Comparison of Ten Characteristics between Bluetooth and Infrared Communication in Energy Meters

With the application of Bluetooth communication in China Southern Power Grid and Inner Mongolia energy meters, technicians always ask about the differences between Bluetooth and infrared. They have specially compiled ten main characteristic differences for reference. (1) Convenience: Compared to infrared meter reading and manual meter reading, Bluetooth greatly reduces the difficulty of operation (infrared requires alignment, Bluetooth does not). It can be well applied to near-field remote maintenance tools, such as Bluetooth handheld devices (instead of infrared handheld devices) and mobile phone back clips. It can also be directly developed into a mobile app to connect to an energy meter for data collection, making it convenient for operation and maintenance personnel to carry and operate. (2) Speed: Bluetooth communication speed is fast, with a serial port speed of up to 115200, which is 96 times faster than infrared communication speed of 1200, making it convenient for mobile phones to quickly read energy meter data. (3) Transmission distance: A relatively long transmission distance, which can also reach 10-20m in practical applications (infrared is generally 2m), can penetrate the outer shell of the meter box, etc. (4) Slave function: The energy meter Bluetooth supports two masters and three slaves, and the slave can be extended to connect Bluetooth micro disconnects, Bluetooth locks, Bluetooth meter boxes, Bluetooth sensors, Bluetooth downstream meter reading devices, etc. Infrared has no concept of master and slave.

(5) Host function: Bluetooth supports two main channels, which can connect two hosts to the energy meter at the same time. This way, when applied on site, one Bluetooth channel can be used for networking and one channel can be used for on-site operation and maintenance. Infrared is a wireless broadcasting communication method that can only communicate one-to-one sequentially. (6) Anti interference: Infrared is a wireless broadcasting communication method. In the same environment, if multiple infrared sensors communicate simultaneously, it may interfere with the communication of other energy meters, affecting the success rate of communication. Bluetooth has link layer connection logic. After successful connection, each energy meter Bluetooth communicates in the corresponding 2G wireless frequency band without interfering with each other. (7) Cost: Infrared has a relatively low cost, while Bluetooth has a higher cost. In recent years, the cost of Bluetooth modules has gradually decreased, with some even dropping to a few yuan. (8) Message length: The infrared communication link layer message length only supports 200 bytes, while Bluetooth supports 512 bytes and can increase the link layer message length as needed. (9) Bluetooth verification: Bluetooth itself is a 2.4G wireless communication, which can be switched to pure 2.4G mode through extended applications and supports Bluetooth verification. (10) Structure: The infrared receiver and transmitter tubes need to be exposed on the surface structure (usually on the LCD side), while Bluetooth does not need to be exposed on the surface structure, which is more aesthetically pleasing.