A new wireless water submeter from
Wellspring International(R) aims to encourage apartment water
conservation, reduce wet energy costs and help apartment building
owners recover utility expenses using ZigBee(TM)-based wireless
networking technology from Ember Corporation.
Wellspring, a leading provider of wireless, point-of-use submeters
for all building types, is developing the industry’s first
ZigBee-ready wireless submetering system using Ember’s wireless
semiconductors, software and application development environment.
Wellspring’s ZigBee-ready Aqura(R) system will enable both
apartment residents and owners to monitor their water consumption from
anywhere in the building. It will wirelessly record and display
consumption data at each water-consuming appliance within any
multifamily residential unit – regardless of age, type or plumbing
configuration.
A self-forming, self-healing wireless mesh network of ZigBee-based
Aqura submeters will provide real-time usage data – including the
number of “flow events” (showers, toilet flushes, dishwasher cycles,
etc.), flow-time in minutes, hot and cold water usage, domestic hot
water energy, leak diagnostics and tamper detection – using a TV
remote control-like meter reader. The readings will be automatically
collected from the ZigBee network several times per day and uploaded
to Wellspring’s data and billing center; then made available to
residents, apartment owners and third party billing services on the
Web.
Wellspring selected the Ember platform because the technology is
already proven in numerous real-world applications, and Ember’s
support that grows from their strong ZigBee experience. Ember is a
promoter of the ZigBee Alliance, and its semiconductor system is now
National Technical Systems’ (NTS) “Golden Suite” standard for
evaluating IEEE 802.15.4/ZigBee-ready products for interoperability.
“We know when residents are responsible for and aware of their own
utility expenses, consumption drops an average of 15.3 percent,
according to a recent EPA-sponsored study. Wellspring’s 100,000 meters
installed with traditional one-way radios have fared better, averaging
26 percent savings,” said Wade Smith, Wellspring CEO. “With ZigBee
poised to become the wireless technology standard for building
controls, apartment owners can more easily and affordably deploy water
submetering systems to encourage water conservation, maintain their
rents and recover utility costs. Ember’s leadership in defining and
promoting the ZigBee standard made them a natural choice for
partnership.”
ZigBee is a wireless, standards-based radio technology that
addresses the unique needs of remote monitoring & control, and sensory
network applications. ZigBee enables easy deployment of low-cost
battery operated wireless networks much like the one Wellspring
currently employs – but with two-way communication and
interoperability that will allow Wellspring to use its system as a
foundation for other emerging ZigBee based wireless applications.
“With more than 100,000 wireless meters already in service today,
Wellspring is a great example of real-world companies creating an
‘Internet of things,’ bringing intelligence and communications
capabilities to unintelligent things like water pipes,” said Venkat
Bahl, Ember’s vice president of marketing. “Integrating our
ZigBee-ready wireless systems into its Aqura water submetering family
will enable the company to innovate new functionality for managing
other apartment utility consumption as well.”
About Wellspring International
Wellspring International is the world’s most complete water and
energy sub-utility offering metering systems–as well as reading, and
optional billing and collecting services–for all building types.
Wellspring is based in San Diego, California and Bristol,
Pennsylvania. For more information, call 858-824-0900 or visit
www.wellspringwireless.com.
About Ember Corporation
Ember Corporation develops wireless semiconductor solutions that
help buildings consume less energy, manufacturing plants run with
fewer breakdowns, and the country’s borders and infrastructure remain
safe and secure. Its vision is to help create an “Internet of things”
by enabling the eight billion microcontrollers built into products
each year to support low-cost, low-power networking applications in
any industry. Headquartered in Boston with offices and distributors
worldwide, the company was named one of Fortune Magazine’s top “Cool
Companies” for 2004. For more information, please visit www.ember.com.
