Development of a LORA based tamper monitoring system for utility meters

Abstract

Electricity crisis has become a serious issue due to the high rate of load growth in the recent years. Approximately 180,000 new customers are connected to the grid each year and this brings about a challenge in load management to the utility. This makes monitoring of meters hard hence a number of customers resort to power theft. The project document proposes the technical development of a Lora based system for monitoring utility meters. The proposed solution seeks to develop a device prototype with ability to detect prepaid meter tampering scenarios including magnetic, opening and displacement among others and be able to report them to a centralized system via Lora technology. A 433 MHz E32-433T30D matched Lora pair is being proposed to be used with a maximum link distance of up to 8 KM to offer the communication medium. The real time tamper detection and reporting system is meant for use in Yaka prepaid domestic meters case as subsequently termed by UMEME, the utility service provider. The acquired information is collected to a developed web application database and the Graphic user interface display location and method of meter tampering. And once a tamper is detected, power is automatically from the customer.