An energy company serving rural Tennessee in the US is taking advantage of satellite communications to support implementation of smart metering.

The solution chosen by Benton County Electric System is based on use of Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN). It features use of Inmarsat BGAN Machine-to-Machine service, powered by Inmarsat’s global 3G L-band satellite network.

The utility serves around 10,000 customers. It has been implementing automated metering. It had been connecting its data collectors both to the fibre optic network and to public cellular networks to order to try to achieve coverage, but still had to undertake manual readings in places. Use of satellite technology has allowed the utility to complete the roll-out of its smart metering programme.

According to Inmarsat, BGAN M2M offers advantages over standard BGAN and provides reliable, IP-based real-time connectivity, connecting monitoring and control applications in remote, unmanned locations.

To view the full article, log in here. New users can register here for free trial access, or subscribe here.