ADDIS ABABA SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY UNIVERSITY
College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
BSc program in industrial control engineering stream
Stream: -Control
Course Name-Semester Project
Title: -Prepaid Smart Meter Billing System Design for Water Supply
By: Group Members ID Number

1. Biniam Tadesse ETS0272/07

2. Belayhun Birhane ETS0216/07
3. Chilot Damte ETS0322/07
4. Amanuel Mitiku ETS0142/07
5. Amanuel Desta TETS006/07

Advisor Dr. Adhavan Balashanmugham

Addis Ababa Ethiopia
June, 2018
ACKNOWLEGMENT

First of all, thanks to God for each and every success throughout our project and the
entire life as well. We would like to express sincere gratitude to our Advisor Dr. Adhavan
Balashanmugham, Associate professor, Electrical Power and Control Engineering Program for
his direction, assistance, and guidance, supporting information, as well as encouraging for doing
Our Project and allowing us to grow as an Engineer. We would also like to thank Electrical and
Electronics Engineering department, students specially Demetros Aschalew for giving his effort
to help us and all the lab assistance for their numerous suggestions and supporting information.
A special thanks to our family for all of the sacrifices that they have made on our behalf.

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ABSTRACT
A range of adaptive strategies are needed to mitigate the growing threats to water security. this
project evaluates the evidences for the effectiveness of water consumption feedback technology
in promoting water saving behavior and the billing system. Most people need to have simple
and easily accessible mechanism for solving their entire problem. And, this project concentrates
on implementation of metering system of water in a smart way. There are different things which
can have an information to gather about the analysis for paying the customer by online meter
reading. As a project, we aim to handle the problem come from the working principle of the
meter system.

Keywords: Microcontroller, Prepaid, Recharge, Solenoid valve, smart card, sensor.

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 Table of Content

AKNOWLEGMENT .......................................................................................................................................................................... i

ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................................................... ii

LIST OF FIGURE ................................................................................................................................................................................vi

ACRONYMS ........................................................................................................................................................................................ vii

CHAPTER ONE ................................................................................................................................................................................. 1

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 1

1.1 BACKGROUND ........................................................................................................................................................................... 1

1.2 STATMENT OF THE PROBLEM.............................................................................................………………………………. 2

1.3 MOTIVATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 3

1.4 OBJECTIVE .................................................................................................................................................................................. 3

1.4.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 3

1.4.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3

1.5 SCOPE OF THE PROJECT……………………………………………………………………………………………………………..3

1.6 LIMITATION…………………. ..................................................................................................................................................... 4

1.7 DELIMITATION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 4

CHAPTER TWO ............................................................................................................................................................................... 5

LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................................................................. 5

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................................................................................................... 5

2.1.1 TYPE OF METERING DEVICE…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 6

2.1.2 IMPLEMENTING STATIC METER…………………………………………………………………………………………… 10

2.1.3 PAYMENT METHODS……………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 11

2.1.4 PAYMENT SOLUTIONS………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 12

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2.2 METHOD…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 13

2.3 MATERIAL USED……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 14

2.3.1 ARDUINO ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14

2.3.2 LIQUID CRYSTAL DISPLAY(LCD) ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 14

2.3.3 SOLENOID VALVE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 14

2.3.4 CARD READER………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………….. 15

2.3.5 RESISTANCE…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………….. 15

2.3.6 BUZZER……………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………… 16

2.3.7 LED………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

2.3.8 BATTERIES…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 17

2.3.9 RTC………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

2.3.10 ULTRASONIC WATER FLOW SENSOR….…………………………………………………………………………………. 18

2.3.11 POTENTIOMETER………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….18

CHAPTER THREE ........................................................................................................................................................................... 19

METHODOLOGY USED................................................................................................................................................................. 19

3.1.1 INTRODUCTION ………........................................................................................................................................................ 19

3.1.2 PLANNING .............................................................................................................................................................................. 19

3.1.3 DATA COLLECTION ............................................................................................................................................................. 19

3.2 DESIGN SPECIFICATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

3.3 SOFTWARE REQUIREMENT………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 21

3.3.1 PROTEUS SOFTWARE……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 21

3.3.2 ARDUINO UNO……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 21

3.3.2.1 FEATURES OF ARDUINO………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 21

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CHAPTER FOUR .............................................................................................................................................................................. 23

DESIGN AND ANALYSIS………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

4.1 INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

4.2 BLOCK SIMULATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 23

4.2.1 LCD SIMULATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 23

4.2.2 RTC SIMULATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 24

4.2.3 ULTRASONIC SENSOR SIMULATION………………………………………………………………………………………… 25

4.2.4 SMART CARD READER SIMULATION……………………………………………………………………………………… 26

4.3 OVERALL SYSTEM SIMULATION………………………………………………...………………………………………………. 27

CHAPTER FIVE ................................................................................................................................................................................ 30

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION............................................................................................................................. 30

5.1 CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................................................................. 30

5.2 LIMITATION……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 30

5.3 FUTURE WORK…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31

5.4 RECOMMENDATION…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 31

REFERENCES ..................................................................................................................................................................................... 32

APPENDIX ........................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

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LIST OF FIGURE

FIGURE 2.1 DISPLACEMENT WATER METER……………………………………………………………………………………..7

FIGURE 2.2 VELOCITY WATER METER.……………………………………………………………………………………………..8

FIGURE 2.3 TURBINE WATER METER……………………………………………………………………………………………… 8

FIGURE 2.4 COMPOUND METER……………………………………………………………………………………………………… 9

FIGURE 2.5 ELECTROMAGNETIC FLOW METER……………………………………………………………………………….10

FIGURE 2.6 BLOCK DIAGRAM OF PREPAID METERING SYSTEM....……………………………………………………. 12

FIGURE 2.7 ARDUINO UNO……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14

FIGURE 2.8 LCD DISPLAY………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 14

