BASE STATION
Smart towers are ugly sticks Herald Sun March 15, 2012
AusNet Services in Victoria has deployed base stations (co-located on towers or placed on monopoles or custom-built towers) for 2.3 GHz transmissions to and from the smart meters in its WiMAX network. It has been reported that a minimum of 89 towers would be required. Smart Grid Australia, in its mid-2014 smart meter update, stated that AusNet Services has also extended its WiMAX network with a ‘public 3G network extension to 100,000 customers in outlying areas’.
WIMAX SMART METER ANTENNAS
According to the AMI Meter Field Survey conducted by EMC Technologies for the Victorian Government in 2011, most SP AusNet (now re-badged as AusNet Services) meters use an external antenna glued to the outside of the meter box. Some meters use dual WiMAX antennas ‘glued to either side of the AMI Meter housing on the inside of the meter box’ http://www.smartmeters.vic.gov.au/about-smart-meters/reports-and-consultations/ami-meter-em-field-survey-repor.
