COMPANY DEVISES METER IMPLANTS.Byline: Patricia Farrell Aidem Staff Writer VALENCIA - A Valencia tech company wants to make meter readers obsolete. ConectiSys Corp. is awaiting Federal Communications Commission Federal Communications Commission (FCC), independent executive agency of the U.S. government established in 1934 to regulate interstate and foreign communications in the public interest. approval of wireless meter reading technology. A device would be implanted in meters and allow for instant readings via the Internet, ending the monthly door-to-door checks by readers whose data is old by the time it is processed, company spokeswoman Marsha Lee Casspi said Wednesday. ``It's wireless technology that fits in the meter,'' Casspi said. ``It reads the meter instead of a meter reader walking to each house.'' The product takes data from residential meters and downloads it to a network operations center See NOC. Network Operations Center - (NOC) A location from which the operation of a network or internet is monitored. Additionally, this center usually serves as a clearinghouse for connectivity problems and efforts to resolve those problems. , which disseminates it via the Internet to the appropriate power company. Readings are in real time, a goal under state policies. The system utilizes the 900 megahertz One million cycles per second. See MHz. MegaHertz - (MHz) Millions of cycles per second. The unit of frequency used to measure the clock rate of modern digital logic, including microprocessors. free band, the band used for cordless telephones A cordless telephone or portable telephone is a telephone with a wireless handset which communicates via radio waves with a base station connected to a fixed telephone line (POTS) and can only be operated near (typically within 100 meters or 328 ft from) its base station . ConectiSys submitted its product to the FCC (1) (Federal Communications Commission, Washington, DC, www.fcc.gov) The U.S. government agency that regulates interstate and international communications including wire, cable, radio, TV and satellite. The FCC was created under the U.S. and hopes for approval next month. If so, small pilot programs would be expanded to about 500 homes, Casspi said. It's too early to say when the product might be widely available. First, ConectiSys must partner with a major meter manufacturer to implant implant /im·plant/ (im-plant´) to insert or to graft (tissue, or inert or radioactive material) into intact tissues or a body cavity. its products. Utilities already have software to process the data. ``They would take the raw material and interpret it for billing information,'' she said. Patricia Farrell Aidem, (661) 257-5251 pat.aidem(at)dailynews.com |
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