Automated electric meter reading and monitoring system using ZigBee-integrated raspberry Pi single board computer via Modbus

In recent years, automated meter reading systems (AMR) are being utilized in most developed countries like the United States and other European countries. The advantages these electric metering system offers make it a more accurate measuring device than the conventional electromechanical meter reading system being used in developing countries like the Philippines. AMRs capacity to automatically transmit data real-time increases the reliability of this metering system, unlike electromechanical meters which occasionally make use of previous readings as a basis of the consumer´s current billing. It also puts consumers at a disadvantage as the accuracy of power consumption readings is being compromised. The integration of ZigBee protocol in singleboard computer Raspberry Pi, through the programming language Python, has successfully facilitated the reading and wireless transmission of the voltage or power consumption of the user. Through Python, the raw data transmitted to the coordinator ZigBee is then converted to a CSV file, the data type required by the MySQL database for the received data to be uploaded in the Web site.