PLANO, Texas, March 5, 2002 -- Datamatic has announced an agreement with Las Vegas Valley Water District to begin implementation of the FIREFLY Automatic Meter Reading System throughout its system.
After a successful pilot period, implementation has begun on the first phase of a project that will result in the eventual build-out of their 287,000-meter system. The contract includes FIREFLY Meter Interface Units (MIU's), Route Management System integration, handheld and mobile reading platforms, and turnkey installation. LVVWD has chosen to install the FIREFLY Optic MIU. Optic FIREFLY MIU's do not require electronic output registers; thus eliminating the need for meter changeout and saving as much as 30-40% on the cost of an AMR project.
"Las Vegas is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. We're also in the middle of the desert. Those challenges combine to make AMR needs very unique. We needed a system that would help us keep pace with our tremendous growth as well as support critical water conservation efforts," said Meter Services Manager Mike Kebles.
Kebles continued, "We also wanted to avoid having to change out meters along with the AMR deployment. Our system is as diverse as it is large; almost 300,000 straight read meters from six different manufacturers."
The FIREFLY Optic MIU uses a unique optic sensor that attaches to the face of any water meter with a visible sweep hand. The FIREFLY "sees" the needle, counts the revolutions and transmits the reading over unlicensed radio frequencies. This "Meter Independent" interface is unique in that it is the only available technology capable of automating water meters without electronic output registers. Models are also available for all popular pulse and encoded output registers as well as electric and gas meters.
FIREFLY MIU's have also been put on several large master meters servicing subdivisions where they are used to gather consumption trend data. This data is critical to helping the Las Vegas Valley Water District evaluate the effectiveness of conservation efforts on a large scale and plan infrastructure improvements.
"We've been doing this for years, but it always required a laptop-toting technician to make a special trip every month to download the data from a complicated flow monitor. Now, the meter reader just picks up the data as part of their normal route," said Bill Turner, Engineering Technician.
All FIREFLY Meter Interface Units store consumption data at user-definable intervals. Most water utilities set this interval to one hour. At this setting, FIREFLY MIU's hold hourly consumption patterns for the previous 74.6 days. ProfilePLUS data is easily extracted when needed to address customer consumption disputes, identify leaks and monitor/enforce water conservation. Data of this kind was previously unavailable without costly and complicated flow monitors. FIREFLY users have access to this data at every meter, all the time.
"Datamatic is thrilled to be partnering with Las Vegas Valley Water District," said Scott Durham, VP of Sales and Marketing of Datamatic. "Their extreme environment and explosive growth will boldly underscore FIREFLY's unique value for years to come."
Datamatic has been in business since 1977.
