HPL Electric & Power Ltd (HPL), an established electric equipment and smart meter manufacturer, and Wirepas, a global leader in IoT connectivity, have partnered to showcase a comprehensive end-to-end smart electricity metering solution, specifically designed to meet India’s demanding requirements for Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) for electricity.
The live demonstration at Elecrama in Delhi, India (February 22-26, 2025), will feature market’s first Wirepas certified in-meter gateway, embedded in HPL’s smart meter, along with Wirepas Mesh Sub-GHz connectivity and Network Management System (NMS) with an RF adapter, seamlessly connecting to the HPL head-end system (HES). This fully integrated solution ensures reliable, scalable, and cost-effective connectivity, offering an SLA of 99.9%. India’s smart metering rollouts rely on both cellular and RF mesh technology. Today, RF mesh networks require dedicated gateway devices or concentrator units (DCUs) for data flow. Installing these gateways require complex surveys, planning, installation and maintenance – adding complexity and cost to the rollout and other installation practices.
With this innovation, the need for dedicated gateway devices has been eliminated by integrating dual radio capability directly into some of the smart meters in the network: an 865-868 MHz range RF radio collects data from up to 300 smart meters over a multi-hop mesh while an LTE modem transmits data to HES over 4G. This innovative approach, known as the in-meter gateway, allows any smart meter to function as a gateway by simply upgrading its RF mesh Network Interface Card (NIC) to a dual radio NIC.
By sharing a single 4G connection across 300 meters, this solution reduces cost without requiring additional hardware infrastructure. “HPL has long-standing relationships with utilities across India, many of whom face challenges with cellular network coverage in AMI solutions. With the in-meter gateway, we can ensure reliable coverage anywhere while making installations as simple as that of a cellular smart meter. This innovative solution will be a game-changer in the AMI space looking at benefits it delivers both in terms of cost, reliability and quality of service to our customer and end-users,” said Rishi Seth, Managing Director of HPL.
“Wirepas has been supporting India’s ambitious smart metering rollout, with 5 million smart meters already deployed at SLA of 99,9% and new devices connecting every few seconds. Our end-to-end RF mesh solution with the new in-meter gateway, combined with HPL’s high quality smart meters and powerful head-end system, provides utilities with an ultra-resilient, scalable and cost-efficient AMI. Designed for India’s fast evolving smart grid, it ensures seamless and future-proof operation for decades,” said Teppo Hemiä, CEO of Wirepas.
HPL will present the market’s first 865-868 MHz range RF mesh in-meter gateway for Indian AMI at Elecrama at their stand in Hall 1, Stall D10 while Wirepas will showcase its technology at Hall 7, Stall B11. The demo will showcase a complete smart metering system, consisting of five HPL smart meters including one smart meter embedded with inmeter gateway, and the Wirepas NMS seamlessly connected to the HPL head-end system. It highlights the effortless interoperability and robust performance of Wirepas’ technology in real-world smart metering applications.
About the in-meter gateway The in-meter gateway is a key component that bridges the smart meter network to the utility’s head-end system. It collects data from multiple meters, aggregates it, and securely transmits it to the head-end system for further processing and analytics. By ensuring seamless integration with existing utility infrastructure, the in-meter gateway enhances network efficiency, reduces data transmission costs, and guarantees timely and accurate meter readings.