FIGURE 2.9 SOLONOID VALVE…………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 15

FIGURE 2.10 CARD READER.…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15

FIGURE 2.11 RESISTANCE….…………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 15

FIGURE 2.12 BUZZER……….…..………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16

FIGURE 2.13 LED…………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

FIGURE 2.14 BATTERY…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 17

FIGURE 2.15 REAL TIME CLOCK...…………………………………………………………………………………………………… 18

FIGURE 2.16 ULTRASONIC FLOW METER…………………………………………………………………………………………18

FIGURE 2.17 POTENTIOMETER……………………………………………………………………………………………………….18

FIGURE 3.1BLOCK DIAGRAM OF SYSTEM DEVLOPMENT LIFE CYCLE……............................................................19

FIGURE 3.2 FLOW CHART OF SMART WATER METER SYSTEM.................................................................................20

FIGURE 4.1 LCD SIMULATION.……………………………………………………………..…………………………………………..23

FIGURE 4.2 RTC SIMULATION…………………………………………………………………………………..………………………24

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FIGURE 4.3 ULTRASONIC SIMULATION ..………………………………………………………………………………………….25

FIGURE 4.4 SMART CARD SIMULATION…..………………………………………………………………………………………. 26

FIGURE 4.5 SYSTEM SIMULATION WITH VALVE………………………………………………………………………………. 27

FIGURE 4.6 SYSTEM SIMULATION WITH OPEN VALVE…….……………………………………………………………… 28

FIGURE 4.7 SYSTEM SIMULATION WITH CLOSED VALVE………………………………………………………………… 29

ACRONYMS

LED – Light emitting diode

R – Resistor

PCB – Project Circuit

AMR - Automated Meter Reading

ACEEE – The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy

AMI – Automated Meter Infrastructure

LCD – Liquid Crystal Display

MCU – Microcontroller Unit

RAM – Random Access Memory

RTC – Real Time Clock

ADC – Analog-to-Digital Converter

GWM – Global Water Partnership

RFID – Radio Frequency Identification

IWRM – Integrated Water Resource Management

SCL- Serial Clock

SDA-Serial Data

SDLC – System Development Life Cycle

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 CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND

Conserving water is becoming increasingly important in the world as it faces a widening gap
between ever reducing water supplies due to climate change, inefficiencies in agriculture, poor
water governance, industrialization, urbanization and increased demand from population growth.
Water conservation means using less water as well as using alternate sources of water. Today’s
integrated programs embrace the use of water efficient appliances and technologies. Through the
use of control systems, a far better water utilization is achieved. Automatic leak detection and
monitoring systems permit to identify and then fix leaks, and even cut off the flow. Incentives and
tighter regulation are yet another component. A water smart-meter is an electronic device designed
to record water consumption for the utility company and the user. Where traditional water meters
are typically read manually in monthly or yearly intervals, smart-meters record consumption in
real-time or near real-time, and communicate this information to the utility and consumer. This
affords instant up-to-date information on consumption, with the advantages of accurate, site-
specific readings, easier and faster identification of leaks and water waste, and greater consumption
transparency for the consumer. smart meters are expected to result in reductions in water
consumption. One key way in which smart meters can be used to promote water savings is by
using the data recorded and transmitted by smart meters to provide frequent feedback to consumers
about their water consumption. However, it is important to examine whether such feedback is
effective in changing consumer behavior Smart water metering for the water industry will extend
beyond the capability of Automated Meter Reading’ (AMR). Smart water metering is expected to,
as a minimum, establish more water usage data, two-way communications between the water
utility and the water meter. With respect to a customer’s household, smart water metering could
enable:

 Recording of water consumption within a day;

 Remote meter reading on a scheduled and on-demand basis;
 Notification of abnormal usage to the customer and/or the water utility;
 Control of water consumption devices within a customer’s premise;
 Messaging to the customer; and
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  Customized targeting of segments

As drought and population growth sharpen the focus on water issues, utilities, environmental
groups, and government bodies are increasingly looking to Smart Metering to:
Help customers better understand their water use and curb waste.
 Underpin new rate and regulatory programs that respond flexibly to community water needs.
This project helps water utilities, regulators, and policymakers understand the ways Smart
Metering can contribute significantly to water sustainability. It also illustrates many of the ways
technology, middleware, and software help maximize the value of Smart Metering data to all
stakeholders.

Smart metering enable:-

 At the customer site: an easy to read display. It helps customers check for leaks, reduce
consumption, and monitor compliance with local restrictions.
 At the utility: additional data collection and processing software, such as a meter data
management application. This isolates the existing billing system from the increasing meter data
volumes that smart metering introduces.

1.2 Statement of the problem

The waste and loss of water is a major concern, thereby a way to reach maximum water
efficiency is a must by determining the present and future leakage through embracing the feature
of feedback and communication. Another important part for the utility is to be ready for future
warnings such as high demands and loads for different areas and this can be achieved by analyzing
big data through using forecasting and prediction techniques and there are other different problems
of statements that we motivated to pick this type of idea

 billing system is mandatory for paying the monthly consumption and this thing kills time
and energy.
 People who can’t pay at the right time due to aging, disease and deficiency of energy.
 People makes grievance for paying over expense for their consumption but the
government has not response for this because of the reading can’t change may be they
prevent for the next by cleaning it.

