Telemetric rain gauge network in Athens
Intro
Since the early 1960ies Athens has received an extensive sewer system, measuring approx. 6000 km in length, with an additional storm water works of 300 km in length. The responsibility to manage this system was transferred to a newly established company, EYDAP, in 1980.
Since Athens is frequently hit by torrential rains, this system of canals is quite often brought to its limits and beyond. Data was desperately needed!
The Task
To collect this much needed data, a network of rainfall stations had to be established at certain crucial locations. These stations had to be fully automatic and needed to accurately record the intensity of rainfall and its duration, and transmit that data wirelessly back to the headquarter of EYDAP in near real-time.
The objectives of the project included the use of data provided by this system to evaluate the effects of rainfall on the functioning of the sewer pipelines and canals (parasitic inputs).
The Solution
EYDAP has selected ScientAct, ADCON's Greek distributor, to install a network of 30 telemetry stations in the greater region of Athens. Since the entire area was well covered by cell phone networks, the A757 addPULSE GPRS RTU was selected for the task. Adcon's RG1 rain gauges with 0.2mm resolution monitor all liquid precipitation. All stations are powered by Adcon's standard 540mA solar panel. In addition a "Data Download Center" and custom made Data Processing Software was installed and made operational.
Summary
Since its inception the network is functioning very well, recording rainfall in very short intervals and providing data with absolutely no gaps in the time series. All authorized staff of EYDAP has online access to this data according to the network administrator’s safety regulations. Particular emphasis has been given to the security of data during both the design and the implementation stages. The learnings from this network are used to identify weak spots in the network, to constantly improve the sewer system, and to take timely action when excessive rainfall occurs.
ADCON Products deployed in this project: