Mobile Application Development for Prepaid Water Meter Based on LC Sensor

Area of Science:

• Engineering
• Computer Science
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Conventional water meters often rely on manual data recording, leading to inaccuracies and inefficiencies.
• Postpaid billing systems are susceptible to human error, impacting accurate water usage monitoring.
• There is a need for cost-effective and accurate water monitoring solutions, especially in regions like Indonesia.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and evaluate a novel prepaid water meter system.
• To integrate tokenization, LC sensors, and mobile application connectivity for precise water consumption monitoring.
• To provide a low-cost and low-power alternative to traditional water metering systems.

Main Methods:

• Development of a prepaid water meter system incorporating LC sensors and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) connectivity.
• Utilization of a tokenization mechanism for prepaid functionality.
• Implementation of a mobile application developed using the design thinking methodology.
• Load testing of the back-end server and accuracy testing of LC sensors.

Main Results:

• The mobile application achieved a usability testing score of 80.
• The back-end server exhibited a latency of 1.973 milliseconds and an error rate of 8.74% under load.
• LC sensors demonstrated an average error rate of 1.33%.
• The system operates with low power consumption (129 mA per cycle) and has an estimated battery life of six years.

Conclusions:

• The developed prepaid water meter system offers a precise and cost-effective solution for monitoring water usage.
• Integration of LC sensors and BLE connectivity ensures accurate data collection.
• The system's low power consumption and long battery life contribute to its sustainability and practicality.