1.3 Motivation.
A smart water meter provides an interface between the utility and the customer. Successfully
implemented, this meter will benefit the customer as well as the water utility in the following
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 ways:
• The device will show the remaining balance so that the consumer knows how much he
has consumed and when he needs to refill the account.
• The utility companies will have a better idea of water demand. This will help them to
plan ahead.
• The utility companies would be able to collect the expenses from customers in advance,
so they will no longer have to deal with late payments.
• Since the meter will send daily consumption data to the utility company; it will help
reduce water bypass and determine water leakage.

People usually need to get new interesting thing for simplify their work and we seek to find
different problems. Finally, we are inspired on looking out electrical smart metering system
and we think how can implement the smart water metering system to the society? And this
system is not applicable here in Ethiopia and we just find out some mechanisms to interact
with the billing system of relating to consumption of the servant. We were going to interview
some peoples about the problem for finding solution and their response were inspired for
this system and they want to have it if it is implemented this were the beginning of our idea.

1.4 Objective
1.4.1 General objective
 To design the smart meter system for encouraging people to use credit cards for prepaid
water supply billing meter.
 To find out a solution by converting the manual metering system to simple to pay and
easily accessible smart metering system.
 To measure water consumption accurately
 To display real time account balance
 To cut water off when there is zero credit on the account.
1.4.2 Specific objective
 To have a mechanism of understanding the credit card on this system.
 To connect the concept of micro controller to the sensor and find out new solution.
 In order to simplify the billing system this gives the customer can save his/ her water
because he/she knows the money that they spend on it.
 To decrease water consumption throughout the country.
 To minimize the tiredness of people to bill monthly consumption.
1.5 Scope of the project
This project is a smart water meter system using a microcontroller or Arduino to achieve the
desire objectives. To utilize this project, we used different theoretical analysis principle from the
previous control courses like
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  Microcontroller and Interface

 Embedded system

Electrical machine

Measurement and instrumentation system and other basic concepts for the sake of the project

Basically the machine has a microcontroller, sensor and small motor. The operation of the
motor is to open and close the water pipe line under the control of microcontroller.

The main scopes of the smart water meter are listed below

 Design and modelling smart water meter using the Proteus software.

The simulation study and analysis the performance of the smart water meter is studied
using Proteus.

1.6 Limitation
The project hardware is not implemented
Mathematical modeling is not included

1.7 Delimitation
 It can have implemented whenever the material will get.
 The c code is written on the microcontroller chips in Proteus software and the base of
this system is the code so it can implement easily in hardware.
 It’s low power consumption.
 It is used to save the water for the future use. We can save the energy due to the actual
usage of water
 Accurate meter reading, no more estimates
 Improved billing
 Accurate profile classes and measurement classes, true costs applied
 Improved security and tamper detection for equipment
 Energy management through profile data graphs
 Less financial burden correcting mistakes
 Less accrued expenditure
 Transparency of “cost to read” metering
 Improved procurement power though more accurate data - “de-risking” price
In cases of shortages, utility will be able to manage/allocate supply.

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 CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW

Water meters are used to measure the volume of water used by residential or commercial buildings
that are supplied with water by a public water supply utility. It is also, very useful in finding water
leaks. It operates by continuously measuring the incoming water volume subtracts it from the
available gallons or cubic meters and then displays the remaining volume. The difference between
a conventional water meter and a smart (intelligent) water meter is that in smart water meter there
is an on-going monitoring an evaluation of the use of water by the utility company.

The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) reviewed more than 36
different residential smart metering and feedback programs internationally. This is the most
extensive study of its kind. Their conclusion was: “To realize potential feedback-induced
savings, advanced meters [smart meters] must be used in conjunction with in-home (or on-line)
displays and well-designed programs that successfully inform, engage, empower and motivate
people.

The Global Water Partnership (GWP) defines water governance as the range of political, social,
economic and administrative systems that are in place to develop and manage water resources,
and the delivery of water services at different levels of society. Thus, Integrated Water Resource
Management (IWRM) is aimed: at promoting more equitable access to water resources and the
benefits that are derived from water in order to tackle poverty; to ensure that scarce water is used
efficiently and for the benefit of the greatest number of people; and to achieve more sustainable
utilization of water, including for a better environment.

Treating water as an economic good entail allocating water to its highest value and moving
towards full cost pricing to encourage rational use and recover the cost. Economic tools ought to
determine how limited water resources are to be distributed efficiently and equitably. In addition,
managing water as an economic good is essential to achieving financial sustainability of water
service provision by pricing water at levels that guarantee full cost recovery

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 Most countries within southern African regions have adopted IWRM plans to try to improve the
management of water resources by adopting the concept of promoting efficiency, equity and
sustainability of water resources. However, the adoption of IWRM has not been totally beneficial
to the management of water in urban areas as many residents still do not have access to drinking
water.

The global demand for smart water meter is growing. As the demand for water rises, water
utilities around the globe will be facing pressure to manage water resources as efficiently as
possible, and this smart water meter is a key element in smart water management, providing
information that helps utilities to control cost and achieve efficient use of resources. Moreover,
there are projects demonstrating the growing demand for smart water meter in Europe and North
America.

2.1.1 Types of Metering Devices

There are two common approaches to flow measurement, displacement and velocity, each making
use of a variety of technologies. Common displacement designs include oscillating piston and
notating disc meters. Velocity-based designs include single- and multi-jet meters and turbine
meters.

There are also (Static) non-mechanical designs, for example electromagnetic and ultrasonic
meters, and meters designed for special uses. Additionally, there are electromechanical meters, like
prepaid water meters and automatic meter reading meters. The latter integrates an electronic
measurement component and a LCD with a mechanical water meter. Mechanical water meters
normally use a reed switch, hall or photoelectric coding register as the signal output. After
processing by the microcontroller unit (MCU) in the electronic module, the data are transmitted to
the LCD or output to an information management system.

