JLD Dijkstabilisator & FacilityApps enable Smart Dykes
Ten years ago Jos Karsten of JLD International and JLD Contracting had a futuristic idea: anchors in the dyke to reinforce it. Dykes have kept the Netherlands safe for centuries, but innovations are needed to maintain that in the long term. Because sea levels are rising. After years of preparation and testing, the first anchors and sensors went into the ground in October 2018. They will ensure greater dyke safety for 10 years. In addition, the data will teach us a lot about future dyke construction and reinforcement.
"We reinforce the dyke with anchors, but it is a total concept," says Jos Karsten, inventor of the JLD Dijkstabilisator. "The sensors also give us extra information. This data then comes into the existing IoT app platform of FacilityApps, specially designed for companies that have people working on location (outdoors and indoors). Water authorities gain insight into how the dyke is doing." The anchors are a kind of hooks that brace themselves in the ground. They are driven deep into the dyke and then tensioned with a long tension rod. The more anchors, the stronger the dyke. And the more data that becomes available through the sensors, for predictive maintenance for example.
From real-time data to information via Facility Apps
Smart software is needed to read this data. Karsten knew Dirk Tuip of FacilityApps from a previous collaboration. He proved to be able to meet exactly what Karsten needed. "We offer an app platform for companies that have staff working on location outdoors," says Tuip. "This platform brings together enormous amounts of data and makes it insightful. For a number of years we have also been experimenting with smart sensor solutions. We already had the basis for what Jos needed for his plans in-house. We have further extended this with specific modules for this project."
Via apps, people in the field such as dyke managers or dyke workers get real-time information about what is happening inside the dyke. The system now measures water pressure and dyke pressure. "If the pressure on the sensor is too high or too low, the platform reports it. The water authority then sees that something needs to be done. The water authority can set itself how high or low that pressure may be. In this way it can keep control of the dyke via the platform."
NBiot via Vodafone Ziggo
A good network connection is needed to let the data flow from the sensor into the FacilityApps platform. Because the anchor is underground, this is not easy. "From our tests it turned out that ordinary networks were not powerful enough," says Karsten. "3G, 4G and 5G did not suffice. What did work is Narrowband-IoT, a network specifically aimed at Internet of Things (IoT) applications. VodafoneZiggo is one of the two providers that offer this technology. After a few discussions we decided to start the collaboration."
Karsten is very pleased with the collaboration. "VodafoneZiggo has tremendous know-how and is very flexible. Last week we called them on Friday afternoon from a test site because the mast transmitters there were not yet active. Monday morning it was sorted straight away. That is quite something for such a large organisation. This triangular collaboration brings us all to unprecedented heights. Everyone is putting in maximum effort."
Other sensors and sensor data
Water pressure and pressure are two important parameters for gaining insight into a dyke. But they are not the only ones. Tuip: "The more data you have, the better conclusions you can draw. That is why we want to try to get more data into the platform. This can be done, for example, by placing temperature sensors or vibration meters in the anchor. This makes a dyke even smarter. But for now we are focusing on this first project. That is already challenging enough."
IoT projects via Narrow Band IoT
A kilometre of dyke on the Ringdijk in Amsterdam serves as the first official test site for the system. On 8 October the first anchors were placed in the dyke. "Currently fifteen anchors go into the ground per day," says Karsten. "That continues until there are seven hundred. There are many now because we want to collect as much information as possible in this phase. I expect this number can be lower in projects that follow."
Vodafone IoT case / best practise
"We are the first IoT project in the Netherlands to go live via VodafoneZiggo," adds Tuip. "We are extremely proud of that. There are many experiments running in the IoT field, but we are the first to come up with a market solution that can actually be deployed and is live. The past few months we have been almost entirely busy preparing for this moment. It was quite a big challenge to apply all kinds of new things together. Synergy between Jos's product, which comes from all over the world, the box with the sensor, Vodafone Ziggo for communication and the cloud platform that securely captures the data."