From the Traditional Multimeter to the "Wireless Multimeter Networking"

New functionalities can be added to traditional multimeter with a cost increase of less than 10$ thanks to recent RF technologies. In the proposed solution, many multimeters can cooperate to achieve a simple, multiplexed, remote measurement system. Thanks to a low-cost USB interface, the wireless multimeter network can also operate as a multi-probe data logger. Actually, an extensive use of wireless connection can decrease battery life, if compared with traditional portable devices. In fact, a noisy and crowded channel obliges to retransmit data, and wireless section consumption could become the most critical aspect. For this reason, experimental results about battery life are discussed here