IoT solution for smart water distribution networks based on a low-power wireless network, combined at the device-level: A case study

•Low-power procedures of IEEE 802.15.4g and NB-IoT increase total life of batteries.•Smart meters have evolved letting advanced metering infrastructures to raise.•Dual nodes employ DLS to reduce energy expenditure of the clusters.•IEEE 802.15.4g extends coverage while NB-IoT minimize retransmissions.•Random and predefined setups need to be assessed, with quietly different results. Wireless systems enable the implementation and deployment of efficient Internet of Things (IoT) solutions in various applications such as smart cities, smart industry, smart transportation, or agriculture 4.0. The low power consumption of battery powered devices provides long system lifetime. Taking advantage of the energy consumption reduction mechanisms of the IEEE 802.15.4g and Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT) standards, this work develops a combined wireless network with application to smart metering for water distribution systems. The end devices used for reading water meters transmit their measurements through cluster heads with dual wireless connectivity. This combined network also finds application in other environments, such as industrial areas with a large geographical extension. Experimental results and simulations results obtained with two demonstrators show an estimate of battery life of more than a decade for those nodes with the highest power requirements.