Before the clock starts ticking

Last week’s blog focused on managing incidents once you become aware of them, noting how i2O’s eNet solution can support you in being more effective at this.

i2O Blog - Before the clock starts tickingRon Bartel’s article for IoT for All was our inspiration. Ron’s article includes a second diagram.

It’s about mitigating the risk of an incident arising. Or it could be a diagnostic tree. Whichever, it shows the value of smart network solutions in ensuring that you reduce the risk of problems arising and have the earliest possible indication of a problem before it impacts customers or escalates into a major issue.

Below, we have set out the traditional and smart solutions you can use against Ron Bartel’s triage path to illustrate their value:

Ron’s decision tree

Traditional solutions Smart solutions
Normal condition or Unexpected activity? Customers call to report bursts or loss of pressure or water quality problems

Find & fix crews identify leaks through a rolling geographic programme

Pressure, flow and acoustic loggers with contextualised alarm thresholds can be used to flag unexpected activity
Algorithms can be used to detect unexpected activity

You contact customers to alert them to problems

Find & fix activity is directed towards areas of greatest opportunity

Abnormal condition or Failure of mitigations? Time/risk based preventative maintenance Algorithms can be used to report on asset condition on the network

Maintenance is done on the basis of condition

Loss of mitigations or Lack of counter measures Crew dispatched to open/close valves or adjust settings Remote control of valves

Automatic optimisation by algorithm

There are 3 main components of smart solutions:

  • Instrumentation
  • Monitoring & Analytics
  • Remote control & Optimisation

Each of which is embodied respectively in i2O’s dNet, iNet and oNet solutions.