Image based similarity detection in mechanical registers

Water leakage detection at the household level is going to become one of the most challenging goals in the fields of water metering and smart sensors. While sudden leakage seems to be easier to be noted, the small one is giving researchers a hard time. The main topic of this paper is the digital processing of mechanical register images to provide water flow rate metrics, which can allow small leakage detection. The register images are automatically gathered by an electronic add-on device, which is also featured with a short range antenna to communicate with a gateway. The image processing techniques and experimental test results are finally presented and discussed. The authors' research is funded by the European Association of National Metrology Institutes (EURAMET) within the European Metrology Program for Innovation and Research (EMPIR).