Why We Developed SensorClean

Water utilities have long understood the potential value of the 20+ years of SCADA monitoring data which they store.

SCADA data provides valuable context about asset performance, changing community water behaviours, and the effectiveness of utility strategies, amongst many other things.

But SCADA data is messy and disorganized and utilities have been hamstrung by inadequate data cleaning tools.  

We saw the need for a tool to leverage the treasure-trove of SCADA data. A tool to clean it, organize it and visualize it. SensorClean is our solution.

Why is SCADA data valuable?

Many utilities have SCADA data spanning 20 + years and IoT data for perhaps five years. The longer SCADA records capture more of the critical “edge-cases” i.e., extreme events at the edge of the distribution.

For infrastructure planning purposes, the longer timespan is invaluable, providing more reliable evidence for frequency of extreme events and trends. In addition, analysis of extreme events can help identify areas of the network that are at risk of non-compliance or provide focus for maintenance.

Regardless of the utility’s approach in this high-stakes decision-making, it makes sense to visualize all available evidence to inform decision-making.

There are many other use-cases for cleaned, organized SCADA data that will improve utility and community outcomes. For example, long SCADA records provide a strong basis for better predictions, improving both economic and environmental outcomes.

New tools are needed!

SensorClean was born out of considerable frustration with using spreadsheets to clean and visualize SCADA data (link to blog). This process is slow and painful and does not encourage valuable data exploration. It leaves the engineer unsure that all important data events have been identified.

Organizing data events is critical for use-case analysis e.g., non-revenue water, peak flows etc.

The importance of data transparency

Larger water utilities usually have separate engineering groups: Operations, Planning and Asset Management. Often these groups develop their own spreadsheet models designed for asset decision-making.

These data silos do not require data consistency between groups, leading to uncertainty associated with the “one-source-of-truth” data philosophy i.e., which group has the “true” data?

SensorClean offers a framework for consistent processing and sharing of raw data to provide a single labelled and documented data set to suit all use-cases.

What is SensorClean?

SensorClean is cloud software that allows users to easily clean, organize and visualize their water data for decision-making.

Powerful visualization allows for data exploration and identification of key data events. This gives the user confidence in their understanding of consumer behaviours and the inherent strengths and limitations of their data. The user can download their cleaned data or use SensorClean’s automated use-case reporting.

SensorClean organizes historical SCADA data for a future where machine learning and AI models will assist in managing water infrastructure.

In conclusion

SensorClean is a powerful tool for discussions about utility decisions and the importance of water-wise behaviours.

We are looking for water data enthusiasts. Folks who want to improve local community outcomes - by leveraging SCADA data for evidence-based decision making.

Please contact us to be part of the SensorClean community.