It is a pure software layer that requires no physical installation and therefore requires little investment. Using TaKaDu, leaks can be detected in advance, before they become a critical problem and turn into a burst. As a result, water network operations are more water and energy efficient, while repairs expenses and damages are reduced.
How Water Network Monitoring Works
Traditional water network monitoring provides raw or barely-processed data from sensors measuring flow, pressure, and water quality indicators. At best, the utility's expert analysts and engineers are left to puzzle over this information with the aid of some fixed-bound alerts and rough rules of thumb. In the physical world, DMAs and pressure management are used to reduce water loss. Although advanced utilities have seen substantial benefits from this type of monitoring of physical network changes, its shortcomings mean that many costly failures can still go unnoticed. Raw SCADA readings contain the information that can reduce water loss, but such information is obscured by noisy readings, network operations activities, faulty meters, variable consumption, and many other complications.
TaKaDu's water network management identifies subtle clues in the data through a process of statistical analysis, rather than looking just at fixed absolute or percentage-change bounds. The network data is analyzed as a whole, not just as a collection of unrelated meters, and as data that reflects a continuous process. Repeating patterns and ongoing long-term changes can be discovered in the data; small leaks can be detected and treated, before they become a large burst. This approach means immediate cost-saving alerts about water loss and anomalies that would otherwise go undetected.
TaKaDu's Approach
TaKaDu's patented technology system takes the many signals transmitted by the network and cleans the data of network, meter, and SCADA noise. It then identifies the structure of routine network consumption and operation, and finds and categorizes irregular events and patterns. Instead of trying to learn about network health by using just night-line readings (with all the associated problems), network health is constantly re-assessed based on the previous analysis of network routine, while taking into account the huge variability and seasonality associated with water networks.
TaKaDu's water network management is powered by advanced algorithms and mathematical models (patent-pending technology) that identify patterns and correlate them to identify the events that really matter to the network operator. This approach requires no network changes, hardware additions or other field work. The system just makes better use of the existing data within the network.
Changing the Way Water Networks Are Monitored
Sophisticated water network management will change the way water networks are monitored and controlled. Utilities will deploy resources proactively and manage them in line with their needs.
TaKaDu's water network management is proven to prevent, weeks or months ahead of time, many significant events in real-world networks. It does so not by way of prediction, but rather by alerting utilities to the small changes that precede bursts and other anomalies. Events covered by TaKaDu range from multiple leaks and bursts, including invisible underground leaks which went unnoticed for months, to water theft from a fire hydrant used to fill a private swimming pool and unnecessary (and costly) pumping.
Water network management ensures a high-quality water supply to consumers while, at the same time, optimizing utility operations and energy consumption, and minimizing non-revenue water and leaks.