Water meters are generally owned, read and maintained by a public water provider such as a city,
rural water association or private water company. In some cases, an owner of a mobile home park,
apartment complex or commercial building may be billed by a utility based on the reading of one
meter, with the costs shared among the tenants based on some sort of key (size of flat, number of

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 inhabitants or by separately tracking the water consumption of each unit in what is called sub-
metering).

1 Displacement water meters

This type of water meter is most often used in residential and small commercial applications and
homes. Displacement meters are commonly referred to as Positive Displacement, or "PD" meters.
It relies on the water to physically displace the moving measuring element in direct proportion to
the amount of water that passes through the meter. The disk moves a magnet that drives the register.
PD meters are generally very accurate at the low-to-moderate flow rates typical of residential and
small commercial users and not practical in applications require high flow rates because
displacement meters require that all water flows through the meter to "push" the measuring
element. PD meters normally have a built-in strainer to protect the measuring element from parts
that could stop or break the measuring element. [7]

Figure 2.1 displacement Water meter.

2 Velocity water meters

A velocity-type meter measures the velocity of flow through a meter of a known internal capacity.
The speed of the flow can then be converted into volume of flow to determine the usage. There are
several types of meters that measure water flow velocity, including jet meters (single-jet and multi-
jet), turbine meters, propeller meters and mag meters. Most velocity-based meters have an
adjustment vane for calibrating the meter to the required accuracy.

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 Figure 2.2 velocity water meter

i. Multi-jet meters

Multi-jet meters are very accurate in small sizes and are commonly used in ⅝" to 2" sizes for
residential and small commercial users. Multi-jet meters use multiple ports surrounding an internal
chamber to create multiple jets of water against an impeller, whose rotation speed depends on the
velocity of water flow. Multi-jets are very accurate at low flow rates, but there are no large size
meters since they do not have the straight-through flow path needed for the high flow rates used
in large pipe diameters. Multi-jet meters generally have an internal strainer element that can protect
the jet ports from getting clogged [7]

ii.Turbine meters
Turbine meters are less accurate than displacement and jet meters at low flow rates, but the
measuring element does not occupy or severely restrict the entire path of flow. The flow direction
is generally straight through the meter, allowing for higher flow rates and less pressure loss than
displacement-type meters. They are the meter of choice for large commercial users, fire protection
and as master meters for the water distribution system. Turbine meter bodies are commonly made
of bronze, cast iron or ductile iron. [7]

Figure 2.3 Turbine water Meter

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 3 Compound meters
A compound meter is used where high flow rates are necessary, but where at times there are also
smaller rates of flow that need to be accurately measured. Compound meters have two measuring
elements and a check valve to regulate flow between them. At high flow rates, water is normally
diverted primarily or completely to the high flow element. The high flow element is typically a
turbine meter. When flow rates drop to where the high flow element cannot measure accurately, a
check valve closes to divert water to a smaller element that can measure the lower flow rates
accurately. The low flow element is typically a multi-jet or PD meter. By adding the values
registered by the high and low elements, the utility has a record of the total consumption of water
flowing through the meter. [7]

Figure 2.4 Compound meter

4 Static Meter
A static meter, which is any metrology device with no moving parts, has significant advantages
over traditional mechanical meters. Static meters have already been used for years in the
commercial and industrial markets. Static meters are classified as electromagnetic and ultrasonic
time-of-flight.

Static meters have significantly better accuracy, especially at low flow rates. Furthermore, due to
their lack of moving parts, they are more reliable and their performance does not degrade over
time. With less leakage, there is less waste and loss. Consequently, the service provider is not
billing the cost of lost revenue back to the consumer.

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 In this meter, a piezo transducer is pulsed. The resultant acoustic wave travels through the media
(water in our discussion) and is picked up at a second piezo transducer downstream. After this path
is completed, the piezo transducer signals are reversed; the downstream piezo is pulsed and the
upstream piezo picks up the signal. The difference in the time of flight for the two pulses enables
the measurement of the flow, since the acoustic wave's speed is proportional to flow

i. Electromagnetic meters
Magnetic flow meters are technically a velocity-type water meter, except that they use
electromagnetic properties to determine the water flow velocity, rather than the mechanical means
used by jet and turbine meters. In an electromagnetic meter, a magnetic field is applied to the pipe
and a voltage is generated perpendicular to the flux lines. This voltage is proportional to the flow
rate. While this type of meter provides excellent accuracy, it tends to have fairly high power
consumption. [7]

Figure 2-5 Electromagnetic flow meter

2.1.2 Implementing Static Meters

Until now the technology for static meters was not practical for residential water use.
However, recent evolutionary changes in service delivery are creating opportunities.

The greatest challenge for residential use of static meters is straightforward: power. It takes power
to operate an electronic device. Because most water meters are not wired for power, static meters
traditionally were not a practical option. With the onset of AMR (advanced meter reading) and
AMI (advance meter infrastructure), this is changing. AMI and AMR enable remote meter reading
and/or control, typically with wireless communications technologies.

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 When a service provider decides that they need the capabilities of AMI/AMR, they now need to
power the meter, either through a line voltage or from a battery. Since power has to be provided to
the meter anyway, this opens the door to static metering. The power required for static metering
adds to the power requirements to be sure, but it does not create a new challenge. Concurrent
improvements in battery technology are helping drive the change in meter technology. Because
power densities are improving, the life of the meters is also increasing. It is not uncommon to see
static meters with a battery life of 15 or more years.

Other factors are driving the residential adoption of static meters, notably improved leak detection
and the ability to act on that information. A meter that can detect a leak and then react, such as
through an automatic valve shutoff, adds significant safety to the home. While not necessarily an
immediate safety hazard, water leak detection could spare the homeowner unnecessarily high-
water bills and prevent water damage.

