Low Power Wireless Networking with Slow Topology Dynamics for Smart Metering Infrastructure

A hot topic nowadays, and a typical requirement in city wide meter deployment, is remote readout of consumption data. Back in the good old days there were no hard requirements on the remote availability of meters, but the emerging requirements of tariff billing and infrastructure surveillance such as pipe leakage, power failures, etc. are becoming more and more important when running a utility infrastructure. This project aims to pursue new ideas for the wireless communication network providing the Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) between a meter and the system operator. The main motivation is to fulfill the emerging range requirements in static deployed networks, to allow for lower infrastructure deployment and operation cost. The main focus is on designing receiver structures for the infrastructure components, receiving from battery equipped, low-power heat/water/gas meters.