RU212878U1 - Universal self-powered radio controller for wireless collection and transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model relates to the field of Information and Communication Technologies, specifically designed for the Internet of things IoT (internet of tings) for the automation and dispatching of utilities, such as water supply. The technical result consists in automating the accounting of utility resources and monitoring the technical condition of objects and technological units, for example, for cold and hot water supply and sanitation: collection and transmission of data from water meter readings, signaling the flooding of a well or leakage, opening or closing a hatch or basement door / metering unit , air or fluid temperature, fluid pressure. To do this, a universal self-powered radio controller for wireless collection and transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors includes a chemical battery designed for up to 10 years of battery life, 3.6V Li-SOCL2 or 3V Li-MnO2, an LPWAN radio module (English Low- power Wide-area Network) for an energy-efficient long-range network with support for constant two-way communication (half-duplex) at a frequency in the range of 860-960 MHz (software limited to the ISM range, according to the legislation of a particular country), operating on a proprietary protocol as part of a software and hardware a complex that transmits telemetry data to a gateway or a base station at a distance of up to 10 km, pulse discrete interfaces for connecting to pulse water meters, including combined and two-way meters, flood or leakage sensors, hatch and door opening/closing sensors with support for NAMUR wire break monitoring, interface for connecting an external temperature sensor, inter interface for connecting an external fluid pressure sensor, a module for storing the current settings of the radio controller and telemetry data, and optionally storing archives of readings and sensor triggering events, a module for self-diagnosis, measuring battery charge and signaling a low battery charge.

Description

The utility model simultaneously belongs to the field of information and communication technologies, specifically designed for the Internet of things IoT (internet of tings) for the automation and dispatching of utilities, such as water supply.

The technical result, which the proposed utility model is aimed at, is an automated, autonomous, wireless, universal, comprehensive and reliable accounting and control of water supply and sanitation systems, namely the collection, storage and transmission of data from water meters with an impulse interface, including combined / two-way , monitoring and signaling external water temperature and pressure sensors, as well as triggering "security" sensors of flooding / leakage, opening / closing hatches, basement doors or water supply units.

State of the art

Analogues of LPWAN (Low-power Wide-area Network) radio controllers for an energy-efficient long-range network based on LoRaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT technology are known, designed to collect and transmit telemetry data from meters and sensors with an autonomous power source. The LPWAN radio controllers of these systems at the architecture level provide for the accumulation and transmission of data according to a configured schedule and extraordinary data transmission in the event of abnormal events, for example, a sensor is triggered. The main energy consumption of an autonomous power source falls on the operation of the transceiver (radio transceiver) at the time of data transfer to the LPWAN gateway (base station) and listening to the radio after data transmission for 1-2 seconds in order to receive data from the system (gateway), for example, settings transmission period, time synchronization, confirmation of successful receipt of committed data (acknowledgment). The rest of the time, the transceiver is in sleep mode (off) to save energy from an autonomous power source. Also, to save the energy of an autonomous power source, the above-mentioned LPWAN devices are provided for connection (integration) of a limited (usually no more than 4) number of the same type of devices (meters, sensors).

The disadvantage of LPWAN radio controllers LoRaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT is the lack of a technical possibility of forced polling and reading of current and / or accumulated data at any arbitrary time, since the radio controller transceiver is in sleep mode or turned off the overwhelming amount of time, according to the relevant specifications. This fact significantly reduces the functionality, ease of use, efficiency of data acquisition, including during commissioning and scheduled maintenance / diagnostics of LPWAN radio controller data.

The closest technical solution based on LoRaWAN technology is the Vega SI-11 pulse counter (https://iotvega.com/product/si11) designed to count electrical impulses coming to 4 independent inputs, with subsequent accumulation and transmission of this information to the network LoRaWAN. Any of the four inputs can be configured to be used as security inputs (leakage/flooding sensor, opening/closing of doors and hatches, and others that generate an electrical actuation impulse). The impulse counter is used to collect readings from utility meters and industrial equipment with a pulse output, such as water meters, electric meters, heat meters, flow meters. The counter is powered by a battery (3.6V, Li-SOCL2) with a capacity of 3600 mAh. This device according to the LoRaWAN specification belongs to class A (self-powered), and as a result, the transceiver is turned off most of the time to save battery. Key features include: saves non-committal data packets (packet queue, not data archives); measures and transmits the temperature inside the microcontroller, while the connection of external temperature sensors is not provided. Communication period - times 5, 15, 30 minutes / 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours; the period of accumulation of readings - every 5, 15, 30 minutes / 1, 6, 12 or 24 hours. At the same time, the more often the communication period, the shorter the battery life; communication output when security inputs are triggered; measuring and transferring the charge of the built-in battery.

