ZTE Corporation has introduced LoRA-based smart meters, which, the company says, meet smart meter reading systems' requirements for long-distance transmission of small data.
Three LoRa-based smart meters were launched: single-phase smart meter, single-phase prepaid smart meter, and three-phase smart meter. These smart meters are based on ZTE's mature smart meter product series and are in compliance with IEC 62056-DLMS/COSEM, IEC 62055-STS payment system, and other smart meter protocols. They do not only support the LoRa communication technology, but also support RS485, M-BUS, ZIGBEE, RF-MESH, PLC, GPRS, and other communication methods when the corresponding modules are configured.
The LoRa communication technology provides a new solution for the last-mile data transmission of the smart meter reading systems. The LoRa-based solution has several advantages over the original data communication solutions, including long-distance communication, flexible and adjustable transmission rate, great environment adaptability, and low power consumption. With these advantages, the LoRa communication technology has become the most applicable short-distance communication technology for smart meter reading systems.
ZTE's LoRa-based smart meters can reach a sensitivity of –136 ± 1 dBm@240 bps, and their power levels can be flexibly adjusted to adapt to different distances and rates during data transmission. The forward error correction (FEC) and digital spread spectrum technologies are also used in LoRa digital signal processing, and allow the LoRa communication technology to better adapt to communication environments and have a greater anti-interference capability. The LoRa communication technology also reduces considerably the power consumption of communication modules is greatly reduced, the transmit current is lower than 90 mA@17 dBm, the receiving current is lower than 13 mA, and the standby current is lower than 0.7 uA.