Application of 4G Modem in Energy Management: Unlocking a New Paradigm for Energy Consumption Monitoring of Distributed Devices
Under the dual drivers of the global energy crisis and carbon neutrality goals, energy management is transforming from an extensive approach to a refined and intelligent one. As a core aspect of energy management, energy consumption monitoring of distributed devices essentially aims to optimize energy utilization efficiency and precisely control carbon emissions by collecting, transmitting, and analyzing equipment energy consumption data in real time. However, traditional monitoring solutions face challenges in meeting the demands of complex scenarios such as industrial parks, commercial buildings, and smart cities due to issues like high wiring costs, significant data delays, and protocol incompatibility.
Against this backdrop, 4G modem, with their three core advantages of "wireless transmission, protocol compatibility, and edge computing," have emerged as the "digital link" for energy consumption monitoring of distributed devices. This article will delve into the technical principles, application scenarios, and implementation paths of 4G modem, and explore how customized energy management platform solutions can assist enterprises in achieving cost reduction, efficiency enhancement, and green transformation.
A 4G modem (data transmission unit) is an industrial-grade wireless communication device based on 4G networks. Its core function is to convert analog or digital signals from on-site equipment into IP data packets and transmit them to a cloud platform via the 4G network, enabling remote interconnection between equipment and systems. In distributed energy consumption monitoring scenarios, 4G modems play the role of a "data transfer station":
Data Collection Layer: Connect to electricity meters, water meters, gas meters, sensors, and other equipment through industrial interfaces such as RS485 and Modbus RTU to collect parameters such as current, voltage, power, temperature, and humidity in real time.
Data Transmission Layer: Package the collected data into protocol formats such as MQTT and HTTP and upload it to an energy management platform via the 4G network, ensuring real-time and reliable data transmission.
Edge Computing Layer: Some 4G modems (such as the USR-G786) are equipped with built-in edge computing modules that can perform preliminary data preprocessing (such as filtering, calibration, and outlier removal) locally, reducing the computational pressure on the cloud.
Remote Control Layer: Support the issuance of control commands (such as equipment start/stop and parameter adjustments) through the cloud platform, enabling remote operation and maintenance and energy-saving optimization of equipment.
Wireless Deployment to Reduce Wiring Costs: Traditional wired monitoring solutions require laying a large number of cables, resulting in high costs and long construction periods. 4G modems, through wireless transmission, eliminate the need for wiring, making them particularly suitable for scenarios such as renovations of old buildings and equipment monitoring in remote areas. For example, an industrial park reduced wiring costs by 60% and shortened the construction period by 75% by deploying 4G modems.
Strong Protocol Compatibility to Break Down Equipment Silos: Distributed devices often adopt communication protocols from different manufacturers (such as Modbus, BACnet, and OPC UA), leading to difficulties in data intercommunication. 4G modems support multi-protocol conversion and can uniformly convert equipment data into standard formats (such as JSON and XML), enabling seamless integration between "heterogeneous equipment and cloud platforms."
Edge Computing Capabilities to Enhance Data Value: 4G modems can perform preliminary analysis of raw data locally (such as calculating equipment energy consumption trends and identifying abnormal energy consumption patterns) and only upload key data to the cloud, reducing data transmission volume and cloud storage pressure. For example, the USR-G786 supports local storage of 24 hours of data and automatic resending after network recovery, ensuring data integrity.
Industrial parks are major energy consumers, accounting for more than 60% of the country's total energy consumption. By deploying 4G modems, comprehensive monitoring of production equipment, public facilities, and distributed energy sources (such as photovoltaics and energy storage) within the park can be achieved:
Production Equipment Monitoring: Connect to high-energy-consuming equipment such as machine tools, air compressors, and injection molding machines to collect energy consumption data in real time. Combine with production plans (such as order volume and process parameters) to predict equipment energy consumption needs and optimize equipment start/stop strategies. For example, an automobile manufacturing plant monitored production line energy consumption through 4G modems, achieving an annual electricity savings of 1.2 million kWh and reducing carbon emissions by 800 tons.
Public Facility Control: Monitor the energy consumption of systems such as air conditioning, lighting, and elevators, and implement intelligent regulation based on environmental parameters (such as temperature and light). For example, in office areas, adopt linked control where "lights turn on when people are present and turn off when people leave," reducing lighting energy consumption by 30%.
Distributed Energy Management: Integrate data from photovoltaics, energy storage, and charging stations within the park, and generate optimal scheduling strategies through AI algorithms (such as prioritizing energy storage for power supply during peak electricity price periods and prioritizing grid connection when photovoltaic output is sufficient), improving new energy utilization. After application in a park, the new energy consumption rate increased from 75% to 92%.
Commercial buildings (such as shopping malls, office buildings, and hotels) account for more than 20% of urban total energy consumption, and their energy consumption monitoring needs to balance energy efficiency and user experience. 4G modems can assist in achieving the following functions:
Air Conditioning and Lighting Linkage: Dynamically adjust air conditioning temperature and lighting brightness in combination with human presence sensors and light sensors. For example, during peak hours on weekends in shopping malls, increase air conditioning cooling capacity by 15% while turning off some advertising lights in non-core areas, saving 10%-15% on electricity bills per month.
Peak-Valley Electricity Price Optimization: Automatically reduce energy consumption in non-core areas (such as lowering air conditioning temperature by 1°C and turning off some elevators) during peak electricity price periods (such as 10:00-15:00) and store cooling/heating during off-peak periods to reduce electricity costs. After application in an office building, annual electricity expenses decreased by 18%.
