Background

Sydney Water is the largest water and wastewater service provider supplying water, wastewater, recycled water and some stormwater services to more than five million people in Sydney and other regions in Australia. To improves billing equity for water use in multi-level buildings, Sydney Water introduced the new rules for the individual metering of units for new multi-level buildings and started the Multi-Level Individual Metering (MLIM) project to install individual unit meters.

In the project, InHand Networks partnered with Itron Australia, an Accredited Metering Supplier approved by Sydney Water, to provide a turn-key solution for the MLIM system. Major system requirements are: 

• Supply Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) metering system which transmits individual meter reading data directly to Sydney Water via wireless networks 
• Reliable wireless data communication between water meters and Sydney Water for accurate billing 
• Rugged design and flexible installation

Cellular Communication for Sydney Water's Metering System

Itron/Sydney Water Cooperation utilizes EverBlu Data collectors to collect readings directly from individual unit water meters installed in multi-level buildings in Sydney. Such data was then transmitted to an EverBlu Access Point which is installed in a central location of each district.

To ensure that the meter readings in the EverBlu AP are sent to Sydney Water wirelessly, Itron’s Advanced Meter Infrastructure (AMI) system uses InHand InRouter600 industrial wireless router to transmit the data from up to 1,200 meters to the data center securely.

The complete wireless metering system allows Sydney Water to receive all individually read meter data form different building and then bill each customer for their water usage, which greatly increases efficiency and billing accuracy.

Advantages

InRouter611 Industrial Wireless Router