Radio monitoring aids in optimising water delivery

Remote monitoring specialist Omniflex has completed a system revamp of legacy radio monitoring equipment for Lepelle Northern Water, used to monitor reservoirs and control remote pumps across the region. The new system comprises the latestgeneration, licence-free Teleterm remote terminal units.

These compact, fully radio-integrated units have universal inputs and outputs servicing analogue and digital signals from 12 up to hundreds of I/O. Flexible communications ports allow direct connection to field devices such as water meters or variable-speed drives using Modbus. A working power range of 9-30 VDC makes them the ideal product for battery-backed applications, enabling status reporting of mains power to the site and reservoir levels even during power outages.

“We took advantage of a high site, a secure area that sits atop an old mine dump, as the main repeater station,” explains Ian Loudon, international sales manager at Omniflex. “It was the line of sight from this structure that enabled us to transmit at 868 MHz, a licence-free frequency in South Africa, enabling us to reach all the intended targets and provide unrestricted options to add any new sites as and when required using the Teleterm range of products.”

Adds Loudon: “Radio monitoring systems of this sort have applications across the utilities industries that have service delivery commitments to consumers. Just as equipment failure in drinking water supply chains must be planned for and mitigated, power supply networks must also be monitored to allow swift action should a substation trip, and residential and industrial areas lose electricity.”