01 Nov 2017

Anglian Water awards sewage spill monitoring contact to Radio Data Network

Radio Data Network’s FDT (Flow Detection Transducer), which has already played a key role in Anglian Water’s Event Duration Monitoring (EDM) 1 programme for combined sewer overflows (CSOs) since 2012, has been selected to play a key part in the water utility’s EDM2 programme to monitor the duration of spills at critical CSOs where 2-minute reporting is now mandated by the Environment Agency (EA) because spillage events of short duration were being missed during the 15 minute reporting interval mandated in EDM1.

Anglian Water cited the FDT’s ability to work almost anywhere thanks to its independence from the cellular networks and the use of secure Ofcom licenced radio spectrum as a reason for the contract award and the industry across the UK has been reporting a marked decline in 2G, GPRS and 3G coverage from 2016/2017 during the upgrade of many regions to 4G. The FDT works over TETRA, DMR or satellite and its use of lean data protocols allows it to have a battery life of 7-10 years, compared with 6-16 months for a GSM/GPRS + Ultrasonic Head combined system.

The FDT’s data is presented as a simple flow/no-flow binary signal via its Gateway Receiver as volt free contacts. Radio Data Network claims that this makes it ideal for interfacing to exiting telemetry / SCADA without the need for investment in software, SIM cards or the fear of cyber attack.

The company also says that many hundreds of its FDT units have exceeded five years in service life without a single failure due to premature failure or moisture ingress.