Sisvel’s Telemetry patent portfolio refers to a method for the improvement of distribution network management, in particular of a gas, water, electric energy or heat network that provides the possibility of telemetry of data by means of a central station and a plurality of peripheral stations connected to the central station. A telemetry system for gas and water meters (but also applicable to those of electric energy) consists of the following main parts:

• An apparatus located near to the meter, named “Peripheral Unit”, having the function of an interface with the transmission means or “carrier”;
• A centralized data gathering apparatus, named “Central Telemetry Station”, the function of which consists in collecting the readings and making them available to the invoicing system;
• Transmission means or “carrier”, which could also be of a “mixed” type (i.e using several kinds of carriers), able to convey the acquired data from the Peripheral Unit to the Central Telemetry Station.

Transmission means or “carriers” used in Telemetry systems of meters can be of different types depending on the type of usage (domestic or industrial). The “carriers” available today for Telemetry can be distinguished in two large categories:

• Those utilizing a physical support for propagation (cable or optical fibre);
• Those utilizing “broadcast” (radio waves) for the propagation.