Project

iKann

Developing an inspection system for sewerage systems

Digitalisation

Climate change poses new challenges not only to urban planning and development but also to companies who specialise in the maintenance of infrastructure such sewerage systems. In procet iKann, the partners work on optimising the inspection of the sewerage system. To this end, they are developing low-cost sensors called Lab on Chip (LOC), which float on the wastewater and gather specific data from the environment.

Starting Point

Climate change poses new challenges not only to urban planning and development but also to companies who specialise in the maintenance of infrastructure such sewerage systems. After heavy rain, especially, great quantities of stormwater and all sorts of big and small debris gathers in the sewage system and it is thus necessary to carefully inspect it as many as thirty times per year, otherwise, the accumulation of deposits on the pipes can impair the capacities of the system and lead to backflow or flooding. There are already different approaches and technologies for the inspection of retention systems, but not one of them has been able to significantly reduce the enormous inspection costs.

Our Solution

In procet iKann, the partners work on optimising the inspection of the sewerage system. To this end, they are developing low-cost sensors called Lab on Chip (LOC), which float on the wastewater and gather specific data from the environment. Part of the system components are floating and underwater LOCs as well as gateways that transmit the sensor data to a superordinate infrastructure using a radio link. Using a secure transmission software and a smart data platform to process the sensor data, the sewerage system operators obtain fundamental data about the current conditions of the system. Initially, the sensors will be conditioned to gather physical data such as flow velocity or water temperature; the analysis of the biochemical characteristics of the wastewater is the goal of follow-up projects. Using the geographic mapping of potential problem areas in a sewerage system, the necessary maintenance measures can be taken in a timely fashion, thus avoiding breakdowns.