Smart Meters and Grids

Arqiva, working in partnership with BT, BAE Systems Detica and Sensus, has created SmartReach - the most effective communications network for smart metering and grids in Great Britain. SmartReach provides a low cost, secure and reliable way of ensuring that every home can reap the benefits of smart meters.

By 2019, every one of the UK’s 26 million+ homes is required to have smart meters installed. These meters provide customers with a greater insight into their energy use and so empower them to reduce consumption, along with their bills and carbon footprint.

They also provide utilities with a wealth of information about energy use. The policy is predicted to lower Great Britain’s carbon dioxide emissions by 2.6 million tonnes per year.

SmartReach: the communications platform for smart metering

But for smart metering to work, it doesn’t simply need new technology in every home: there also needs to be a means of communicating with the meters – a transport network – so that utilities can receive real-time data about usage. This network must be able to connect to every home, and do so securely and reliably.

SmartReach is a solution purpose-designed to provide this communications network. It combines a long range radio (LRR) network, built and managed by Arqiva, with FlextNet technology from Sensus (already deployed to 10 million smart metering end points worldwide), infrastructure from BT and security designed-in from the outset by BAE Systems Detica.

For smart metering, LRR offers several advantages over other communications technologies:

• exceptional range and capacity, providing high speed connectivity in both urban and rural areas – as proved in a recent trial programme in Reading. Download a report on the trial. This not only allows basic information about energy consumption to be sent over the network, but also enables remote end-point management.
• excellent building penetration, reaching meters in areas where mobile phone networks struggle. This not only means that a single network can serve the entire country, but also simplifies rollout: meters can simply be replaced in their existing location, secure in the knowledge that the communications network will reach them.
• real-time, low-cost communication – latency times using LRR are minimal – even surpassing expectations in the Reading trial – and the build and management costs low.

To capitalise on these benefits, Arqiva has proposed the creation of a dedicated LRR communication network for the UK. This will enable all utilities to use the same network and provide a consistent standard for suppliers to utilise – so driving down the costs and complexity of deployment. The network would use Arqiva’s existing portfolio of wireless masts and radio spectrum – meaning it can be up and operational quickly.