The disadvantage of the LPWAN radio controller Vega SI-11 (LoRaWAN), for water supply and sanitation systems, is the counting of water meter pulses without converting to liters by the controller itself - the conversion takes place on the system server side, and as a result, there is no storage of current meter readings in liters and the ability to store archives ( annual, monthly, daily, hourly) meter readings in case of loss, damage or distortion of data on the system server. Another obvious disadvantage is the partial or complete duplication of data in meters for automated control and resource accounting systems, a fundamental requirement of modern software and hardware systems (HSS).

There is also no possibility of automatic summation of the readings of combined / two-pass water meters equipped with two pulse interfaces, for example, Groen DUAL (i), Groen DUAL (BYi), Decast STVK DG meters, of various diameters 50, 65, 80, 100, 150mm. This feature is also missing in current versions of compatible servers, for example, IOT Vega Pulse (https://iotvega.com/soft/app), Nekta (https://nekta.tech/).

Also, in Vega SI-11, the built-in temperature sensor of the controller is not enough to control the freezing (defrosting) of pipes of the water supply and drainage system in wells and basements, since the radio controller is installed closer to the manhole cover to ensure the best quality of radio communication, and communications take place in the lower part of the well at a depth 2-3 meters from the manhole cover. It is not possible to connect an external temperature sensor.

There is also no interface for connecting a liquid pressure sensor.

The analog under consideration only partially solves the problems of monitoring and accounting for water supply and sanitation systems: counting meter impulses, monitoring the operation of flood / leakage security sensors, opening / closing a hatch or door. And it cannot be used for reliable commercial water metering, since there are no current readings and archives of readings, and in the integrated automation of control and accounting of water supply units, which, in addition to flow metering, requires monitoring the temperature and pressure of the liquid in pipes using a single controller.

Implementation of the utility model

This technical result is achieved due to the fact that a self-powered universal radio controller for wireless collection and transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors (temperature, liquid pressure, flooding / leakage, opening / closing a hatch or door) using the proprietary LPWAN protocol AURA (Advanced Universal Radio ) includes: a chemical battery rated up to 10 years of battery life, 3.6V Li-SOCL2 or 3V Li-MnO2, LPWAN (Low-power Wide-area Network) radio module for an energy-efficient long-range network with support for constant two-way communication (half-duplex) at a frequency of 860-960 MHz (can be changed, in accordance with the requirements of radio frequency legislation) as part of a software and hardware system for routing telemetry data and commands, through a gateway or base station, pulse discrete interfaces for connecting to pulse water meters, including combined and two-way, flood or leakage sensors, date Hatch and door opening/closing sensors with support for NAMUR wire break monitoring, interface for connecting an external temperature sensor, interface for connecting an external liquid pressure sensor, a module for storing the current settings of the radio controller, current telemetry data and archives of readings and sensor activation events, a self-diagnostic module, battery charge measurements and low battery alarm.

In addition, the radio module, using a proprietary protocol, provides a semi-sleep energy-efficient mode of listening to the radio for incoming commands or requests for the transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors. Also, the radio controller automatically converts pulses of liquid pulse meters into meter readings, based on the data entered when setting up and commissioning the metering unit: initial and current meter readings, pulse price or conversion factor. The radio controller is configured to work with combined water meters that have two pulse interfaces (different pulse prices are allowed), with automatic summation of the readings of two flow meters, storage and transmission of data from each flow meter individually and in total. At the same time, the radio controller provides long-term storage and transmission of archival meter readings at the beginning of the year, month, day, hour, providing the possibility of deep analytics of big data (BigData). The radio controller, based on the data of the current state of the water meter (flow) at the configured time intervals, can signal the excess of the nominal or maximum water flow, warning about potential accidents / outbursts, water supply leaks. The radio controller also has an interface for connecting an external temperature sensor, with the ability to set measurement periods from 1 minute, store archives of current readings, store archives of average (integrated) temperature per hour, day, month, year; setting the minimum and maximum temperature thresholds with immediate sending of event data and recording the fact in the event log with time reference. In addition, the radio controller has an interface for connecting an external liquid pressure sensor with the ability to set pressure measurement periods from 1 minute, store archives of current readings, store archives of average (integrated) pressure per hour, day, month, year; setting the minimum and maximum pressure thresholds with immediate sending of event data and recording the fact in the event log with time reference. The radio controller supports the ability to transmit telemetry data of meters and sensors upon a forced request of an autonomous (mobile) gateway without access to the main server: current readings, settings, archives, event logs, providing convenient data provision, including for service personnel in places where access is lacking or unstable to the main server via the Internet. In addition, the radio controller supports the ability to update the functional firmware (firmware) of the controller over the air in order to correct detected errors or improve, expand the functions of the radio controller.

