Recent advances in cellular technology offer ever more efficient and reliable wireless transmission of data between remote locations and central collection points. The appropriate telemetry solution is typically determined by the required data transfer frequency, the local cost and signal conditions.
- Accessing the data generated by real time monitoring devices is prohibitively costly and complex to achieve. Another inaccurate assumption. Historically, this may have been the case, with telemetry enabled data collected inside an organisation and expensive systems integration projects which were fed into an organisation’s proprietary systems.
Image 4 perceived barriers rather than real constraints:
- You need specialist skills to operate the equipment. This is not an accurate assumption. Monitoring technology has moved on in recent years to include portable equipment and hand-held instruments that can be operated with very limited device-based training.
- There are limitations to what you can test for. This is true, but the majority of the most significant influences on water quality are included, e.g. parameters such as dissolved oxygen, ammonia, pH, conductivity, turbidity and chlorophyll.
Currently on the horizon are devices for the real time monitoring of pesticides and phosphates. Elevated phosphor concentrations in surface waters increase the growth of phosphate-dependent organisms, such as algae and duckweed. These are organisms that use up large amounts of oxygen and prevent sunlight from entering the water, making for a hostile environment for other organisms.
- Difficult to get to, remote sites, and those in full view of the general public can restrict the use of this technology.
This is not true - power supply, equipment security and ability to transmit real time results are at the heart of these concerns.
Concerns over the need for access to a power supply in remote locations are largely unfounded, especially with the advances in solar panel-based energy generation technology.
From a security perspective - including the prevention of vandalism - static stations are typically located on the edge of farmers’ fields and out of the public gaze. If this is not possible, monitoring stations such as ‘walk-in kiosks’ can be fabricated in steel, to ensure expensive equipment is locked away. Some installations are also built to only allow for maintenance access to the instrumentation that they contain.
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However, the rise of the ‘sensor web’ has put pay to all of that. The phrase ‘sensor web’ is associated with a sensing system which relies on the internet as its means for carrying information from its source to a wide audience. Organisations can now readily enable access to their monitoring data through any internet enabled device such as a computer, Blackberry or PDA, either via their corporate website or a hosted service. Monitoring data can either be open to all who want it or restricted to a target audience through password protected portals.
Customer uptake Field-based monitoring solutions have been adopted to measure the environmental impact from large industrial installations, urban diffuse pollution and organisations that typically operate from large estates – including hospitals and airports.
Matt Loewenthal stresses that up-front consultation is necessary to ensure the right monitoring solution is designed to meet a customer’s specific set of circumstances. Loewenthal says: “You need to be clear as to the outcomes you are looking for, and therefore what you want to measure and why. Solutions can then be tailored to meet the specific monitoring need”.
First time users of real time monitoring techniques tend to have preconceived ideas as to the source of a water quality problem that they are looking to investigate and control. Loewenthal goes on to say: “It is important not to jump to conclusions in advance of getting hold of the data. You really need to investigate first”.
It transpires that not all of the early adopters of this technology have had a satisfactory experience, with many having to live with promises of solutions that in reality fall short of their monitoring needs. Loewenthal comments: “Anyone can build you a monitoring station but we take the approach that it is better to be honest up- front as to what can and can’t be achieved. We stay with our customers to make sure their monitoring solutions perform for the long term.”
BAA Airports Limited at Heathrow is one such organisation that has been supported by the NLS
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