HiSilicon NB-IoT Smart Water Meters

Challenges

New technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), big data, and artificial intelligence (AI) are transforming the traditional energy sector, allowing us to monitor energy use so as to ensure efficient consumption. For example, by digitizing gas and water meters and reorganizing them into networks, we can read meters remotely, which represents a more efficient and accurate solution. Measures such as tiered fees can be applied for meters which are read regularly, promoting energy-efficient usage. Remote meter reading can be implemented via wired communications and unlicensed spectrums, but each of these methods leads to its own set of challenges.

Difficulty of wired communications deployment

Costly and difficult-to-install signal cables are required for wired solutions.
Low success rate of unlicensed spectrum

When unlicensed spectrum technology is used, signals are vulnerable to interference, and can be easily blocked by building structures, leading to low success rates when reading meters.

Highlights

NB-IoT is a low-power, in-depth coverage technology that improves signal coverage by up to 20 dB, and is perfectly suited for reading water and gas meters. NB-IoT is a key 5G mMTC technology. Since NB-IoT adheres to the 3GPP standard, it is more likely to conform with long-term technological changes, making it ideal for smart meter reading. HiSilicon Boudica is a widely used NB-IoT chipset that supports NB-IoT modules with standard interfaces from a wide range of vendors. It has been applied in tens of millions of smart meters. Our Boudica 200 chipset stands out in the following ways:

Built-in MCU, for cost savings

The Boudica application core supports OpenCPU and provides numerous I/O interfaces, allowing for smart meters to be developed based on NB-IoT chipsets and modules, without requiring an external MCU. This greatly reduces the cost and size of end devices, and provides customers with more flexible smart meter solutions.
Device-cloud synergy, for streamlined development

The Boudica chipset offers built-in device-cloud synergy and security capabilities, interconnects with a wide range of carrier platforms, and supports remote firmware upgrades and secure data transmission. Its cutting-edge performance effectively reduces the development time and cost associated with smart meters and provides carriers with enhanced security and value-added solutions.