Industrial & Smart Metering
Smart metering and industrial telemetry systems require long-range, highly reliable wireless links that can operate for many years in the field without maintenance. SaberTek sub-GHz and Wi-SUN transceiver IP delivers the sensitivity, robustness, and energy efficiency needed for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) and industrial sensor networks.
Application Environment
Metering and industrial deployments often involve tens of thousands of nodes spread across wide geographic areas. Nodes may be installed in harsh RF conditions—inside metal cabinets, basements, or underground vaults—and must tolerate temperature extremes, surge events, and EMI from nearby equipment.
Network topologies typically use multi-hop mesh or star-of-stars architectures, where robust link budgets and interference immunity directly influence installation density, maintenance costs, and service quality guarantees.
Metering & Industrial Requirements
- Radio nodes operating 10–20 years on primary batteries.
- Sub-GHz operation for deep building penetration.
- Robust coexistence with other ISM-band systems.
- Flexible data rates for both control and firmware updates.
- Secure, standards-based communication (e.g., Wi-SUN profile).
SaberTek IP in Metering Systems
SaberTek transceivers such as SBR6201 and SBR6301-WSN are designed with high receiver sensitivity, narrow-band operation, and programmable modulation formats to support Wi-SUN, 802.15.4g, and proprietary industrial protocols. Low-power modes and fast wake-up support extremely low average current consumption in dormant nodes.
These IP blocks integrate fractional-N synthesizers, low-noise front ends, and efficient PA drivers. Combined with SaberTek’s data converter IP, they enable single-chip SoCs for meters, data concentrators, and grid monitoring equipment.
Recommended IP Blocks
- SBR6201 – 2.4 GHz + sub-GHz 802.15.4g/802.11ah transceiver for Wi-SUN mesh and neighborhood area networks.
- SBR6301-WSN – Ultra-low-power sub-GHz WSN transceiver optimized for battery life and low-cost sensor nodes.
- SBR7095IOT – SDR platform that can host custom industrial and metering waveforms alongside NB-IoT / Cat-M backhaul.
- SBR0162ADC / SBR0640DAC – Data converters for power-quality measurement and waveform analytics at the edge.
Network Architectures
In AMI deployments, meters typically connect via a multi-hop mesh to neighborhood data collectors, which then backhaul data to utility head-end systems through cellular or fiber links. SaberTek transceiver IP provides the RF layer for both meter nodes and concentrators, enabling scalable, interoperable networks.
Industrial sensor networks follow similar patterns, with gateway devices bridging time-critical local control networks and cloud analytics platforms. Multi-band designs using SBR6201 enable simultaneous sub-GHz metering and 2.4 GHz local networking from a single platform.
Example Use Cases
- Residential, commercial, and industrial smart meters.
- Feeder and transformer monitoring equipment.
- Tank level, flow, and pressure sensors in utilities.
- Factory and process automation nodes.