SCADA, Telematics & GPS Technologies

RS Hydro have recently won two seperate contracts to supply anWater Quality Sonde with Remote Monitoring Telemetry Troll Link Systemd install the Troll 9500 multiparameter water quality sonde in remote locations in Wales. Two further units are being supplied as stand-alone platforms.

The clients are using the Troll 9500 XP Professional platform along with the Troll Link solar powered telemetry system with plug and play sensors including turbidity, level, temperature, conductivity and pH/ORP. One of the clients is using the Troll 9500 to provide an early warning alarm to inform the client if any of their remedial works on a dam face are having an influence on the water quality of the compensation flow from the reservoir. The other client is using 4 units to measure water quality in a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) over a period of two years.

Both clients are using RS Hydro’s FlowView platform to provide all the data on a daily basis. Should any of the alarm thresholds be exceeded, text (SMS) messages will be sent direct to the client. It is possible to view a demo of the Troll 9500 on our local river. Before you think there are errors in the conductivity readings, they are correct! The Salwarpe RIver is partly fed by Droitiwch Spa’s naturally occuring brine baths, hence at low flows, conductivity rises dramatically.

Source: RS Hydro

The system uses two processors and a camera — called, appropriately, the Front Camera System — mounted near the rear-view mirror. One processor identifies familiar shapes, symbols and digits on common road signs and conveys the information to the driver via a digital display in the gauge cluster. The other alerts the driver when he or she strays from the lane.

“These new features follow Opel’s philosophy of enhancing driving excitement by assisting drivers without reducing their level of control,” says Hans Demant, managing director of GM Europe Engineering. “That means the system gives the drivers information, but it doesn’t intervene.”

We’re not entirely sure why GM thinks it’s easier to read a speed-limit sign on a tiny display between your speedometer and tachometer than on a big road sign. Dement says “a car that can see and warn the driver well in advance of potential hazards is another important step in our long-term accident prevention strategy.” GM Europe also is developing vehicle-to-vehicle communication systems that allow cars to exchange information about their position and speed.

Source: WIRED

Graphic by GM.

The AVR-Based House Monitoring System is designed around the ATmega8515 microcontroller. The system offers hard-wired and wireless control along with a 1-Wire temperature network. A web-based, user-friendly interface enhances the project. [source]

AVR-Based House Monitoring System - [Download Project] [View Abstract]

Wow, this could grow into something quite awesome. Pachube is -

a web service that enables people to tag and share real time sensor data from objects, devices and spaces around the world, facilitating interaction between remote environments, both physical and virtual. The idea is to make it relatively simple to “plug” together interactive projects and buildings around the world, as well as to create embeddable graphs of sensor feeds.

Only eighteen feeds conected at the time of this post - but the datastreams are already quite interesting - from a Japanese living room to a swing in Sweden. Head over to the site to learn how to connect your own sensor/stream - Pachube

Source: MAKE

1983: Pioneer 10 becomes the first human-made object to pass outside Pluto’s orbit and leave the central solar system.

Pioneer 10 must be considered one of the most successful spacecraft of all time. Designed for deep-space exploration, which at the time of its launch in 1972 meant pretty much anything beyond the moon, Pioneer 10 achieved a number of firsts while sending back valuable data along the way. Among the milestones:

• Following liftoff, Pioneer 10 achieved a breakaway speed of 32,400 mph, making it the fastest human-made object to leave the Earth. It shot past the moon in a mere 11 hours and crossed Mars’ orbit in just 12 weeks. By the time it reached Jupiter on Dec. 3, 1973, Pioneer 10 was moving along at a crisp 82,000 mph.
• On July 12, 1972, Pioneer 10 became the first spacecraft to pass through the asteroid belt. NASA described this as a “spectacular achievement” and, considering that asteroids the size of Alaska hurtle through the belt at 45,000 mph, there’s no reason to dispute the claim.
• Upon reaching Jupiter, Pioneer 10 sent back the first direct observations and close-up images of the solar system’s largest planet. It was data from Pioneer 10 that confirmed that Jupiter is mostly a liquid planet.
• After clearing Pluto’s orbit (considered the boundary of the planetary solar system in the decades before astronomers decided Pluto isn’t really a planet), Pioneer 10 continued to send back valuable data regarding solar wind, until its scientific mission ended in 1997.

