A bit of background- I maintain flowmeters for municipal sewer and storm systems. Most often these meters are intended to send flow data wirelessly to a server somewhere so civil engineers can look at the data on demand from the comfort of their offices. Depending on the type/brand of meter, they might transmit over 3G or 4G or LTE or etc. I've been having a hell of a time lately getting them to communicate, and it most often turns out to be weak signal in the area, but sometimes it turns out to be a faulty antenna. It takes a hell of a lot of time to diagnose what the exact problem is, and I think it would help if I had some sort of device capable of spot-checking the wireless signal strength in small defined area. For example, I have a few sites in the road where I don't get enough signal strength to send data at the street level with an antenna that mounts flush with the top of the manhole lid (so cars can drive over it), but I do get enough signal just raising the antenna up a few inches. If I had a way of determining beforehand the wireless signal limitations in an area, it would be easier to price a job, knowing that at certain locations, an antenna cable will have to be run under the road to an elevated kiosk outside of the traffic way. When we have to do this on the fly, it eats into our bottom line. Instead of adding a blanket 'we might need a kiosk' charge to all 'in road' installations, I think we could be more competitive (and save myself a bunch of time) if I knew beforehand the wireless signal strength situation upon initial site assessment. So I need a device with this capability. I've done some looking online, but all I can come up with are various types of security oriented RF detectors used to find 'bugs'. That doesn't really help me. I need something that'll give me an objective number or percentile so I can know 'there is enough 3G here for this meter' or 'there's not enough LTE here for that meter.' Anyone know of such a device and what it would be called?
3G is being taken down eventually. If you have the same network on your phone as the equipment you are installing, you can use a Network Analyzer app. Maybe buy a pay as you go phone? I haven't tried it but it looks like there are cell tower locating apps. You can try those if you are using directional antennas and want to know which way to point them.
Network Cell Info Lite looks promising https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.wilysis.cellinfolite
Android phones have a feature buried down in settings to measure strength in dBm's. I have no idea if his system, however runs off cell towers strength. I think our smart meters at least have their own network as the guy who was installing the one on my gas line told me they had their own antennae on top a nearby water tower as part of its secure network. They have come out a few times to check my water meter because they weren't sure it was transmitting correctly because of the really high readings they got. It was.
AMR equipment typically runs off radio frequency like a two way radio. It is used to read small meters from a distance. It hops the signal off the other meters until it hits the designated tower. For water and gas, it has to run off a battery and can only report the meter usage once a day or even monthly. I am assuming he is using cellular because he historical data, continuous monitoring, and instantaneous alarms. This is typically used on larger meters and critical systems.
All our wireless meters use SIM cards to get on the cellular network, so ya cell towers. Mostly AT&T, but also some Verizon.
You can google it for your specific phone but here is a generic guide for doing it: https://www.news18.com/news/tech/no...al-strength-on-your-mobile-phone-1001936.html
