Making a choice in AMR today can be somewhat difficult and sometimes intimidating with the abundance of systems available on the market.  When making an AMR decision, utilities want reliability, ease of use, support as well as flexibility.  Industry consultants recommend finding a flexible AMR/AMI solution because of the ever-changing advancements in the world of wireless technology.  Our customers can rest assured that the AMR choice they make today with ORION is not only the best choice in mobile AMR technology, but is also the right decision for future migration into a variety of hybrid network choices. 

Badger Meter Hybrid AMR/AMI Technology

Every water or gas utility would like to have the ability to remotely collect important metering data from key meters in their systems. These metering accounts could be the utility’s largest commercial and industrial users or critical custody transfer meter users.  Badger Meter has developed an innovative receiver product that allows a utility to migrate seamlessly from a handheld or mobile ORION AMR (Automatic Meter Reading) solution, into a selectively deployed AMI (Advanced Metering Infrastructure) network solution. 

The new Badger ORION Gateway 4.0 Receiver is an easy-to-install/deploy unit that collects important interval metering data from ORION transmitters over a selected area.  Utilizing Badger’s READCENTER^® reading data management software platform, the utility simply designates the transmitters (up to 2,000) that it would like to collect data from and how often it would like the data collected (hourly, daily, etc.)  The ORION Gateway utilizes a Cellular, LAN or Wi-Fi (initial product release is GPRS Cellular only) network backhaul to send the requested metering data back to the utility where the data can be used to better manage the utility’s operation. In addition, it provides important data for improved customer service of your larger users.  READCENTER comes with a set of premium standard reports as well as the ability to create any user-defined reports for your particular needs.

The same ORION transmitter that is read by a mobile system today can now be read by an ORION-ready selectively deployed network AMI system, with no reprogramming of the ORION transmitter.  Furthermore, if you are not an ORION customer today, you too can take advantage of this advanced technology by simply deploying ORION transmitters on the important meters in your system and installing Gateways in the area to remotely monitor these selective meters.

Badger^® READCENTER^® Reading Data Management Software

The power of any AMI network lies in the features of its software, its ability to enable the utility to effectively gather metering system data, to use it to produce customer bills, enhance and streamline customer service activities, and to improve decision making within the utility. Badger READCENTER does all this and more, providing you with the tools you need to better serve your customers and the utility.

• READCENTER downloads interval data from ORION Gateway receivers into its central database at any user-defined schedule.
  
• Provides the ability to obtain a "now" read from any (or every) transmitter that is communicating to a Badger ORION Gateway receiver.
  
• Improves the effectiveness of the utility's customer service activities by organizing historical meter reading and other data into useful reports that are created at the click of a button.
  
• Offers a suite of premium standard reports to assist in the optimization of your utility operation.
  
• Provides custom reporting capabilities so that you can also design reports to fit the specific needs of your utility.

The Safe Choice
Badger's ORION AMR/AMI solution offers utilities many options for network connectivity for today and the future.  The ORION Gateway 4.0 Receiver is just one more way we can help you get the most out of your AMR system.