Optical Character Recognition and Zigbee Wireless Communication for AMR: Conclusive Project

A detailed description of an automated metering reading system development is presented. The project includes visual computing - VSN (Visual Sensor Network), techniques for image treatment implemented at an OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and data treatment through a service-oriented software structure. The elements of image acquisition and treatment are composed of an embedded system which associates CCD (Charge-coupled device), DSP (Digital Signal Process) and ZigBee Modules of communication. The control interfaces start with a ZigBee-Ethernet communication module and a service-oriented middleware in charge of the abstraction and treatment of the management data of the AMR (Automation Meter Reading) for the application layer. With this system, ZigBee sensors are integrated and form a wireless mesh; the information is then sent to a concentrator. An important characteristic is that this system can be adapted to any kind of energy meter and water meter in Brazil. The total cost of this system is about USD$ 66.00 and it is of easy implementation and operation.