Smart metering using distributed wake-up receivers

Readout of meters installed in private buildings often need a technician to be physical on-site. The readout data is manually stored in a Laptop. This is very inconvenient for the habitants of the building and very time consuming for the technician. When using a conventional radio to transmit the readout data, a battery powered device would be depleted after a few days. Listening for incoming orders is nearly as energy consuming as sending data itself. We are using wake-up receivers in the metering devices to listen for a wake-up request. Our addressable wake-up receiver consumes 2.8 μA of current and enables a coin cell driven device to be operable for several years. A handheld device connected to a notebook is used to wake-up the sleeping devices from outside the building. After wake-up, the devices turn on their main radio and send the readout data to the handheld device. With our system it would be possible to collect all metering data of a whole street by just driving by in a car and waking up one device after the other.