The Background
The client, a well-known water company, is in charge of cleaning contaminated water for marine life and supplying clean water to more than 10 million residents and visitors in a city that is both coastal and mountainous.
In order to better manage its extensive network of water distribution and wastewater treatment facilities, the company decided to implement an IoT solution. This approach uses Internet of Things to connect several pump stations, giving the control center access to real-time data for prompt decision-making.
Learn how IoT applications are revolutionizing waste and wastewater management.
The Challenges
Modernizing water pump stations comes with its own set of difficulties in the more interconnected world of today. There are several significant challenges to this project:
Complex Equipment Environment
Many devices, including pumps, PLCs, and variable frequency drives, are housed at the pump stations. These can occasionally harm equipment and interfere with transmission. Because of the severe weather in which the equipment operates—summer temperatures can exceed 60°C—very dependable communication technologies are required.
Remote Facility Management
Some facilities in the city are difficult to reach due to the mountainous terrain, therefore remote equipment management and reducing the requirement for dispatching staff are essential.
Diverse PLC Protocols
PLCs from several manufacturers, each with unique protocols and setups, are used in the pump stations. It is required to integrate these protocols and use MQTT to upload data to the monitoring center's cloud platform.
The Solution
Robust Communication Devices
The R3000 Lite industrial cellular router was deployed to connect the PLCs. With optical isolation, the R3000 Lite withstands the complex electromagnetic environment and operates reliably in extreme temperatures ranging from -40°C to 75°C.
Edge-to-Cloud Integration
Leveraging the Edge2Cloud functionality of RobustOS, the operating system of the R3000 Lite, the company easily developed applications to integrate various PLC protocols and transmit data to the cloud using MQTT.
Comprehensive Device Management
All deployed devices throughout the city may now be managed centrally thanks to Robustel's RCMS (Robust Cloud Management System). This greatly decreased operating costs and increased efficiency by enabling remote monitoring, firmware updates, and configuration modifications.
The Benefits
By implementing Robustel's IoT solution, the water company achieved:
Improved Operational Efficiency
Proactive maintenance, decreased downtime, and improved pump station efficiency were made possible by real-time data and remote management capabilities.
Reduced Operational Costs
Time and money were saved by reducing the requirement for on-site visits through remote monitoring and management.
Enhanced Reliability
Robust hardware and stable communication ensured continuous operation even in challenging environments.
Increased Sustainability
Effective water management techniques support prudent resource use and environmental preservation.
The Bottom Line
In addition to encouraging sustainable water management techniques, the water company significantly increased operational efficiency, reduced costs, and improved system dependability by deploying an IoT solution with reliable communication devices and cloud connectivity.
Learn more about Robustel's IoT solutions for the water and wastewater industry, contact us today.