2.1.3 Payment Methods

There are two General Approaches for payment or refilling the account of the water meter. These
approaches or methods are Prepaid or Postpaid. Thus, Electronic meters can be either postpaid
meters or prepaid meters. A brief discussion about both meters is discussed as follows. But the
Prepaid Meter is discussed intensively regarding the project’s scope.

1 Postpaid Meters
In the case of postpaid meters, consumers receive bills based on regular meter readings—
monthly, or even more often. This will have a positive impact on the accuracy of the bills.

2 Prepaid Meters
In the case of prepaid meters, consumers pay prior to actual consumption. Traditionally,
prepaid meters have been targeted at low-income segments. The overall uptake of prepaid meters
is low, principally because the service is seen as inconvenient.

In general, prepaid consumers had to approach payment points to “re-charge” their meters.
The payment points are usually managed by the utility company or a third party and tend to be
scarce. Payment methods for prepaid smart meters are expected to be more diverse than for regular
prepaid meters. Smart prepaid meters are likely to leverage the proliferation of other technologies,

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 such as the Internet and smart phones. New solutions will enable consumers to “re-charge” their
meters through a wider range of electronic or online payments (instead of “recharging” through
the scarce payment points). Contactless payment is seen as a user-friendly payment method for
consumers. A number of form factors can be used to enable contactless payments, but smart cards
and mobile phones are at the forefront of industry advancements. However, as the utilities’ smart
grids visions become a reality, we expect to see a greater number of prepaid smart meters. The

Figure 2.6 Block Diagram Prepaid Metering System

2.1.4 Payment Solutions

There are several ways used globally to pay for the water consumption, the following are
the most common of them:

1 RF ID Credit Cards
Contactless credit cards are cards that use radio-frequency identification (RFID) for making
secure payments. It allows cardholders to wave their cards in front of contactless Meter payment
terminals to complete transactions. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight
of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object

2 Barcode
With the deployment of Pay point payment solutions, barcodes could be used. The customer would
pay with a bank card or cash, with the generated barcode allowing the user to reload energy levels.

3 Coins
This is the simplest and the most widely established way to pay via a prepaid meter. The
main disadvantage of this system is the vulnerability of the meter itself. Indeed, there is a risk of
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 theft of the cash, while fraud is not rare. The other negative impact is on the energy supplier or
subcontractor companies that need to collect the cash on a regular basis.

4 Pin/ Tokens
This is one of the most important payment solutions used in the metering ecosystem. This payment
concept offers simplicity and flexibility. There are different form factors to store the token or PIN.
For example, the consumer could buy a ticket, including a token number, from dedicated shops
and supermarkets. Alternatively, some solutions allow customers to reload a plastic key or a
magnetic strip card via a dedicated vendor machine.

2.2 Method
We were find out the problem on the manual water metering system and it is good to use smart
metering system by using smart card analysis on the approach of the observational collection
looking out electrical smart meter system and we just sample data by taking from persons to solve
those problems. And we search and search about using this system by having its own research and
we just use the method of lithium battery which can use 8-10 years without having a problem. The
design part also considered about the expense in regarding with the user because the data is taken
and also used for them.

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 2.3 Material used
2.3.1 Arduino
Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital
input/output pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz
crystal, a USB connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It is a single-board
microcontroller to make using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible.

Figure 2.7 Arduino Uno

2.3.2Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) display

The LCD (liquid crystal display) is based upon the liquid crystal technology. By applying
Voltage to the LCD, it becomes opaque, but before that it was a transparent material. The above
property is main operating principle of LCD. The LCD display is used for displaying account
balance and power usage; It also acts as an interface between user and power meter

Figure 2.8 Liquid Crystal Display

2.3.3 Solenoid valve

A solenoid valve is an electromechanically operated valve. The valve is controlled by an electric
current through a solenoid: in the case of a two-port valve the flow is switched on or off; in the
case of a three-port valve, the outflow is switched between the two outlet ports. Multiple solenoid
valves can be placed together on a manifold.

Solenoid valves are the most frequently used control elements in fluidics. Their tasks are to shut
off, release, dose, distribute or mix fluids. They are found in many application areas. Solenoids

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 offer fast and safe switching, high reliability, long service life, good medium compatibility of the
materials used, low control power and compact design.

Besides the plunger-type actuator which is used most frequently, pivoted-armature actuators and
rocker actuators are also used.

Figure 2.9 solenoid valve

2.3.4 Card reader

A card reader is a data input device that reads data from a card-shaped storage medium. The first
were punched card readers, which read the paper or cardboard punched cards that were used during
the first several decades of the computer industry to store information and programs for computer
systems. Modern card readers are electronic devices that can read plastic cards embedded with
either a barcode, magnetic strip, computer chip or another storage medium.

Figure 2.10 card reader

2.3.5 Resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical conductor is a measure of the difficulty to pass an electric
current through that conductor. The inverse quantity is electrical conductance, and is the ease with
which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the
notion of mechanical friction. The SI unit of electrical resistance is the ohm (Ω), while electrical
conductance is measured in Siemens (S).

Figure 2.11 Resistance

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 2.3.6 Buzzer

A buzzer is a small yet efficient component to add sound features to our project/system. It is very
small and compact 2-pin structure hence can be easily used on breadboard, Perf Board and even
on PCBs which makes this a widely used component in most electronic applications.