All attempts to contact Pioneer 10 were terminated following the spacecraft’s last transmission of telemetry data on April 27, 2002. Nevertheless, NASA’s Deep Space Network received a final, faint signal on Jan. 22, 2003. It’s been silence ever since.

Although lost to contact forever, Pioneer 10 continues its endless journey through interstellar space. It’s headed in the general direction of Aldebaran, the brightest star in constellation Taurus, forming the bull’s eye. According to NASA, it will take about 2 million years for Pioneer 10 to reach Taurus.

So Pioneer 10’s mission, originally intended to go 21 months, lasted 25 years and change. As project manager Larry Lasher said, “I guess you could say we got our money’s worth.”

Source: NASA

Green Edge Systems, Inc., a trusted leader of HACCP temperature monitoring and control solutions, performance monitoring and energy savings for school food services presents it DataNet state-of-the-art affordable hardware products, software and communication platforms in the TEXAS ASSOCIATION OF SCHOOL Nutrition (TASN) conference and exhibition , June 10-11, 2008 Corpus Christi, Texas

The DataNet Wireless Intelligent HACCP temperature monitoring system is the most advanced reliable and affordable Zigbee wireless sensor system. Read more…

Here’s a post from the Cisco blog on how IT is affecting Machine-to-Machine communications…

I’ve been thinking about how machine-to-machine (M2M) communications will evolve, and what it will mean for the network. We seven billion humans think we’re the majority, with about one billion of us connected to the Internet and more than three billion chatting on cell phones. But there’s another population that overshadows us: Machines. By some counts, there are 10 times as many of them as of us – over 70 billion. Most of them are not yet connected, but this will change.

Cars, irrigation systems, and weather sensors are just the beginning. Proprietary, legacy systems are converging on IP due to cost efficiencies and benefits of standardization. New technologies such as Zigbee promise to tie together disparate devices in a cost-effective mesh. Read more on this article at Cisco Blog

Efficient management of water in some of the driest, most drought affected farming areas in NSW has reached a new world standard thanks to automated ordering systems that allow irrigation farmers to control water delivery at the touch of a keypad.

Coleambally Irrigation Co-operative Limited (CICL) is a co-operative business that manages infrastructure, systems and services for delivering water to and from more than 450 farms in the NSW Riverina region.

The CICL sources its water from the Murrumbidgee river, through an open channel system whose main canal can flow at up to 6000 megaliters a day. The majority of farms it services are 200 hectare farms growing large area crops such as rice, sorghum, soy beans, maize, wheat and barley.

The CICL system delivers water to farms through some 700km of channels, driven emission free by gravity. The farms that CICL services have suffered their worst two years on record for water allocations, and have endured severe drought conditions since the turn of the century.

But an automated water management system from Rubicon Systems, rolled out in 2003 and due for completion next year, is helping to turn the tide in the farmer’s favor when it comes to efficient delivery and use of water.

There are about 700 outlets in the CICL system, 100 of which are automated FlumeGates that, upon receiving an order for water via a farmer’s computer, can deliver precisely the amount of water required without any human interaction, and in a fraction of the time it would take under manual control.

CICL’s senior operations engineer, Austin Evans, said the automated outlets can deliver higher flow rates which help the farmers water their farms more efficiently. They can get their water on quickly or turn it off from their laptops, improving their field efficiency. Read more on this article.

The idea of growing crops or plants in an environmentally controlled area has existed since Roman times. Some of the early attempts required enormous amounts of work to exclude the elements – and even more work to provide adequate heat and security. Today, greenhouses are high technology production facilities growing crops managed by computer controlled systems. These systems provide screening installations, heating, cooling, lighting and harvesting management systems. Despite dramatic improvements, challenges still face today’s greenhouse owners: maximizing production efficiency, product quality, post-harvest operations and even reducing environmental footprint. To address these challenges, automation, robotics, precision agriculture, sensors and other advanced technologies are being planted today in the most modern greenhouses. (more…)