This setup can fit onto any Digital Meter (Be it Electricity/Gas/Water). In this project, the Digital Meter interfaces with Wi-Fi module through Arduino.
Wi-Fi module sends an encrypted data directly to the cloud database which includes username, meter-number, Meter Reading (for now) and thus He/she receives the details of their meter bill digitally reducing the paper work.
I have created an Android Application that decodes the encrypted data, and using the tariff plan allocated for the particular area, it shows the current meter reading and the bill that needs to be paid by the user per month. The data is directly being sent to the cloud, creating a database for each user, and thus the concepts of IOT can be implemented using this project in many ways.
The reason I thought of this smart meter is to take the next step towards make our nation digital and promoting DIGITAL INDIA. It’s an eco-friendly approach as this reduces the usage of paper. It will also help in reducing the man power as one can easily access one’s meter details and pay the bills online through their internet or Wi-Fi connections.
The biggest benefit of this smart meter IOT is that the smart meter that comes in the current market era costs around Rs.7000 to Rs.8000, which is not affordable by a common man. But this smart meter IOT saves thousands of rupees as this setup costs only Rs. 300 only, saving alot of money.
This is the era of smart phones. India, the second most populous country in the world, with nearly 244 million population, will be using a smartphone by 2017. Thus, it’s a cheap, eco-friendly, time-saving and digitally fit approach towards generating meter and meter-bill details by just opening an App.
This technology makes India and its people digitally progress in the 21st century.