The radio controller as part of the PAK performs the following functions:

keeps records, storage and transmission of readings of cold and hot liquid (water) meters with a pulse interface (based on a reed switch) of various types (vane, turbine, combined) and diameters (15, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 65, 80 , 100, 150 mm);

provides collection, accumulation, long-term storage and transmission of archival meter readings at the beginning of the year, month, day, hour, providing the possibility of deep big data analytics (BigData on the server side);

warns based on the accumulated data of readings of liquid meters for a long period of time of normal operation about potential accidents, leaks;

stores archives of current readings, storage of archives of average (integrated) temperature per hour, day, month, year, using an external temperature sensor, with the ability to configure measurement periods from 1 minute;

configures the minimum and maximum temperature thresholds with the immediate sending of event data and recording the fact in the event log with time reference;

creates events/commands for other radio controllers (devices), for example, turning on heating or shutting off water with automatic shut-off valves;

stores archives of current readings, storage of archives of averaged (integrated) pressure for an hour, day, month, year, using an external fluid pressure sensor with the ability to set pressure measurement periods from 1 minute;

configures the minimum and maximum pressure thresholds with immediate sending of event data and recording the fact in the event log with time reference;

creates events/commands for other radio controllers (devices), for example, siren activation or shutdown/opening of water by automatic valves or turning on/off the pump(s).

The use of universal self-powered radio controllers for wireless collection and transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors in automated systems for monitoring and accounting for water supply and sanitation (ASKUViV) significantly reduces the cost of commissioning and installation work. One LPWAN gateway (base station) is capable of receiving telemetry data from up to 20,000 devices within a radius of up to 10 km.

Simple installation of self-powered radio controllers eliminates the need to lay wires in wells located on the roadway or sidewalk, as well as monitor the safety of these wires (torn, interrupted, etc.).

The ability to connect, in addition to water meters, all the sensors necessary for water supply systems (pressure, temperature, flooding / leakage, opening / closing the hatch / door) to one radio controller significantly reduces the cost of purchasing specialized controllers for each type of sensor.

The use of the proprietary LPWAN protocol AURA (Advanced Universal Radio) in universal radio controllers, which, due to the support of a half-sleep energy-efficient listening mode available in some modern transceivers (which is not supported in the LoRaWAN, Sigfox, NB-IoT protocols), allows you to implement usage scenarios for autonomous battery-powered devices that are not available for existing analogues, since such functionality is implemented only for devices on a constant external power supply. The most demanded scenarios of this type are the configuration of the controller using a radio channel at any time upon request from the base station. At the same time, the operating time of the universal controller, other things being equal, will not be significantly less than that of analogues (Lora, etc.), because additional power consumption in the "listening" mode will be minimal. Thus, the claimed utility model ensures the achievement of a technical result, the implementation and operation of a wireless automated system for monitoring and accounting for water supply and sanitation.

Claims (1)

Universal self-powered radio controller for wireless collection and transmission of telemetry data of meters and sensors, including a chemical battery 3.6V Li-SOCL2 or 3V Li-MnO2; LPWAN radio module for an energy-efficient long-range network with support for constant two-way communication, transmitting telemetry data using a proprietary protocol to a gateway or base station of a software and hardware complex, at ISM band frequencies, on the territory of Russia 860-960 MHz; pulse discrete interfaces for connection to pulse water meters, including combined and two-pass, flood or leakage sensors, hatch or door open / close sensors with support for NAMUR wire break monitoring; interface for connecting an external temperature sensor; interface for connecting an external liquid pressure sensor; a module for storing the current settings of the radio controller and telemetry data, and optionally storing archives of readings and events of sensor operation; module for self-diagnostics, battery charge measurement and reporting of a detected malfunction or low battery charge.