Coastal Monitoring and

Infrastructure Investment

SWIG Conference:

Coastal Pollution Monitoring

27th January 2016

Kevin Fitzgibbon

Coordinator

Water Systems & Services Innovation Centre

Nimbus, CIT

Challenges: Sea Level Rise

One UN IPCC AR5 scenario

(BUT: the consensus-approach discounts empirical models

in favour of physical models – underestimated?)

Challenges: Coastal Erosion

Retreating Coastlines

Challenges: Rainfall

• More very wet winter days & river flash floods

• Greater risk of coastal storm surge flooding

Challenges: Agriculture

End of Agriculture Quotas

&

Food Harvest 2020more pollution risk, diffuse sources

All factors pointing to: Higher Risk of Nutrient and

Turbidity Pollution in Coastal & River areas

It wasn’t me...

Responses: new thinking

Lee Catchment Flood Risk Assessment and Management Study

…all driven by… Data

The Internet of Things…

Devices/Things Networks Software &

Data Analytics

Applications

& Services

…happens in Nimbus

Interlude: What We Do

Commercialisation Supports and Spin-out

Trials

Prototype Development

Commercial Validation and Funding

Idea development and filtering

€

Interlude: Our Process

…with over 90 researchers and developers,

and lots of industry experience

Projects in all aspects of Data Monitoring Systems

+ -

Sensors Electronic

system

Platform Wireless

Comms

Data !

Project Examples

+ + +

Innovative smart water chip for in-situ analysis of water born

elements, compounds, and pathogens.

Samples are analysed optically using micro fluidic and micro

photonic channels in a glass chip.

Innovation Voucher and Innovation Partnership Project.

Smart Water Chip In-situ Water Analysis

Hydrolight Sensors

n-harvest n-base n-Edison n-PV

n-bed

n-nodeCC n-node24

n-U35 n-U68

General Module bb ModuleRF Module

n-mote electronic system

n-mote electronic system

Low Cost Monitoring Buoy – Environmental Water Quality

Real-time monitoring of water quality

parameters

Low-cost low-maintenance platforms for

continuous monitoring

Using the n-mote system for LoRa & 3G

data comms

Version 1 part funded by Cork City &

Cork County Councils

Version 2 funded by Intel

Monitoring Buoy Platform

LoRa Comms Infrastructure

• Low-power long range LoRa communications

• Enabling infrastructure for data capture

• Will allow real-time monitoring in Cork Harbour

Proposed Cork Harbour LoRa Network

Pervasive Nation Project funded by SFI

A Key Element of Communications Infrastructure

Facilitating Research and Cork Smart Gateway initiatives

Very valuable addition to Coastal Monitoring toolkit for Cork

Conclusion

• Using ‘Systems of Systems’ thinking - a Smart

Internet of Things approach

• Developing sensors, systems, platforms and

communications infrastructure

• Creating commercially viable products and

services to generate economic growth and job

creation

WSSIC & Nimbus –

The Water Systems &

Services Innovation Centre

Thank You