An Efficient Solution to perform Automatic Meter Reading using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Abstract

The most electrical power suppliers to recruit meter readers to carry out collection of power consumption of the consumers. This activity is done manually and can provide error and cause financial and physical losses. Solutions have been proposed in the literature focusing on more efficient routes for meter readers or the use of a car to perform the task remotely, which can increase the cost and have delayed task by problems of transit traffic. To overcome these challenges and constraints, we propose an architecture to automatic meter reading (AMR) system using Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. Two main contributions can be absorbed of this solution: i) the meter readers are no longer needed; ii) reducing the time and distance to carry out the collection of the readings from the power meters. In addition a protocol that ensures wireless communication between the Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and the power meters was designed. The solution was validated and evaluated in an urban environment and the results achieved show a decrease up to 72.6% of time and 45.1% of the distance as compared to the use a car. The communication protocol can avoid at least 98.3% of packet collisions.