Metering and Monitoring
Industrial automation and monitoring covers many tasks such as data collection and transfer, remote configuration and download of applications, diagnostics, control and network connectivity.
One of the largest areas has been in M2M based meter reading which is now widespread in the utility markets. In NZ and Australia the focus has been monitoring of industrial and business users and hard to reach locations but this will all change as the Victorian Government project takes shape to remotely monitor electricity in all homes.
Monitoring solutions allow collection of accurate real time information, remote update of tariffs, and early detection of faults. Technologies used include SMS, packet data (3G/HSDPA, GPRS, CDMA, and satellite). Increasingly developers are using short-range wireless communications devices such as Wireless M-Bus, Zigbee, 802.15.4,Bluetooth and WLAN to connect monitored points their systems.
Apart from utilities there are a vast number of other metering and monitoring applications such as environmental monitoring, agriculture and mining.
