Research On Embedded Network Based Networked Automatic Meter Reading Systems

Automatic Meter Reading is a new technology which applies data acquisition, transmission and processing to water, power, and gas. With AMR, the traditional manual meter reading shortcomings can be overcomed and new hope is brought. The AMR systems are developed late in our country but progessing fast. With management revolution in the water, power and gas, the AMR research is becoming a trend.The main contents in this paper include: The first of China to bring forward networked Automatic Meter Reading systems based on embedded netowrk technology. Architectures of the systems are described in detail and applicaton circumstantially is introduced. To meet the vast need of the networking of embedded systems, a low-price embedded network implementation is very important. An 8-bit MCU based embedded network scheme is proposed. With protocol subset partition and simplify, an ENAP (Embedded Network Application Protocol) is proposed as a customized embedded access protocol. Since Embedded network and all kinds of customized embedded TCP protocols will be widely used, possible impact of those embedded TCP protocols on current Internet is analyzed. The reason why "small packet" will cause the waste of network bandwidth is explained. An efficient method is proposed to implement Nagle algorithm in the Embedded TCP protocol. Further investigation shows that additional transmission delay brought by Nagle algorithm can be eliminated by a little modification of Nagle algorithm. Network simulation with NS-2 tool is used to simulate and validate the Naglealgorithm in embedded TCP protocol. The main innovations in this paper include: Three low-cost, high-performance networked AMR solutions were developed from the Embedded Network based on 8-bit MCU technology. The AMR systems are being widely used and are nominated as Chinese National standard of AMR guild. Embedded Network was implemented on 8-bit MCU, a full intelligence property embedded network application protocol were designed. Implemented improved Nagle algorithm in embedded TCP protocol, and simulated the improved algorithm in NS-2 network simulator. Simulation results validated the improved Nagle algorithm in embedded TCP protocol.