Automatic Meter Reading

(AMR)

Path to Excellence in

Customer Service

Quality, Service, Economy

AMR (Automatic Meter Reading)

AMR is a rapidly expanding process in the gas, electric and water industries.

AMR currently takes one of four forms in order of increasing capabilities and complexities asfollows:

1. Touch Read2. Walk By3. Drive By4. Fixed Base

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Touch Read System

Texarkana has used the simplest form of AMR since 1995. We have about 9,800 units throughout the system.

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Walk By System

This type of system uses a short range radio in the meter box to broadcast a signal on demand to a hand held device.

Meter box

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Drive By SystemIn this type of system a radio unit in the meter box broadcasts a repeating signal that is picked up by a receiving unit in a moving vehicle.

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Fixed Base SystemA radio unit in the meter box periodically broadcasts to a fixed unit (collector or Gateway) on a tower or pole, which then transfers the data to the billing office.

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AMR –System Selection

• Utility staff first visited a drive by system in 1993 in Alabama, but the technology was very young and very expensive. We began to use touch read registers in 1995 and to look seriously at drive-by and fixed-base systems in 2000. A utility staff panel of six developed and advertised a request for proposals for an AMR system in 2006 as a part of a more than $4,000000 project to improve the Texarkana, Arkansas water distribution system. After careful review, the panel determined that a fixed based system by Datamatic was the lowest cost, most cost effective and held the most long term benefits for Texarkana.

Quality, Service, Economy

Datamatic of Plano, Texas• This company offers walk-by, drive-by,

and fixed based solutions for automatic meter reading. Their fixed based system called MOSAIC was the panels choice for Texarkana. This system is a wireless self-healing mesh network that has two-way communications. The vendor offers a ten year guarantee on the battery and meter box units.

Quality, Service, Economy

Key MOSAIC System Attributes

– Fireflies are installed around the Gateways

FFs are electronically instructed to form a wireless

mesh network

At this stage, all reading operations arecompletely automated.

•In a MOSAIC system, collectors called Gateways are insta lled on polesor water towers in a preselected area . The Gateway s use optic

fiber, cell phone technology or radio as a “backhau l” method to send the meter readings to the billing office.

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– Walk-by/Mobile AMR CollectionImportant during deployment of a fixed base system since the systemcan function as a hybrid (use Walk-by, Mobile and Fixed in combination)until the Fixed-base system can be fully deployed.

Note: Although these are typically transitional states,MOSAIC can operate indefinitely using walk-by andmobile collection methods.

Key MOSAIC System AttributesFlexible

• MOSAIC supports Walk-by, Mobile and Fixed –base oper ationusing the same Firefly meter box unit.

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• Each Firefly is also a repeater

• Hopping– Fireflys transmit data to and through each other

on their way to nearest Gateway

– Each transmission (hop) from a Firefly carries

up to 30 messages from other units

• Directionality – Calculated by each MIU(Firefly) based on # hops to gateway & signal strength

– Messages are retransmitted by MIUscloser to gateway

– Messages are ignored by MIUs furtheraway from gateway

“ Smart” Attributes of MOSAIC MeshHopping & Directionality

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• Redundancy circumvents obstacles and interference r esulting in anextremely fault tolerant system.

• Fewer gateways are needed and less power is consume d resulting in lowerinfrastructure costs

Key MOSAIC System AttributesSelf-Healing

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• MOSAIC routes data along multiple, redundant pathwa ys.

• If any path becomes unavailable, data continues alo ng an alternate path, effectively “healing” itself.

• Fireflys (MIUs) can use an unlimited number of “hops ” to reach a Gateway.

Key MOSAIC System AttributesSelf-Healing

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• FIREFLYs store 240 days of interval data– Available on demand

• Conditions trigger FIREFLYs to transmit interval da ta.Conditions are user-defined – Conservation violations– Leaks– Usage on inactive account– Usage on fire systems

Key MOSAIC System AttributesSmart Endpoint Technology

Firefly

Water Meter

Quality, Service, Economy

Flexible gateway placementOn existing infrastructure

• Water towers• Buildings• Poles

Very small – less than 2 pounds

Key MOSAIC System AttributesGATEWAYS

Deployment Flexibility

Gateway

• MOSAIC can deliver actionable data to nearly every department of the utility!– Bill customers accurately & efficiently

(Billing & Finance)

– Monitor conservation (Conservation, Resource Management)

– Find and stop leaks in the distribution system or the customer’s system(Field Services)

– Complete virtual & remote cut-offs(Customer Service)

―Right-size meters, data supportssystem modeling & identify line loss

(Operations, Planning)

Key MOSAIC System AttributesSmart Endpoint Technology

MOSAIC supports full two-way communications

Supports software changes and updates directly to F IREFLYsNew monitoring schedules

Update meter reading schedules as seasons/conditions changeChange usage thresholds, permitted days, etc.

Requests for hourly usage profile data for customers.

Enhancements to MIU functionalityNew monitoring algorithms Support for tomorrow’s new meter registers

Updates can be…System-wide

Parameter-based (odd-even addresses, etc.)

