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At ESC, it's not hard to find interesting combinations of wireless technologies. All you have to do is ask around.
By asking around I found out something I had not known before: electricity theft is a big problem in India.
Thieves can tap into lines in the most secretive places, so it is hard to track down with normal detective methods.
But an enterprising systems house in New Delhi has developed a combination ZigBee/Wi-Fi module that is inexpensive and can be widely deployed in areas of electricity theft. ZigBee is used to monitor the remote sensors and collect data about power levels in the microgrid.
Each module also has a Wi-Fi transceiver. There still aren't that many Starbucks in New Delhi so the utility company drives a truck up and down the streets collecting the data. Back at the utility, engineers can figure out pretty closely where somebody is tapping into the line.
Next step is to collect information about power quality: harmonics and power factor, for example.
Could never do it without wireless.
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