Monitoringsoft- en hardware voor de GWW

Kern van alles: het thema ‘Senzorro signaleert alles’. Zeker als het om effectief grondwatermanagement gaat. Senzorro is bovendien goed in ‘koppelen’. 

In infrastructure, a lot of equipment is used for monitoring, but it mainly communicates through proprietary software. This should be possible in a much more efficient way, Jeffrey Tromp, founder of Senzorro, thought. He then developed a special cloud-based software platform that records the data from all the different monitoring equipment and processes it into useful insights. Both those from their own hardware and third-party hardware.

Fully automated monitoring

Tromp remembers exactly when the coin fell. In 2010, he laid the foundation for the current software platform during the Spoorzone Delft project. "At the time, it was still a lot of manual work because measurement networks at that time were so expensive and not suitable for large-scale deployment. The equipment was also not particularly advanced. We were well into the 21st century at the time of that project, but 20th century technology was being used."

Aanvankelijk ‘knoopte’ Tromp op Spoorzone Delft alle verschillende systemen op de achtergrond aan elkaar. “Van alle registratiesystemen voor onder meer het registeren van verzakkingen, trillingen en grondwatermonitoring werd de data aanvankelijk manueel verwerkt. Alles werd met de hand uitgelezen, verzameld en verwerkt in een Excel-file. Het was een dagtaak.” Via een bekende relatie werd Tromp ‘ingevlogen’. “Ik heb daar de eerste versie van onze applicatie gepresenteerd en het management van zowel de bouwcombinatie als ProRail was direct overtuigd. Met behulp van onze applicatie werd de data van monitoring apparatuur volledig geautomatiseerd verwerkt en vertaald naar bruikbare inzichten. Onze applicatie is gedurende het gehele project (ruim 7,5 jaar) gebruikt. Van daaruit is het idee ontsproten om het platform breed in de markt te gaan inzetten.”

Sander Derlagen, director of Senzorro, adds: "It has now become the 'Office365 for environmental management' in which data from all equipment and sensors present on a project is collected, but also, for example, data from the BRO (basic registration of the subsurface). Sensors also include complaints or comments from local residents. That data can also be integrated into the platform to monitor 'customer satisfaction'."

Innovative groundwater monitoring

During the Spoorzone project, Tromp also marveled at the equipment used. "In my eyes, obsolete technology was used, lots of cables, heavy batteries et cetera. After the completion of the project, I started to experiment myself with developing and building equipment for groundwater monitoring at first. After two years of development together with a scientist who still holds an important position in our company today, it was brought to market. The result is a much more compact and efficient model than was usual up to that time. The concept is "hufterproof" and very affordable. It consists of a water pressure sensor with a cable to a sealed box without a single switch or button. You can safely leave it, depending on measurement frequency and battery strength, in a monitoring well for up to eight years without having to look at it. The device communicates wirelessly, possibly even via satellite communication, with our own software application to which the end user can log in. If required, we provide a thorough radio analysis on a project with a comprehensive report so that the client is guaranteed a 100% operation of the network."

Made in Holland

Senzorro offers engineering firms, infrastructure contractors and governments (municipalities and water boards) a total solution. "We sell the hardware, the software is available on a subscription basis and expandable with numerous modules," says Derlagen. "The technology and hardware components are resourced locally in the Netherlands as much as possible, truly made in Holland." Tromp: "In addition to the buy-local principle in the context of social return, the short lines of communication also provide opportunities to quickly make any project-specific adjustments without the need for an external foreign party." We can expect many more hardware and software developments from Senzorro in the coming years. "We are focusing entirely on the development of new monitoring solutions for environmental management."