Figure 2.12 buzzer

Buzzer Pin Configuration

1. Positive: - Identified by (+) symbol or longer terminal lead. Can be powered by 6V DC

2. Negative: - Identified by short terminal lead. Typically connected to the ground of the
circuit

Active Passive Buzzer Features

 Rated Voltage: 6V DC
 Operating Voltage: 4-8V DC
 Rated current: <30mA
 Sound Type: Continuous Beep
 Resonant Frequency: ~2300 Hz
 Small and neat sealed package
 Breadboard and Perf board friendly
2.3.7 (LED)light emitting diode
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a two-lead semiconductor light source. It is a p–n junction diode
that emits light when activated. When a suitable current is applied to the leads, electrons are able
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 to recombine with electron holes within the device, releasing energy in the form of photons. This
effect is called electroluminescence, and the color of the light (corresponding to the energy of the
photon) is determined by the energy band gap of the semiconductor. LEDs are typically small (less
than 1 mm2) and integrated optical components may be used to shape the radiation pattern

Figure 2.13 Light Emitting Diode

2.3.8 Batteries
An electric battery is a device consisting of one or more electrochemical cells with external
connections provided to power electrical devices.
Broadly there is two types of batteries:
• Primary (single-use or "disposable") batteries are used once and discarded
• Secondary batteries, also known as secondary cells, or rechargeable batteries.

In this project we use Lithium-ion batteries (LIB). Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are a family of
rechargeable batteries having high energy density and commonly used in consumer
electronics. Unlike the disposable lithium primary battery, a LIB uses intercalated lithium
compound instead of metallic lithium as its electrode. Usually, LIBs are significantly lighter
than other kinds of rechargeable batteries of similar size. When a LIB is discharging, lithium
ions move from the negative electrode (anode) to the positive electrode (cathode). When a
LIB is charging, lithium ions move in the opposite direction, and the negative electrode
becomes the cathode, while the positive electrode becomes the anode.

Figure 2.14 LIB battery

2.3.9 Real Time Clock (RTC)

A real-time clock (RTC) is a computer clock that keeps track of the current time. RTCs are
present in almost any electronic device which needs to keep accurate time. Although
keeping time can be done without an RTC, using one has benefits:
• Low power consumption (important when running from alternate power).

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 • Frees the main system for time-critical tasks.
• Sometimes more accurate than other methods

Figure 2.15 Real Time Clock

2.3.10 Ultrasonic water flow sensor

Ultrasonic flowmeters used to measure the flow of water by using sound waves to
determine the velocity of a fluid flowing in a pipe.

Figure 2.16 Ultrasonic flow meter

2.3.11 Potentiometer
A potentiometer is also commonly known as a pot meter or pot. The most common form of pot
meter is the single turn rotary pot meter.

Figure 2.17 Potentiometer

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 CHAPTER THREE
METHODOLOGY USED
3.1 Introduction
This chapter shows the design methodology by giving a detailed description of the meter
components and introducing the entire system scheme. In order to evaluate this project, the
methodology based on System Development Life Cycle (SDLC), generally three major step,
which is planning, implementing and analysis. This project used three major steps to implement
project starting from planning, implementing and testing. All the methods used for finding and
analyzing data regarding the project related.

Figure 3.1 Block diagram of System Development Life Cycle

3.1.2 PLANNING
To identify all the information and requirement planning must be done in the proper manner. The
planning phase have two main elements namely data collection and the requirements.

3.1.3 Data collection

Data collection is a stage in any area of study. At this stage we planned about the projects resources
and requirements, literature studies and schedule to get more information in this study. All the
materials are collected from texts book and research papers gathered from libraries and Internet.
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 Within the data collection period we have found the study about the Prepaid smart water meter in
the Internet and do some research about the project related. planning, we have done the research
about the project related, which including with study about such as ultrasonic sensor, RTC, resistor,
Light emitter diode (LED), battery and buzzer. The study is not just for the function of the
component but the types of small circuit build by each component related.
The block diagram of overall project circuit is as follow.

start

Study of literature review

Modeling of the smart meter board by proteus

No

Desired design

Yes

Adding of micro controller to the smart meter

Adjusting the smart meter to defined work

simulation
No

Desired result

yes

stop

Figure 3.2 Flow Chart of Overall System

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 3.2 Design specification
The smart water metering system consists of Water Flow Sensor, Batteries, Arduino Uno
microcontroller, Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), Keypad and Real Time Clock.
• Water Flow Sensor generally produces electrical pulses proportional to the amount of water
consumed by the consumer, and these pulses go to the microcontroller.
• The microcontroller continuously subtracts the consumed water from the available credit
and display the result on the LCD.
• When the result of the subtraction is zero, the microcontroller sends a signal to close the
valve.
• Batteries are used to supply the system with the appropriate voltage levels to the different
electronic components of the meter.
• RTC is used to supply the system with the real time and date.

3.3 Software Requirement

3.3.1 Proteus software
The Proteus Design Suite is a proprietary software tool suite used primarily for electronic design
automation. The software is used mainly by electronic design engineers and technicians to create
schematics and electronic prints for manufacturing printed circuit boards.

3.3.2 ARDUINO UNO

Arduino Uno is a microcontroller board based on the ATmega328P. It has 14 digital input/output
pins (of which 6 can be used as PWM outputs), 6 analog inputs, a 16 MHz quartz crystal, a USB
connection, a power jack, an ICSP header and a reset button. It is a single-board microcontroller
to make using electronics in multidisciplinary projects more accessible.

3.3.2.1 Features of Arduino:

1. MEMORY:

The Arduino Uno has 32 KB memory. It comes with 2 KB of SRAM and also 1 KB of EEPROM
(EEPROM library is required to read or write into this).

