Sending Meter Data from Data Concentrator Unit to Head-End System via Wi-Fi

Abstract

Utility billing has traditionally relied on manual meter reading, a process that is slow, labour-intensive and prone to human error. This paper presents the design and implementation of a wireless smart-metering communication link that carries energy-consumption data from a smart meter to a utility Head-End System (HES) through a Data Concentrator Unit (DCU), removing the need for a site visit. An El Sewedy Electrometer EM101-2 single-phase smart meter exposes its readings over the DLMS/COSEM protocol, identified through standard OBIS codes for voltage, current, power and cumulative energy. A Rugged Board i.MX6UL, built around the NXP i.MX6UL (ARM Cortex-A7) processor and used here as the DCU, polls the meter over a serial link, timestamps and buffers the readings, and forwards them as a TCP/IP payload over a WLIC3000 Wi-Fi module to the HES. A Gurux DLMS client decodes the protocol on the meter side, while a Python bridge script republishes the readings over MQTT so that any subscriber monitoring dashboard, a billing engine or an analytics service can consume them in real time. A working bench prototype with one meter, one DCU and a laptop acting as the HES was built and tested for Wi-Fi connectivity, end-to-end data transfer and DLMS/COSEM decoding accuracy. The prototype transmitted readings reliably and continuously, confirming that the architecture is a practical, low-cost route to automated meter reading and a natural building block for larger Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) and smart-grid deployments.