned miles away from the central control area instead of feet becomes impractical due to the inability to communicate electrical control signals between the central control room and the remotely located sensor or controller.
As an example, utility meters for electricity, gas and water located at residential homes dispersed in a geographical area have historically collected data locally. But to collect that data, utility personnel have had to physically travel to each utility meter throughout the geographic dispersal of meters to physically read the meters' data.
However, in recent years, efforts have been made to develop automatic meter reading systems for utility meters such as electricity, gas and water meters that avoid meter reading personnel physically inspecting each individual meter within the geographic area of meters. Some such systems incorporate low powered RF transceivers in the meters that broadcast system information, such as consumption data. Thus, the broadcast area may be such that meter reading personnel may drive near the location of the individual meter to collect any data stored in the meter. As a nonlimiting example, meter reading personnel may drive along a street of houses with meters equipped with such RF transceivers that communicate with transceivers in the personnel's vehicle. The mobile transceivers collect and store consumption information and other data received from the broadcasting utility meters.
However, a problem with this configuration is that data is collected from an individual meter in the geographic area of meters when the utility personnel comes within the broadcast range of the individual meters at each location. While this is an improvement over utility personnel having to physically inspect and read each individual meter, the problem of this configuration is that it still relies on a human for data collection. Stated another way, the data collection process retains at least one manual step.
In an effort to move meter reading to a completely automated process, several approaches have been advanced. One proposal involves an arrangement in which communication with, for example, electric meters, is carried out using the power transmission line coupled to the individual residence or commercial location. In this nonlimiting example, communication takes place across the power line, and the central location polls the remotely located meter periodically. However, difficulties in communicating the data across the same line that carries high voltage electricity has encountered many difficulties, thereby making this approach less practical. Plus, in this nonlimiting example, other types of meters, such as water and gas meters, are not coupled to the network, due to the fact that these are separate systems. So this solution is limited, at best.
Additional attempts have included installing modems and other communication devices in the remotely located meters that couple to phone lines and other communication links in the residence or commercial location. As a nonlimiting example, such a modem may connect to the homeowner's telephone line to periodically communicate usage data and other information over a publicly switched telephone network to a modem at the central monitoring and control location. However, the problem with this proposal is that it involves other parties, such as a telephone company, for implementing the system and also suffers from a lack of priority. For example, when the homeowner is using the telephone line, the modem in the meter cannot acquisition the line. Requiring utility consumers to procure second telephone lines for meter communication is impracticable and still suffers from the fact that reliance on other parties is required.
Various types of wireless proposals have been advanced as solutions to this problem. One such proposal involves providing each utility meter with the capability of wirelessly communicating with other utility meters within a predetermined communication range. However, these wireless communication proposals suffer from several drawbacks and inabilities. For example, while a number of meters may communicate with each other due to the relatively close proximity of their respective locations, getting the data back to the central monitoring and control location has proven to be yet another obstacle. Solutions have included locating a portal or other type of data gathering device near each individual meter and communicating data back to the central monitoring and control location. This limitation has previously meant that a data gathering device must be located within the short communication range of each wireless transceiver, or that separate repeaters must be used to repeat the data from the remotely located meters to the portals so that each meter can communicate its data up the chain to the central location.
These types of solutions have also been plagued by communication problems, including bottlenecks and breakdowns in the chain. Battery and memory concerns render some remotely located meters inaccessible, thereby resulting in a system where all meters within a given geographical area cannot be included in the communication network.
Consequently, the inability to network the various geographically distributed meters into an integrated system wherein data can be monitored and also controlled from a central location has caused some of the inferior solutions discussed above to be implemented, such as requiring meter reading personnel to drive through areas where meters are equipped with limited broadcast capabilities. Moreover, the prohibitive costs associated with installing a great number of portals and/or repeaters in an area so that each individual utility meter can be networked has stymied the development of wireless automatic meter reading networks.
As a result, a heretofore unaddressed need exists to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings described above.