2. CLOCK SPEED:

The performance of this controller is based on its clock speed. The Clock speed of the Arduino is
16 MHz so it can perform a particular task faster than the other processor or controller

3. USB INTERFACE:

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 Most important feature of Arduino Uno is USB connectivity. It means if we want to operate
Arduino with PC, then we can do that and data communication between PC and Arduino become
easy.

4. INPUT OUTPUT VOLTAGE:

The Arduino Uno can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply. If
we are using external power, then we can supply 6 to 20 volts. Arduino works on 5 volts.

5. INPUT OUTPUT PINS:

Each of the 14 digital pins on the Uno can be used as an input or output. 6 pins out of 14 can be
used as PWM output. 6 pins can be used as analog pins.

6. COMMUNICATION:

Arduino board supports I2C and SPI communication. The Arduino software includes wire library
for I2C and SPI library for the SPI communication.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

Design and Analysis

4.1 Introduction
. we use the software of simulating program “Proteus 8.6 Professional”, along with C Language
Compiler “Arduino compiler” for the code written to the Arduino Microcontroller. Several
separate code blocks were written for different blocks of the meter in order to simulate and test
them separately before integration and system simulation and testing. Some of the hardware
components of the meter could not be simulated due to their unavailability on simulation
programs, such as the Water flow sensor.

4.2 Block Simulation

4.2.1 LCD Simulation
A code is written to the Arduino Microcontroller to display any kind of information on LCD to
the user . The LCD is connected to PORT D of the Arduino Microcontroller.

Figure 4-1 LCD Simulation

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 4.2.2 RTC Simulation
The RTC was connected to the Arduino Microcontroller at PORT C to pin pc5 (SCL) and pin pc4
(SDA) as shown in the Figure below. The operation of the RTC requires a crystal oscillator of
1MHz for the internal clocking circuit.

It is recommended to connect a battery to pin VCC (9 volts VBAT) of the RTC because in case
of power disconnection, the date and time obtained by the RTC will be lost and reset to the
default values on repowering in the absence of the battery.

An LCD was connected to the same PORT to display the Time & Date, and a code was written
into the Arduino Microcontroller to carry this operation.

Figure 4-2 RTC Simulation

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 4.2.3 Ultrasonic sensor simulation

The Ultrasonic sensor is connected to the Arduino Microcontroller at pin 6 and pin 7 of PORT D.
The Ultrasonic is also connected to a battery of 5 volts at the pin of the Ultrasonic sensor. The
sensor also has testing pin

Figure 4-3 Ultrasonic sensor

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 4.2.4 Smart card reader simulation

The Smart card reader is connected to the Arduino Microcontroller at pin 0(RXD) and pin
1(TXD) of PORT D.

Figure 4-4 Smart card reader

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 4.3 Overall System Simulation
In this section we try to show some of the phases of the system that how the system is working
for a given amount of Liter.

The Simulation starts with initial 250 Liter as shown in the figure below. And as there is a
remaining balance, the Main valve –which is indicated by the yellow circle- is open.

Figure 4-5 System Simulation with the valve circled

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 The process continues with the signal coming from the Ultrasonic flow sensor (which is
indicated by the red circle) decrease the reaming balance. And the valve still opened as in the
figures 4-6 below.

Figure 4-6 System Simulation with the valve open

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 The Main valve will block the water pipeline when the result of the subtraction is negative six,
the supply of the water is stopped as shown in the figure below. In our system the negative show
that the system will not be block at zero Liter instead the system gives some advancement for the
user until the user pay the water bill. But the advancement given by the system is only six Liter.

Figure 4-7 System Simulation with a closed valve

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 CHAPTER FIVE
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1 Conclusion
This paper presented a prepaid smart water metering system using two-way communication. It
was an effort towards upgrading existing ordinary water meters; thus, improving the revenue
collection for the scheduled supply and Easy leakage detections for utility giving company.

 User has to pay according to their requirement. Do not have to pay excesses amount.
 Reduce manpower for taking meter reading and bill distributing.
 The prepaid smart water meter is less costly, more reliable and error free.

The proposed prepaid smart meter was successfully implemented on a software model which
was simulated with the help of Proteus 8.6 Professional and Arduino Uno sketch. The simulation
easily gives an insight of how the smart water metering system works.

Our project Smart water metering system overcomes all the drawbacks of ordinary water
metering. The main advantage of this smart water metering system is that, water will be
delivered as per the requirement and can avoid wastage. The system can be manufactured simply
and is cheap. The power consumption of the smart water meter is very little with water amount
display, alarm, error information and other functions. Due to the use of 5v operating micro-
controller it is much efficient in power consumption. It is user friendly device considering the
society of our country. The main goal of our system is to save time, Money and Energy of the
customers.

From overview of all this, we can conclude that if prepaid water smart meter is implemented
then it will be very beneficial.

5.2 Limitation
However, the project still suffers from some limitation:

• The disability of the Proteus 8.6 Professional software to support a digital card reader
simulation which is popular and efficient nowadays for systems like smart water meters or any
credit related system.

• If the project is implemented, the power supply could be a problem because the batteries
suggested for this project is finite and it has an estimated life time. And it’s also irreplaceable
due to the sensitivity of the water meter internal components with electricity. So, when the
battery dies, the whole meter has to be replaced with a new unopened one.

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 5.3 Future work

Some enhancements and improvements could be done, such as:

• This project was simulated on Proteus 8.6 Professional, with more time and researches a
hardware model can be implemented.

• The finite irreplaceable power supply could be improved because of the advancement of
technology. For example, a renewable source of energy such as solar energy can be used, if the
sufficient knowledge found.

• Improving the water supply system using the data recorded from smart water meter and
Artificial Intelligence (AI) to forecast the future demand and exact location with high demand of
water.

