Using smartglasses for utility-meter reading

Abstract

Despite the increasing adoption of smart meters, especially for electrical power measurements, a very large number of utility inspectors manually execute readings of legacy analog meters (e.g., for gas or water utilities). Unfortunately, manual data collection generates a lot of paperworks and is clearly error prone. In this work, authors suggest the adoption of smartglasses to automatize this process. In particular, the embedded camera is used for barcode scanning (in order to identify the user) and for recognizing the meter dial values. The availability of an Internet connection finally allows for exploiting cloud-based repository solutions. In that way data can be easily accessed from both utility employees and customers using simple web services. A preliminary prototype based on the Vuzix M100 device has been realized. Some tests have been carried out, confirming the feasibility of the proposed approach.