PRIME v1.4 & changing the rules of the game The smart metering landscape is entering in to a new era filled with possibilities because of the resurgence of wired communication technologies led by PRIME PLC that offer robustness, reliability and security. El Sewedy EMG was one of the first metering solution providers to take note of this resurgence and successfully championed a modular solution with PRIME PLC as the main communication technology in Egypt’s 1st large-scale Smart Metering Project. The three deployment areas (Cairo, Menya & Assyout) in two Distribution Companies totaling 63,000 Smart meters that were allocated to El Sewedy EMG can be characterized as a complex mixture of urban, rural and Industrial areas with a combination of overhead & underground cabling that posed quite a challenge due to the high noise levels and aging infrastructure. However, El Sewedy EMG in collaboration with its ecosystem of strategic partners from the PRIME Alliance including Microchip managed to achieve excellent results in the field utilizing cutting edge PRIME v1.4 technology in the CENELEC and FCC bands. The tangible results achieved so far include the significant reduction in the number of repeaters, successful backward compatibility, lower noise levels and overcoming high attenuation, which allowed the deployment team to achieve a 99% Success Rate in its daily meter reading rates during the Proof-of-Concept and Pilot Phases. The full roll-out of the meters is expected to be complete within 2018. The highly promising results achieved in the Egypt project have encouraged El Sewedy EMG to replicate its reliance on PRIME v1.4 technology in its upcoming projects across the MEA region and Europe starting with a pilot in Ghana and KSA’s large-scale smart metering project in the very near future. These results have also encouraged El Sewedy EMG to explore other reliable and future proof wired communication platforms such as RS-485 for its Water and Gas smart metering projects, which the company is confident will offer new and exciting possibilities to utilities that are currently relying on constantly changing, costly to operate and largely unstandardized wireless communication technologies. — About El Sewedy EMG: El Sewedy Electrometer Group is one of the leading providers of Electricity, Water & Gas metering solutions and services, with facilities operating worldwide and a broad range of versatile smart solutions and products tailored to Manage Utilities Better.
Realizing the promise of Wired Communication