Florida smart metering firm Easymetering is collaborating with Qualcomm to modernise advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) across the USA with the industry’s first private LTE AMI 2.0 offering.

With Snapdragon SDX 35 modems with industrial features, Easymetering powers an AMI 2.0 offering and EzMGridEdge framework. This delivers a smart metering platform to bring intelligence, interoperability, flexibility and resilience to utility networks.

The private LTE strategy leverages Anterix’s 900MHz private wireless broadband for wide-area coverage and rural penetration. This provides utilities with reliable connectivity everywhere, while ensuring the scalability needed to support the growing demands of electrification, distributed energy resources (DERs) and customer engagement.

At its heart is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon SDX 35 with industrial features, tailored for mission-critical applications, that provide 4G and 5G cellular connectivity for public and private networks. In addition to supporting Anterix’s 900MHz private wireless broadband, the chipset also supports all LTE and 5G bands used by North American operators and other regions, which provides a comprehensive and robust way for the meter to connect to the utility cloud. The chipset can smartly and autonomously switch between different bands making it easier for metering vendors to manage connectivity.

Easymetering’s EzMGridEdge framework (easymetering.com/ezm-grid-edge/), running on the Snapdragon processor, transforms a smart meter into a grid-edge computer capable of hosting distributed AI applications and managing intelligence on both sides of the meter. In front of the meter there are outage detection, voltage optimisation, sag and swell event monitoring, and predictive maintenance for critical utility assets. Behind the meter sees real-time energy insights, appliance-level analytics, DER management including solar, EV charging and batteries, and customer-facing energy optimisation tools.

This dual-layer approach enables utilities to evolve AMI from data collection networks into distributed intelligence platforms that improve reliability, efficiency and customer experience.

The computer power required for these user cases is provided by the application CPU included inside the Snapdragon X35 that brings together compute and connectivity in one chipset. In addition to the 4G and 5G modem, it also includes a single core Arm Cortex CPU that provides processing power that is many times more than simple MCUs. Using this CPU inside the Snapdragon X35, Easymetering has been able to develop applications and run ML models on the 5G chipset.

EzMGridEdge is designed on Ansi and DLMS/Cosem international standards, ensuring seamless interoperability across utility back-end systems, grid devices and future technologies. This meter- and device-agnostic approach prevents vendor lock-in and allows utilities of all sizes to adopt AMI 2.0 with confidence.

“EzMGridEdge was designed to give utilities the flexibility and intelligence they need for the next generation of AMI,” said Byron Rojas, CEO at Easymetering (www.easymetering.com). “By combining interoperability, communications for private LTE, commercial bands and integrated device management, we’re enabling utilities to deliver distributed AI applications both in front of and behind the meter, while customers gain smarter, more reliable energy experiences.”

Beyond intelligence and interoperability, EzMGridEdge introduces a comprehensive management layer: with integrated meter, NIC and eSIM management with secure remote provisioning and updates, reducing field maintenance costs. Fail-over and fail-back capabilities allow smart meters to switch automatically between public LTE and private LTE, ensuring uninterrupted connectivity. Accelerated private LTE adoption lets utilities leverage public LTE infrastructure immediately while deploying their private LTE networks on a scale.

“Our Snapdragon processors extend Qualcomm’s leadership in AI and connectivity into the utility sector,” said Jeff Arnold, vice president at Qualcomm (www.qualcomm.com). “Partnering with Easymetering allows us to combine globally the wide reach of 900MHz with the high capacity of CBRS as well as public MNO bands, ensuring resilience and scalability as utilities modernise their grids.”

By working with Anterix, a specialist in private wireless broadband for critical infrastructure, Easymetering and Qualcomm are enabling utilities to maintain service continuity while building towards fully private LTE networks.

“This collaboration highlights the value of the ecosystem of utility-focused technologies that Anterix and our Anterix Active Ecosystem partners are curating, all centred on 900MHz private LTE,” said Steve Ryan, vice president at Anterix (anterix.com). “Together, we are giving utilities the tools they need to evolve AMI 2.0 into a platform that is interoperable, resilient and future-ready, supporting the growing complexity of the modern grid.”