Description

Residential smart meters are used for billing of electricity, gas, water, and heat. The technological advancements in these smart meters are being driven by the demand from utility companies to create a smarter and more efficient grid aimed at reducing non-revenue losses. More sensors are being added to collect more data about the status of the grid including pressure, temperature, etc. There is also a growing trend to incorporate higher precision measurements with newer technologies, such as ultrasonic flow measurements, which often end up adding to the overall complexity, reliability, and power consumption. These meters are also often part of radio-frequency (RF) communication networks that can draw a variable amount of power from the system depending on the required output power of their signal.