Weather monitoring in a Welsh harbor

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The Welsh government funded the installation of a Decentlab sensor DL-ATM41, which will capture temperature, humidity, atmospheric pressure, rainfall, wind direction, wind speed, wind gusts and lightning in a harbour in the Conwy River in Wales.

Collaboration between the flood response team and the harbourmaster revealed that it would be beneficial for both Conwy residents and the boating community to have access to this information. The careful placement of the sensor ensures that it remains unaffected by floating anchorages during a high tide with a level of 8.5m. The harbourmaster will share the collected data with water and harbour users, and there are plans to display the information on screens for boat owners on the river. The data from the weather sensor will also be brought together as part of a bigger suite of weather sensors. Additionally, the data will be accessible to everyone through an online portal.

Thanks for the great pictures Scott Andrews (SenseAbility, Conwy County Borough Council)

Measurement of heavy rainfall

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After a dry winter, Switzerland is now experiencing a wet spring. Just a few days ago, our partner and customer inNET Monitoring AG received eight flood warnings within a short span of time through their floodALERT system in central Switzerland. Actually, it rained heavily in some places. The peak value for a 10-minute interval was recorded at 13.5 mm. While it may not be an absolute record, it is indeed a considerable amount of water falling from the sky.

inNET offers automatic real-time water level and rainfall measurements with floodALERT. The measurements are stored and visualized in real-time and are continuously and automatically monitored. floodALERT serves as both an early warning system for impending floods and for online monitoring of flow rates, water levels, and remaining water in the context of energy generation, as well as low water levels during heatwaves or for construction site monitoring.

Thanks to Mario Betschart, inNET Monitoring AG

Lack of snow in winter 2022/23

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Our customer and partner, the WSL Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research (SLF), has published an exciting article on the lack of snow in the winter of 2022/23, its impact on domains like winter sports and the environment, and its long-term outlook for the forthcoming decades.

The article looks at the causes of the snow shortage and its impact on the environment, water supply, vegetation, agriculture and the winter sports industry. It also examines the relationship between climate change and the disappearing snowpack, as well as future scenarios predicted by projections. The article also offers insight into strategies to mitigate this challenge.

full article

Climate-responsive design, water-sensitive urban design and urban greening

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OneOneFive Hamilton Hill is a redevelopment project of the former Hamilton Senior High School site in Perth. The project includes around 225 lots, 333 homes, and two hectares of public open space. JBA is providing landscape architectural, sustainability, and urban water consultancy services for the project, including site analysis, research, and stakeholder collaboration. The landscape design will focus on the existing landform and natural heritage of the site, while also promoting sustainability and reducing the urban heat island effect.

Several DL-ITST-002 sensors are used in this project. They are monitoring the surface temperature of bushland, irrigated grass, and irrigated garden bed, as well as the surface temperature of asphalt, permeable concrete road surface, and concrete pathway to compare the microclimate effects.

Pictures and reference from our customer Richard Johnson, Huey.Co Pty Ltd

Read more about the project

Stormwater- & Floodmonitoring in Hongkong

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Hong Kong is facing significant challenges in managing its channels, stormwater, and floods. With its dense population and geography, the city is vulnerable to flash floods during heavy rain. Moreover, rapid urbanization has led to significant changes in natural drainage patterns.

The city authorities has also invested in advanced technologies such as Decentlab's DL-MBX sensor for LoRaWAN to monitor water levels, detect blockages in drainage channels, and provide real-time data for flood warning systems. These measures aim to reduce the risk of flooding and improve the city's resilience to extreme weather events.

Picture credits: upper image by Shun Hing Systems Integration Co., Ltd, lower image by our partner Ben Olayinka, The Things Industries 

Meet Decentlab in Vienna

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As a leading company in environmental sensors, we are excited to participate in EGU23 from April 23-28, 2023 in Vienna to showcase our latest products and solutions.

EGU23 is one of the largest conferences for geosciences in Europe, held annually. This is an opportunity for us to exchange knowledge and experience with top experts and scientists, and stay up-to-date with the latest developments and technologies in the industry.

Manufacturing of DL-SHT35 & DL-WRM-002

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Decentlab produces all devices locally in Switzerland to meet the high Swiss quality standards. Each step of the production process is closely monitored and controlled to guarantee accurate manufacturing and assembly, resulting in high-quality products.

Currently, we are manufacturing DL-SHT35 and DL-WRM-002 sensors, among others. DL-SHT35 sensor is tailored to meet the requirements of smart agriculture, providing temperature and humidity measurements in various environments such as urban heat islands, greenhouses, and for frost alarms. Additionally, it is used in building automation. DL-WRM-002 sensor is developed for outdoor remote monitoring and can be used for winter road maintenance, frost alarms, ice alerts, and smart agriculture applications.

The devices are all powered by battery and can run for several years autonomously and the measurements are wireless transmitted over LoRaWAN®. All our devices are easy to install and come with a robust housing that safeguards the electronics from external impacts, ensuring their durability. 

