Onyax at the event “Rome and water: the love story continues”
An IoT (Internet of Things) technology to digitise the fountains of Rome, dedicated to the ‘smart’ management of water resources and the enhancement of the national territory.
This is the solution presented between Onyax, an Italian electronic design start-up, and the innovation sector of the ACEA group. An innovation widely described at the event “Rome and water: the love story continues”, an evening organised by Roma Capitale in the presence of the mayor Virginia Raggi and the CEO of Acea Giuseppe Gola.
In the same evening there was the launch of “Waidy Wow”, the first app designed for water, the environment and sustainability, which can be used directly from a smartphone and allows citizens to orient themselves and discover the history of the Rome’s fountains, and the manager to monitor the entire water network.
The event, held in the symbolic Roman place of the Gianicolo Fountain, brought together technology and memories of Italian cinema and music join to accompany the digital and cultural journey of the most precious asset in the world: water.
“Smart” management of the water network
The first challenge faced by Onyax was to combine the digital management of the water network with the concept of “smart” devices, focusing on optimising space.
The next challenge was to use new IoT technologies capable of remotely monitoring the “Nasoni”, the historical public water fountains of the capital, with a view to sustainability and a circular economy through the maximum reduction of waste.
Finally, to perform a complete diagnostic of the water network, it was necessary to manage all parameters related to the quality and consumption of water, the real-time geolocation of the Nasoni and the monitoring of individual IoT devices with dedicated reports. Thus, through the IoT platform ACE (Acquisition and Ecosystem Control) of Onyax, the data generated by the different sensors have been aggregated and processed in the cloud in a single digital ecosystem.
The low-power solution for 3000 Nasons
The use of modern telemetry solutions, based on new LPWAN communication technologies (LoRA, SIGFOX, wM-Bus) and innovation such as NB-IoT (Narrow Band – Internet of Things), allow the monitoring of water distribution networks of the city of Rome.
Inside more than 3000 Nasoni located in the most important points of the Capital will be installed IoT sensors, made through low-power design techniques that meet the size requirements (small integrated buffer batteries that guarantee energy savings) and ease of installation. Each sensor is able to detect physical parameters such as temperature, pressure, pressure, flow and chemical parameters such as conductivity, turbidity and fixed residues.
Paolo Quarta, CEO of Onyax, points out that “The Waidy project allows us to combine our ability to make IoT sensors useful for measuring the chemical and physical parameters of water with the need of ACEA digitisation” – and adds that – “we are realising the world’s first case of interaction between smart water bottles and drinking fountains, guaranteeing a more capillary monitoring of the entire water resource distribution network, in order to reduce losses and save both energy and money”.
Sustainability and example of Smart City
The results obtained have immediately concerned concepts such as sustainability, complete management of the water network and maximum usability by each individual citizen.
In fact, through the digitization of drinking water supply points, it will be possible to monitor in real time the consumption, the status of water quality and any anomalies or malfunctions of the entire water network in Rome.
Thanks to technologies like this, the Eternal City has become an example of Smart City, with a digital solution that “has brought Rome from 15th to thr 4th place in the ranking of the most innovative cities in the world,” as Mayor Virginia Raggi quoted in her closing speech.
From manager to citizen, with Waidy Wow app and IoT sensors
“Thanks to Onyax’s contribution in the sensor and management platform part and through the use of the Waidy Wow app” – explains Marco Roncucci of ACEA’s Waidy Team – “we have guaranteed Roman citizens a 360° experience, both allowing them to discover the history of each geolocated Nasone and inviting them to a responsible use of the water resource“.
The combination of IoT solutions and the vision of the ACEA group, makes it possible to make the most of a fundamental resource such as water, reducing the creation of difficult-to-biodegrade waste such as plastic bottles, raising user awareness through targeted information, and facilitating the process of water quality control with modern digitization systems, all from a sustainable perspective.
