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Automation Framework for Analog Water Meters in the City of Cañar

Abstract:

The present investigation sought to reduce the errors caused by the current method of collecting water meter readings, using a computer system for the collection and processing of data collected from analog water meters in the city of Cañar. At present, in the world there are automatic or intelligent water consumption measurement systems, which are very expensive to implement. Also, there are still analog metering systems that are still installed in third world countries because of their cost, and they have not reached their useful life. The intention of reducing errors in analog systems is based on a meta-analytical study, which allows to relate the current reality of the data collection methodology with the effectiveness of automatic systems, in order to establish a hybrid solution that allows the use of analog meters but that reading errors are reduced by implementing technology. To achieve this, we proceeded to design a reading system using mobile devices and QR code tags that were placed on each analog meter in the city of Cañar. With the implementation of this pilot plan, the costs of migrating to a smart metering system have been reduced, which didn’t affect the users or the institution in charge of water distribution. There has been a positive response from users since errors caused by human intervention in the collection of information have been reduced by 99%. At the same time, the institution has better control of the personnel who carry out the reading, which ensures that the data obtained are real and reliable.