Double EU H2020 grant success for CWS

Aqua3S (awarded 23rd January 2019)

Aqua3S (Enhancing Standardisation strategies to integrate innovative technologies for Safety and Security in existing water networks, 2019-2022) targets water safety and security, aiming to standardise existing sensor technologies complemented by state-of-the-art detection mechanisms for drinking water networks.

In Aqua3S, sensors are deployed in water supply networks and sources, supported by complex software for enhanced detection. Measurements are supported by videos from Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), satellite images and social media observations from citizens that report low-quality water in their area (e.g. by colourisation), creating also social awareness and an interactive knowledge transfer. Semantic representation and data fusion provides intelligent DSS alerts and messages to the public through first responders’ mediums. The proposed technical solution leads to an integrated platform, which is designed to offer a very effective detection system, including business considerations (return over investment ratio, market entry, standardisation of the proposed technologies).

The total project budget is 6.0M Euros, is due to begin in June 2019 for a duration of 36 months and involves 23 partners from 11 countries, with 7 pilot Use Cases across Europe. It is coordinated by CERTH (Information Technologies Institute, Centre for Research & Technology Hellas). The Scientific and Technical Manager for the whole project will be Dr Lydia S. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia (University of Exeter, Centre for Water Systems). The University of Exeter is leading the work related to IO3 (Early Warning & Decision Support Systems), which includes 3D-visualisation, Visual analytics and Water crisis Assessment for Decision Support). The grant for the University of Exeter amounts to €527K.

Fiware4Water (awarded 23rd December 2018)

FIWARE is a smart solution platform, funded by the EC (2011-16) as a major flagship PPP, to support SMEs and developers in creating the next generation of internet services, as the main ecosystem for Smart City initiatives for cross-domain data exchange/cooperation and for the NGI initiative. So far little progress has been made on developing specific water-related applications using FIWARE, due to fragmentation of the water sector, restrained by licensed platforms and lagging behind other sectors (e.g. telecommunications) regarding interoperability, standardisation, cross-domain cooperation and data exchange.

Fiware4Water (FIWARE for the Next Generation Internet Services for the WATER sector, 2019-2022) intends to link the water sector to FIWARE by demonstrating its capabilities and the potential of its interoperable and standardised interfaces for both water sector end-users (cities, water utilities, water authorities, citizens and consumers), and solution providers (private utilities, SMEs, developers). Specifically we will demonstrate it is non-intrusive and integrates well with legacy systems. In addition to building modular applications using FIWARE and open API architecture for the real time management of water systems, Fiware4Water also builds upon distributed intelligence and low level analytics (smart meters, advanced water quality sensors) to increase the economic (improved performance) and societal (interaction with the users, con-consensus) efficiency of water systems and social acceptability of digital water, by adopting a 2-Tier approach: (a) building and demonstrating four Demo Cases as complementary and exemplary paradigms across the water value chain (Tier#1); (b) promoting an EU and global network of followers, for digital water and FIWARE (cities, municipalities, water authorities, citizens, SMEs, developers) with three complementary Demo Networks (Tier#2). The scope is to create the Fiware4Water ecosystem, demonstrating its technical, social and business innovative potential at a global level, boosting innovation for water.

The total project budget is 5.0M Euros, is due to begin in June 2019 for a duration of 36 months and involves 15 partners from 7 countries and 4 Demo Cases across Europe. It is coordinated by OIEAU (Office International de l’Eau, France). The Scientific and Technical Manager for the whole project will be Dr Lydia S. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia (University of Exeter, Centre for Water Systems). South West Water is also a project partner, providing a Demo Case on smart water (Cranbrook, Exeter). The University of Exeter is leading the work related to smart water applications and to the adaptation of EPANET-p to FIWARE. The grant for the University of Exeter amounts to €405K.

In both Aqua3S and Fiware4Water, the Centre for Water Systems team includes: Prof Dragan Savic, Prof Slobodan Djordjevic, Dr Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, Dr Albert Chen, Dr Barry Evans, Dr Mehdi Khoury and Dr Mike Gibson.