5.4 RECOMMENDATION

We recommend any one who is interested on this topic and want to improve our project can do in
different communication system and it can be implemented by GMS module for messaging
everything on phone and other communication devices. And we just do the analysis based on the
smart card property but it isn’t limited on this device it can be connected to the other device. This
material is analyzed on Proteus simulation and it can develop to the hardware and do what the
mission is had to fulfill. Finally, we want to say this project is concentrated only on the analysis of
smart card so people can use different idea with different analysis to improve this work

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 References

[1] Kwan B. H. and M. Moghavvemi, “PIC based smart card payment system”, Malaysia: in
Student conference on Research and Development, pp. 440-443, 2002.

[2] W. Rankl, W. Effing, “Smart card Handbook”, New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1997.

[3] M. Popa, “Data Collection from smart meters in an Advanced Metering Infrastructure”, las
Palmas: in 15th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Engineering Systems, 2011.

[4] Shitumbapo, Linda N., and Clement N. Nyirenda, "Simulation of a Smart Water Metering
Network,” in Tsumeb East, Namibia, Emerging Trends in Networks and Computer
Communications (ETNCC), 2015 International Conference on. IEEE, 2015.

[5] Lipták, Béla G, “Process measurement and analysis,” Butterworth Heinemann, 1995.

[6] W. Ranki and W. Effing, ‘’Smart Card Handbook,” John Wiley and Sons, 2000.

[7] Kamran A, Hanifa S, and Paul K. “RFID Applications: An Introductory and Exploratory
Study”, IJCSI International Journal of Computer Science Issues, Vol.7(1), No 3, January 2010.

[8] T. G. Jong, “The Topup System Design for Smart Card,” in RFID, vol.II, L. Ray and H.
Smith, Eds. New York: Academic, 2009, pp. 71–82.

[9] Iranian petroleum standard (IPS-E-EL-100): Engineering standard for electrical system
design (industrial and non industrial), original edition 1997.
[10] E.I.G Hauber-Davidson, “SMART METERING SYSTEM”, 2006
[11] WHO,2015
Website: -

www.Oracleutility.com

www.elsevier.com

www.EUCI.COM

www.electrosome.com

www.electronika.com
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 Appendix: -

Pin 1: Power USB

Arduino board can be powered by using the USB cable from your computer. All you need to do
is connect the USB cable to the USB connection.

Pin 2: Power (Barrel Jack)

Arduino boards can be powered directly from the AC mains power supply by connecting it to the
Barrel Jack (2).

Pin 3: Voltage Regulator

The function of the voltage regulator is to control the voltage given to the Arduino board and
stabilize the DC voltages used by the processor and other elements.

Pin 4: Crystal Oscillator

The crystal oscillator helps Arduino in dealing with time issues. How does Arduino calculate
time? The answer is, by using the crystal oscillator. The number printed on top of the Arduino
crystal is 16.000H9H. It tells us that the frequency is 16,000,000 Hertz or 16 MHz.

Pin 5 & 17: Arduino Reset

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 You can reset your Arduino board, i.e., start your program from the beginning. You can reset the
UNO board in two ways. First, by using the reset button (17) on the board. Second, you can
connect an external reset button to the Arduino pin labelled RESET (5).

Pin 6, 7, 8 & 9: Pins (3.3, 5, GND, Vin)

3.3V (6) − Supply 3.3 output volt

5V (7) − Supply 5 output volt

Most of the components used with Arduino board works fine with 3.3 volt and 5 volt.

GND (8) (Ground) − There are several GND pins on the Arduino, any of which can be used to
ground your circuit.

V in (9) − This pin also can be used to power the Arduino board from an external power source,
like AC mains power supply.

Pin 10: Analog pins

The Arduino UNO board has five analog input pins A0 through A5. These pins can read the
signal from an analog sensor like the humidity sensor or temperature sensor and convert it into a
digital value that can be read by the microprocessor.

Pin 11: Main microcontroller

Each Arduino board has its own microcontroller (11). You can assume it as the brain of your
board. The main IC (integrated circuit) on the Arduino is slightly different from board to board.
The microcontrollers are usually of the ATMEL Company. You must know what IC your board
has before loading up a new program from the Arduino IDE. This information is available on the
top of the IC. For more details about the IC construction and functions, you can refer to the data
sheet.

Pin 12: ICSP pin

Mostly, ICSP (12) is an AVR, a tiny programming header for the Arduino consisting of MOSI,
MISO, SCK, RESET, VCC, and GND. It is often referred to as an SPI (Serial Peripheral
Interface), which could be considered as an "expansion" of the output. Actually, you are slaving
the output device to the master of the SPI bus.

Pin 13: Power LED indicator

This LED should light up when you plug your Arduino into a power source to indicate that your
board is powered up correctly. If this light does not turn on, then there is something wrong with
the connection.

Pin 14: TX and RX LEDs

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 On your board, you will find two labels: TX (transmit) and RX (receive). They appear in two
places on the Arduino UNO board. First, at the digital pins 0 and 1, to indicate the pins
responsible for serial communication. Second, the TX and RX led (13). The TX led flashes with
different speed while sending the serial data. The speed of flashing depends on the baud rate used
by the board. RX flashes during the receiving process.

Pin 15: Digital I/O

The Arduino UNO board has 14 digital I/O pins (15) (of which 6 provide PWM (Pulse Width
Modulation) output. These pins can be configured to work as input digital pins to read logic
values (0 or 1) or as digital output pins to drive different modules like LEDs, relays, etc. The pins
labeled “~” can be used to generate PWM.

Pin 16: AREF

AREF stands for Analog Reference. It is sometimes, used to set an external reference voltage
(between 0 and 5 Volts) as the upper limit for the analog input pins.

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