Fine particulate matter pollution too high worldwide - Study

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The worldwide PM2.5 air pollution still exceeds the WHO daily maximum level on 70% of days, rising to over 90% in East and South Asia. Air pollution causes seven million deaths globally each year, with 240,000 in the EU alone in 2020. The main sources of PM2.5 are transportation, power generation, heating, metal and steel production, and soil erosion. In urban areas, traffic is the main source, while in agriculture, ammonia from animal husbandry contributes to PM2.5. Although the WHO lowered its PM2.5 limits in 2021, it was exceeded in most German measuring stations in 2022.

Roland Schrödner from the Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research in Leipzig regards the study as promising but notes that PM2.5 is only a compromise. The most dangerous particles are PM1, which must be better monitored in the future, along with their chemical composition.

Decentlab’s DL-PM measures particulate matter (PM) concentrations PM1, PM2.5, PM4, temperature, humidity and barometric pressure.

Read article (german), read study (english), realtime demo for DL-PM

ICOS Cities – Mid- and low-cost CO2 measurements

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The ICOS Cities project is a project for emission monitoring, utilizing various sensors including Decentlab's DL-LP8P and DL-ATM22. The CO2 sensor network in Zurich has been operational since mid-July 2022, with 21 mid-cost sensor locations installed throughout the city. The captured data has allowed the research team to continuously determine emission flux ratios and monitor changes over time and with different wind directions.

During an episode between October 28 and 31, the network experienced its highest concentrations due to cooler temperatures and a lack of wind. As of the beginning of January 2023, on-site wind observations are now available at 20 of the 21 mid-cost sensor locations.

Zurich is collaborating with teams in Munich and Paris for data and knowledge transfer, with the three sensor teams working on an interim data specification to facilitate easy data sharing among users before the end of the year.

Read more

Internet of Water – Overflows

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Internet of Water Flanders is a research and innovation project to develop and deploy a system to digitally monitor, in real-time, water quality indicators across Flanders. A network of new low-cost IoT sensors are being installed at selected locations across Flanders. These sensors are placed in different water types: surface water, groundwater and waste water.

An interesting report has been published about overflows on the sewer system. These overflows allow diluted waste water to flow directly into watercourses, posing a risk to the recovering water quality in some areas. To mitigate this risk, it is important to map out the impact of overflows. During the stakeholder event held on December 8, 2022, experts shared insights into the added value of live data for managing overflow operations.

In Flanders, there are over 9500 overflows, which can be identified as problem areas through measurements and pattern recognition. To this end, our partner Vito is involved in a project that utilizes various Decentlab sensors to provide real-time data.

Read more, presentations (dutch), news

Climate and water level monitoring in Norway

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An installation for climate and water level monitoring at a hydropower water reservoir at more than 1000 meters above sea level in Norway.

Our sensors DL-SHT35-001 for air temperature and humidity and DL-PR26-001 for pressure / liquid level and temperature measure and transmit data reliably even in the challenging Nordic winter climate. 

Thanks to Sognekraft for their cooperation and for providing the great picture.

Smart Cities – District heating and leak detection

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We are proud to announce that we are a technology partner with MVV Smart Cities in the field of district heating and leak detection. MVV Smart Cities has created an interactive map that displays smart city solutions in an easy way.

Steel jacket pipes are commonly used in district heating systems to transport hot water or steam at temperatures above 145°C. However, leaks can be a dangerous problem. Our sensor DL-PR23 (variant of DL-PR21 for higher requirements) can detect leaks of vacuum in the jacket pipes.

In addition to leak detection, monitoring the temperature of district heating pipes surface is also crucial. Our temperature sensor DL-DS18 is used to keep an eye on the temperature for fast alerting in case of unexpected changes.

Frozen nights in the cold air pools

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In November, we reported on the cold air pools with kaltluftseen.ch. Recently, the Sägistalsee cold air pool just hit a bone-chilling -42.3°C / -44.1°F. Check out the live data here. Measured by kaltluftseen.ch - kryophil, using our DL-SHT35-002 Air Temperature and Humidity Sensor for LoRaWAN®.

Swiss television Meteo has also reported on the cold air pools and featured an interesting article about measurements taken in December.

Read article

We hope you're off to a great start in the new year.

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As we kick off the new year, it's important to note that the fireworks that are a part of the celebrations can contribute to the highest levels of fine dust pollution of the year. You can see this increase in particulate pollution clearly in our real-time demo, which is powered by our DL-PM sensor for measuring particulate matter, temperature, humidity, and barometric pressure.

Stay informed and check out all our real-time demos of different devices by visiting our demos website.

Smart Cities - Project cool-INN

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The Cool-INN project is testing the use of blue infrastructure in Innsbruck to improve the microclimate at urban hotspots. The project was awarded with the VCÖ prize.

The impacts of the project are being evaluated using both qualitative and quantitative factors. Physical parameters such as temperature and humidity, as well as data on weather extremes, are being collected. Additionally, subjective perceptions of passers-by and residents before and after implementation will be taken into account to allow for scientifically sound conclusions to be drawn.

Decentlab sensors, including the DL-ATM41, DL-ATM22, DL-PYR, and DL-TRS12are being used on the one hand to evaluate the effect, on the other hand to control the cooling water elements.

Read full article