By Customer type

All this can be done from the office without going to the meter box.

Key MOSAIC System Attributes

Texarkana, Arkansas PilotMap of Pilot Area

Quality, Service, Economy

The Arkansas pilot was placed in our distribution system’s most rural setting. The distance between meter locations was a good test of the systems flexibility.

Texarkana, Arkansas PilotMesh Network Deployment

• Initial deployment in very rural area

• Most remote & difficult part of service territory

• Issues with distance between meters.

Quality, Service, Economy

• 1500 FIREFLY Meter Interface Units(in green)

• 3 MOSAIC Gateways(in red)

• 110 repeaters

• Area shown is ≈11.5 miles x 4.5 miles51.75 square miles

Texarkana, Arkansas Pilot ProjectMesh Network Deployment

Initial Deployment Area

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12 3

45

Finished Meter Box

Texarkana, Arkansas PilotA Meter box upgrade and Firefly are installed by

Joe Cigainero, Metering Technician

Old Metal Lid Removed Meter BoxPreparedFor newring

New Ring Installed

Firefly attached

to plastic

meter

lid

Texarkana, Arkansas PilotGateways

Gateways were installed on the three area water tanks.

Gateway

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Texarkana, Arkansas PilotApproximately 110 Fireflys were installed in the Pi lot area as “repeaters”. These Fireflys were installed atop “stop sign” poles over water mains.

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VisitorsTexarkana has already had visitors from gas and electric utilities in Pakistan and the water department of San Diego, California

Texarkana, Texas PilotMap of Pilot Area

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This location along and adjacent to Richmond Road was chosen for the pilot because of the unusually long time that it takes to read meters in the area.. This is primarily because of high meter density and high vehicular traffic. Area lids are cast iron

Texarkana, Texas Pilot

The heart of the Texas Pilot will be the Firefly. The unit is an unlicensed 902-928 MHz two way radio that will form the wireless mesh network. The Pilot will include 2500 Fireflys. Over a 5 year deployment period all of Texarkana, Texas’s approximately 15,000 active meters will have Fireflys installed. Firefly

Water Meter

Epoxy Connection

Meter Register

Texarkana, Texas Pilot

Gateways

The Texas Pilot will have 2 or 3 Gateways (collectors) installed at city owned locations such as water towers, waste water lift stations, or fire stations. Gateways collect meter reading information from several hundred meters.

Gateway

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AMR Benefits

1. Increased meter reading accuracy resulting in fewer billing errors and improved customer satisfaction.

2. Reduced field time and decreased staffing levels resulting in cost reductions.

3. Additional available customer information in the office and on the web resulting in improved customer service.

4. Other information and services that will result in reduced costs and improved customer service.**

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• Supports future deployment of Remote Shutoff Valve

• Supports future deployment of PermalogTM

•Supports future deployment of distribution

pressure sensors

** Information and Services– Other benefits

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• The Datamatic RSV (Remote Shutoff Valve)

• Available as an integration with MOSAIC

• Available for 5/8” through 6” services

Remote Shutoff Valve(RSV)

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• Shutoffs & Reconnections performed from the office rather than the field.

• Financial savings; TWU performs more than 10,000 meter turn ons and turn offs each year. Most can eventually be eliminated at a significant cost savings.

• Reduce theft on inactive accounts

• Improve worker safety

• Save field resources for proactive maintenance & service tasks

• Pays for itself with only a few uses; individual unit cost is currently estimated at $200 with 100 cycles guaranteed.

Remote Shutoff ValveBenefits

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• A single 5 gpm leak in a main can waste more than 2,600,000 gallons of water per year.

• Permalogs detect and locate leaks throughout the distribution system

• Read over MOSAIC mesh network

• The entire distribution system can be checked for leaks daily without leaving the office.

Acoustic Leak DetectionPermaLog® Leak Noise Logger

Quality, Service, Economy

• Checks entire distribution system daily –leaks can be identified immediately

• Saves millions of gallons in lost, treated water

• Saves dollars in lost water revenues

• Saves man-hours that would be spent on constant, inefficient manual leak surveys

Key MOSAIC AttributesPermaLog® - Benefits

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Remote Pressure SensorsThe Utility is required to develop a computerized water distribution model to assist with certain water quality monitoring issues.. Such a model can also be used to plan water distribution system improvements. The AMR meter readings along with remote pressurereadings will provide an extremely accurate computer model of the system. Real time pressure data can also provide help with the detection of distribution system leaks.

The vendor is currently working with Texarkana Water Utilities staff to couple an electronic pressure sensor to a Firefly.

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• Web-based– Flexible deployment– Scalable

• Pro-active presentation of key info• Graphical interface of data• Tools for MOSAIC network mgmt• System performance reporting• Tools for Billing operations• Multi-level data aggregation

– Cycle– Route– Gateway– Supply point– End point

MOSAIC Software“ Back Office”

Values and graphs of water usage can be provided via internet to each individual customer

TEXARKANA AMR

CUSTOMER SERVICE FOR THE FUTURE

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