Uplink routing without routing table

An advanced metering system mesh network with self-optimizing uplink communications, comprising:

• a central facility;
• and
• a plurality of end devices, with at least some of said end devices comprising metrology devices, and at least some of said end devices comprising cell relays which provide communications between others of said end devices and said central facility, with each end device configured for bi-directional communications with said central facility via an associated one of said cell relays;
• wherein each end device is configured to compute an average local propagation delay for each one-hop link for uplink communications from itself towards its associated cell relay, to compute the global average propagation delay along each uplink path from itself to its associated cell relay, to select for itself the lowest value of global average propagation delay to define its own optimized global propagation delay value, and to conduct uplink communications using the path corresponding to the selected value,
• whereby uplink communications from said end devices to said central facility are optimized without requiring storage of a routing table.

A metrology device for use with an advanced metering system mesh network with self-optimizing uplink communications, and including a central facility, a plurality of end devices, with at least some of such end devices comprising such metrology devices, and at least some of such end devices comprising cell relays which provide communications between others of such end devices and the central facility, with each end device configured for bi-directional communications with such central facility via an associated one of such cell relays, said metrology device comprising:

• a metrology portion configured to measure consumption of a utility commodity;
• a transmitter portion configured to transmit consumption information and other data;
• and
• a receiver portion configured to receive information from other network devices;
• wherein said transmitter portion and said receiver portion are configured to compute an average local propagation delay for each one-hop link for uplink communications from said metrology device towards its associated cell relay, to compute the global average propagation delay along each uplink path from said metrology device to its associated cell relay, to select for itself the lowest value of global average propagation delay to define its own optimized global propagation delay value, and to conduct uplink communications using the path corresponding to the selected value,
• whereby uplink communications from said metrology device to a central facility of an associated advanced metering system mesh network are optimized without requiring storage of an uplink routing table in said metrology device.