Translated from www.wsw,info/ausgabe-187

Original text: Rainer Friedrich
Photo: Stefan Tesche-Hasenbach

The Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik in Kohlfurth wants to be better prepared in the future when there is a risk of flooding. WSW will help to set up an early warning system.

No one in Wuppertal-Kohlfurth is likely to forget the 14th and 15th of July 2021 in a hurry. After heavy rain, large parts of the district on the Wupper River were under water. The Heinz Berger Maschinenfabrik was also affected.The company, which specializes in grinding and polishing machines, was nevertheless lucky.  Thanks to the quick action of the employees - among them Managing Director Dr. Andreas Groß - it was possible to prevent the masses of water from entering the production hall and destroying the valuable machine technology. Nevertheless, the damage to the medium-sized company amounted to over one million euros. But Andreas Groß is not the kind of man to sit back and relax. For him, it was clear: something like this must not happen again. His idea: a flood early warning system.

"You don't have to reinvent the wheel," says the managing director. Kohlfurth knows a thing or two about high-tech. The Berger Gruppe is a world leader in the use of robot technology in industrial automation. An early warning system essentially consists of measuring sensors, a radio network for data transmission and software that evaluates the data. All this already exists. A close-meshed network of measuring points on the Wupper and its tributaries could monitor water levels in the future. Information from the weather services and the Wupper Association would also be incorporated. Based on this data, forecasts of impending floods would be possible. All citizens could then receive an early warning on their cell phones via an app.

Detecting danger at an early stage

Thought, done - already at the end of August, Andreas Groß was able to present an early warning system he had developed himself. Two sensors measuring the water level were installed for demonstration purposes on the Islandufer in Elberfeld and in Kohlfurth. The data will be published on wupper-pegel.de. If an exceptionally high water level is registered in Elberfeld, this means danger for all areas downstream. Kohlfurth then knows that acute protective measures must be taken. "You can't prevent floods with this, but those affected have time to prepare themselves," says Andreas Groß. The benefits would be immense. The Bergisch Chamber of Commerce and Industry estimates that companies in the Bergisch city triangle suffered 300 million euros in flood damage. For many homeowners, the damage caused by the flood threatened their existence.

Data exchange via LoRaWAN

For data transmission, the Berger Gruppe uses a so-called LoRaWAN, i.e. a "Long Range Wide Area Network". WSW has also been working with this technology for some time. "LoRaWAN can be used for a wide range of applications," reports Sören Högel, Head of Digital Solutions at WSW. Together with its strategic partner ENGIE, the municipal utility has been running a LoRaWAN-based research project in Schöller-Dornap since the summer. There, the focus is on street lighting, environmental data, traffic area monitoring and fill level measurements in waste containers. "The Berger Gruppe's flood early warning system is another useful application of our radio data network, which we have expanded citywide," says Högel. That's why WSW is very interested in the project.

"The Berger Gruppe's flood early warning system is another useful application of our radio data network." Sören Vögel

For example, the municipal utilities use the same measurement sensors that the Berger company uses for level measurement. In addition, WSW can provide its LoRaWAN network and other locations for the transmitters. The initiators of the "Flood Early Warning System 4.0" - Andreas Groß and the IHK, of which he is vice president - are already thinking beyond the city limits. The Bergisch region along the more than 100 kilometer long course of the Wupper River is to become a model region for flood protection. To achieve this, other players such as the Wupperverband and the cities and municipalities have to join in. WSW is already on board.