Automated measurements allows optimized use of water resources

Niclas Brodin, CEO at BEE Automation started his business in 2020. Mr. Brodin and his employees have a long background and great experience within automation from various industries. One of their latest projects was for a municipality in Sweden. The municipality was looking for a way to automate the measurements of their raw water levels to better use their natural resources and contacted BEE Automation for the job. 

 

 

The need of continuous automated measurements of water levels

BEE Automation was contacted by the municipality due to the growing interest in the region from tourism and small-scale industries. This has led to a water shortage as the natural water resources have become strained. Managing the water resource has therefore become increasingly important.

The municipality was looking for an automated way to increase the frequency and number of measuring points to collect data about their ground water levels. Previously the measurements were done manually, and only a few that were done automatically. 

The data from the manual measuring points were collected on an interval of weekly or even monthly basis and the data would not provide sufficient information for a qualified analysis.

 

“The LoRa solution is of great importance to be able to collect data on a high frequency and thereby being able to make an educated and data-driven decision of how to use the water supply wisely..."

 

Pre-study of the conditions for a new solution

Before starting the project, BEE Automation did a pre-study of the communication opportunities for transferring data to a central hub from geographically spread access points with a limited access to power supply. “One important parameter for the municipality was for them to own their data. Another consideration was the locations of the measuring points which had a large geographical ” says Niclas Brodin.

BEE Automation found a solution with Beijer Electronics using data communication based on LoRa Gateways. The LoRa network protocol allows you to use license-free radio frequencies to send and receive information between LoRa gateways in a network, which will minimize operating costs while still ensuring a robust and reliable wireless communication.

Niclas Brodin, CEO at BEE Automation and Anders Eld, Automation engineer at BEE Automation

 

Understanding the water flow by enabling an analysis of data

With the new solution the municipality are now able to continuously monitor data from over 70 measuring points in a central system, providing full overview of the actual status of the raw water source. In the LoRa units, data is logged every 30 seconds allowing detailed analysis and follow-up.

“The LoRa solution is of great importance to be able to collect data on a high frequency and thereby being able to make an educated and data-driven decision of how to use the water supply wisely. This means they can predict the input of raw water and avoid low water reservoir. It can also give the municipality an overview of how the water flows, which helps in many aspects of how to use our natures resources.” says Niclas Brodin, CEO at BEE Automation.

 

“I have been in contact with Beijer Electronics for almost 20 years, and in this project, we found a fantastic solution with the LoRa connection. It allows us to connect remote locations without wiring, without licensing costs and with a secure data transmission - which is optimal in a situation like this! ..."

 

Improving the liability of water supply

The municipality have automated and upgraded the data collection from the raw water source. This allows them to analyze data, optimize usage, monitor, and predict the water flow. With limited raw water resources, the solution will improve the liability of the supply for the people and the industries in the region.

 

Complies with the EU regulation of cyber security

“Another important aspect of the solution is the compliance of the NIS-directive (The Directive on security of network and information systems). The NIS-directive is part of the EU-wide legislation on cyber security, also includes drinking water supply. With the updated data communication solution, this municipality is now living up to these the EU standards on cyber security.” says Niclas Brodin. 

 

Opportunities with data communication

“I have been in contact with Beijer Electronics for almost 20 years, and in this project, we found a fantastic solution with the LoRa connection. It allows us to connect remote locations without wiring, without licensing costs and with a secure data transmission - which is optimal in a situation like this! Beijer Electronics has contributed with great expertise of data communication, and we have been able to use the LoRa solution as a redundant network for another customer, which is another great use case. Next, we will be offering this to a customer in real estate.” says Niclas Brodin, CEO at BEE Automation.

 

Learn more about LoRa Private Gateway used in BEE Automation’s solution:

 

 

Industrial LoRa Private Gateway

The LoRa network protocol allows you to use license-free radio frequencies to send and receive information between LoRa gateways in a network, which will minimize operating costs while still ensuring a robust and reliable wireless communication.