Are you satisfied with the service provided by the vending machine in your office? Have you checked the power consumption in your home on the web and adjusted your appliances to take advantage of non-peak electricity prices? Would the wireless device in your pocket notify you if your car was being stolen? Could the heat in your country house be automatically switched on earlier if you manage to beat the rush hour traffic out of the city?

Welcome to the world of wireless telemetry where machines can talk to each other and seem to have a mind of their own. As confusing and complex as it may seem, wireless telemetry can be defined as automatic transfer of data between two machines over a wireless network for the purpose of monitoring or control. As can be understood from this definition and the examples above, wireless telemetry is a technology that can be applied in many areas.

Mobitex technology is ideally suited for remote monitoring applications, which typically involve small but sometimes frequent data exchanges. Mobitex provides a cost-effective way to monitor and control remote machines from a central location. Examples include vending and ticket machines, traffic lights and building control systems, which may be monitored and controlled across Mobitex networks, in many cases eliminating the need for site visits. However, telemetry applications don't stop here but can be profitably deployed in utility networks both for monitoring and controlling the network and for automatic reading of gas, electricity and water meters.

Mobitex offers end-to-end solutions and turnkey applications for the utility sector. Based on industry standards and using off-the-shelf components wherever possible, these solutions have been designed to meet the specific requirements of the utility sector. Terminals vary with the applications but are typically integrated units that include both a Mobitex modem and equipment specific to the application, such as a data concentration unit (DCU) for automatic meter reading.