I am new for this forum. I need some help to do my final final year project.
I am doing an automatic meter reading system for Electricity meters by GSM network by sending SMS. The important functionalities are; - sending sms through GSM network - Have to maintain common timing for all the people
So that i thought to use the GSM module for send SMS and GPS time for the timing requirement. I need to produce a low cost unit ultimately. I selected SIM548C since it has both GSM+GPS module. Is that selection is OK???
If not can you pls suggest a module for this requirement? But i need to be low cost. And also can you please suggest me what microcontrller i can use for this SIM548C?
Please help me. Your help will be very useful to me. thank you in advance.
Thank you for you suggestion.
Ok, I thought of going for same network providers GSM network. In that sense can you please suggest me cheapest GSM module that I can use for this requirement. Thank you.
But will AT+CCLK always work?
Does all GSM modules/phones support it? Does all network operators support it? Will you be able to get timezone information - and is it needed?
I hope that most of the GSM providers have this. I need only the time, since I have calculate the units consumed by user in one hour time duration. And the time has to be the same for all units.
No - it will not!
No - unfortunately, they do not!
The trouble with cheap stuff is that one of the first things to get cut is the documentation & support.
For a project like this, it is probably far more important that you get a well-documented, well-supported module.
Having a module that is cheap but unusable won't get you very far...
But one of the ultimate objetcive is to produce a unit with low cost. During th requirement analysis stage I found out the expected cost of final product have to be around 25USD. Generally the GSM/GPRS module itself is around 25$, so I am having some problem in the budgetting.:( I need only auomating SMS, in that sense I hope GSM module is enough, don't need GPRS. But unfortunately most of the modules are GSM+GPRS. Is there is GSM module only? will this reduction reduce the cost????! Can you suggest a solution for this problem??!
By the way if I can't asure that I can get time from GSM network providers, what can do for my timing requirement????!!
Please Help me... Thank you soo much.
No.
You told us this is a final-year college project; the goal of a final-year college project is to demonstrate that you can apply what you've learned during the course.
Of course, in your final Project Report, you could consider what would be required to take the concept into large-scale, low-cost volume production...
"... the expected cost of final product have to be around 25USD"
The only way you will achieve that kind of price-point is by manufacturing in huge volumes - clearly, you just can't do that in a final-year project!
"if I can't asure that I can get time from GSM network providers, what can do for my timing requirement?"
For a commercial project being deployed in huge volumes, you could try to negotiate with a network provider - but, again, that won't work with a final-year project.
There are many time-reference broadcasts around the world; eg, "MSF" in the UK: en.wikipedia.org/.../Time_from_NPL
BTW: on a per-byte basis, SMS does not (usually) work out as a "low-cost" channel...