Tenant Energy Consumption Allocation: Generate energy consumption bills for tenants based on actual usage and support online payment, addressing the unfairness of "allocation based on area." After application in a shopping mall, tenant disputes decreased by 80%, and property fee collection rates increased to 98%.
Smart cities involve multiple domains such as transportation, environmental protection, and public facilities, and their energy management requires "cross-system and cross-regional" collaboration. 4G modems can be applied in the following scenarios:
Intelligent Traffic Signal Control: Connect to traffic cameras and sensors to monitor traffic flow and speed in real time, and optimize signal timing in combination with temperature data to reduce congestion. For example, after application in a city, the congestion index during peak hours decreased by 22%.
Environmental Quality Monitoring: Combine with air quality monitoring equipment and water quality monitoring equipment to monitor parameters such as temperature, humidity, PM2.5, and COD in real time, providing data support for environmental protection decision-making. A city built a "sky-ground integrated" monitoring network through 4G modems, shortening pollution warning response time to 15 minutes.
Intelligent Control of Public Facilities: Remotely monitor the energy consumption and status of streetlights, water pumps, and fans, and support one-click switching or timed control. For example, streetlights reduce brightness by 50% after 22:00, achieving an annual electricity savings of 300,000 kWh.
Among numerous 4G modem products, the USR-G786 launched by USR IoT has become the preferred solution for energy management scenarios due to its characteristics of "high stability, strong compatibility, and easy deployment." The following are its core advantages:
Multi-Network Support for Stable and Reliable Performance: Supports 4G/3G/2G full network compatibility for China Mobile, China Unicom, and China Telecom, with seamless network switching to ensure uninterrupted data transmission. For example, in weak signal scenarios such as remote mountainous areas or underground parking lots, the USR-G786 can automatically switch to the 2G network to maintain basic communication functions.
Dual Socket Transparent Transmission for Flexible Expansion: Supports two-way Socket transparent transmission mode, enabling simultaneous connection to two cloud platforms (such as an enterprise's own platform + a government regulatory platform) for data redundancy backup and multi-party sharing.
Edge Computing for Data Preprocessing: Built-in with 1000-byte data caching, it can store data locally when the network is abnormal and automatically resend it after network recovery; supports sending registration packets/heartbeat packets to ensure real-time updates of device online status.
Simple Configuration for Quick Start: Set module parameters through serial ports/SMS/network, and support remote configuration via WeChat mini-programs, eliminating the need for professional technicians to complete equipment deployment. For example, a park configured 100 USR-G786 devices in bulk through a WeChat mini-program in just 2 hours.
To achieve deep integration of 4G modems with energy management systems, customized optimization solutions are required. The following are key steps:
Define Objectives: Determine optimization priorities (such as reducing electricity costs, improving new energy utilization, and meeting carbon reduction requirements).
Identify Pain Points: Analyze issues with existing systems (such as high data latency, poor equipment compatibility, and high operation and maintenance costs).
Scenario Planning: Design differentiated solutions based on different scenarios such as industrial parks, buildings, and cities. For example, industrial parks need to focus on monitoring production equipment energy consumption, while commercial buildings need to balance energy efficiency and user experience.
4G Modem Selection: Choose appropriate models based on communication distance, data volume, and power consumption requirements (such as the USR-G786 for high-speed and low-latency scenarios; NB-IoT 4G modems for remote and low-power scenarios).
Protocol Configuration: Unify the communication protocols between terminal equipment, 4G modems, and cloud platforms (such as prioritizing the MQTT protocol due to its lightweight and low bandwidth usage).
Edge Computing Deployment: Deploy edge computing nodes at monitoring points to achieve local data preprocessing and reduce cloud transmission pressure.
Integration Development: Develop data collection modules, protocol conversion middleware, and control command issuance interfaces to ensure smooth data flow between systems.
Testing Verification: Conduct functional testing (such as data collection accuracy and control command response speed), performance testing (such as system stability under high-concurrency scenarios), and security testing (such as data encryption strength and access control effectiveness).
Simulation Exercises: Simulate scenarios such as droughts and floods in a test environment to verify the system's response capabilities.
Phased Deployment: Start with a small-scale pilot (such as 10 monitoring points) to verify the feasibility of the solution before full-scale promotion.
Operation and Maintenance Monitoring: Establish an operation and maintenance monitoring platform to view the operating status of 4G modems and sensors in real time, and set abnormal alarm thresholds (such as low soil moisture or equipment offline).
Iterative Optimization: Dynamically adjust monitoring parameters according to crop growth cycles (such as sowing, growing, and harvesting periods) to improve system adaptability.
The deep integration of 4G modems with energy management systems is a core step in building a smart energy system. Whether you aim to reduce electricity costs, improve new energy utilization, or meet carbon reduction requirements, we can provide you with customized distributed equipment energy consumption monitoring solutions and energy management platform recommendations.
Contact Us:
Visit our official website and fill out the requirement form. Our technical experts will contact you within 24 working hours.
Sample Testing Service: Submit your application requirements to obtain the opportunity to test samples and verify device performance in a real environment.
Case References: Download our white paper on energy industry solutions to learn about successful practices in similar projects.
The future of smart energy is here. Let us work together to reshape energy management methods with 4G modem technology and contribute to a green Earth and sustainable development!
