A ZIGBEE MODEL FOR TELEMETRY BASED WATER FLOW BILLING

Abstract

Water and Sewerage service providers in Kenya have encountered challenges in proficient collection of water billing data from customer’s meters. This necessitates the need to implement a proper data collection mechanism that can be implemented remotely, effortlessly, and accurately. Recent advances in telemetry now provide reliable water meter data. However no water utility has implemented a technology based, remote data collection strategy. A Zigbee WPAN-to-WAN solution for water meter data collection is thus a viable solution. This study addressed the ability to create a model, prototype and project for a water meter sensor network based on IEEE 802.15.4 ZigBee standard. The resulting mesh network allowed collection of data logged from the water meter sensors in real time remotely and accurately. The PPDIOO lifestyle approach was used to develop the model, prototype and set-up the project. Devices in the WPAN were identified using IPv6 to enable scalability. One FFD ZigBee device coordinated the WPAN and enabled multi-path forwarding of data collected to a Network Coordinator. The model, prototype and project developed in this study will serve to inform the development of Zigbee water meter networks with data collected consumed by third party software solution providers for purposes of analyzing, organizing and reporting.