Emerging Sensing Technologies for Future Intelligent Water Management Systems Johan Groen Chief Technology Officer Confluence Water Conference May 20 th, 2013
Water and Xylem Span the Entire Cycle of Water $4B annual sales Respected and wide water focused product portfolio 12,500 employees worldwide Unmatched Global Presence Serving customers in 150+ countries 2
What are the Challenges Responsible use of resources Stability of operations Closed loop and real-time Regulatory and operational 3
Where do we Sense in the Water Cycle Water Quality Temperature Salinity Spectroscopy Flow ph Pressure Level Current/Tide Weather Air Quality Rainfall Sensors Data loggers Analyzers Spectrophotometers Meters Field Sondes Titrators Refractometers 4
Current Environmental Monitoring Trends Hydraulic Monitoring flow, pressure and acoustic data for general information on the hydraulic state of the system and for abnormal event detection Monitoring pumping stations flow, pressure & energy use for process control and optimization Water Quality Monitoring treatment processes chemicals for process control Monitoring non-specific regulated parameters (rivers, ground water, sea water, drinking water) for Compliance reporting Monitoring potential contaminants as part of an early warning system ( Homeland Security ) 5
Emerging Contaminant Sources requiring New Sensing Approaches USC Dana and David Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences 6
What are the Major Sensing Challenges? Current gaps Lack of adequate monitoring data Analytics mostly being performed offline Non-calibrated environmental models; lack of representative simulation tools for treatment plant, water networks and other eco-systems Operations performed without impact assessment Optimizations performed in isolation (energy efficiency) Bridging the gaps Fundamental backbone Real-time multi-parameter monitoring Integrated intelligence Real-time analytics End-to-end decision support Online environmental modeling Integration with legacy systems Integrated Data Backbone Secure data Enterprise-scale sharing Integrated devices 7
Current State of Technology Sensor Suite: Limited number of field or on-line sensors Large number of lab based tests Resolution: High temporal resolution at small number of locations and parameters Low resolution for lab measurements Cost/Size: $1K - >$100K per system Handheld to large platfomrs 8
Trends in Sensing Technology New Sensing Technologies Biosensors Chemo-optical sensors Sensor-on-chip Automation Autonomous Platforms Smart Networks Auto & Remote Troubleshooting Sensor Networks Sensor miniaturization Real-time telemetry Remote trouble shooting 9
Trends towards Real-Time Sensing and Decision Support New multi-parameter sensing technology Lower cost, lower power consumption, lower maintenance with higher reliability and robustness Real-time integration of sensing data Hydraulic, energy & water quality in predictive environmental models For example, integration of flow and pressure data in a real-time hydraulic model of water supply network in Singapore) Real-time data analytics through a big-data cloud based infrastructure Remote operation and control of Water supply systems and treatment plants Smart Water Grid through dense distribution network monitoring for more efficient operation and management 10
Trends towards Real-Time Sensing and Decision Support Remote Sensing GIS Satellite Imagery Data Analytics Data engines to process real-time data Advanced visualization tools 11
Emerging Trends or Push in Environmental Sensing Multi-parameter sensing technology Monitor all required parameters on demand, can harvest energy from the environment, can analyze data on spot and get optimal decisions based on machine learning algorithms Real-time data analytics Big-data cloud based IT infrastructure with all devices have an IP address and can talk multi-way with applications on the Cloud Smart sensors and devices Close-the-loop for remote operation and control of Water supply systems and treatment planets (replacing PLC) Smart pumps, smart pipe or smart valves with integrated sensing technology. For example, pump that sense the water, provide information, sends alerts in case of abnormality, and change it s status as required Automatic cloud-driven response to intrusion events System detects the contamination, isolates the part of the network, disinfects the contaminated water and sends notifications to customers 12
From Opportunity to Implementation Small-size companies and incubators face challenges in the scale-up phase Technology needs to be proven to be valid for full-scale operations Validation needs to be relevant to application environment (market / geography) Substantial capital required to commercialize technology beyond 1 st installation Partnering around scale-up to ensure global process integration and commercialization capability post-validation (or prototyping) 13
Systems to Monitor Water Cycle and Use Reliability Stability Predictability 14
Summary Importance of sensing in the water cycle Increased efficiency requirement (less variability, reduced operational costs) Enhanced environmental regulations Current state of sensing technology Mostly linear water mgmt systems with off-line sensing Selective data availability and reliability Future sensing technologies and opportunities Closed loop and real-time water operations Insitu sensing, integrated sensors and prediction Smart sensing: Bio, chem-optical and miniaturization 15
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