Smarter Technologies helps Portsmouth naval base stave off waterborne diseases with IoT solutions

Smarter Technologies, a Ringwood-based provider of Internet of Things (IoT) solutions, has completed stage one of a programme to support health and safety compliance at His Majesty’s Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth.

Key to the collaboration has been curbing the risk of waterborne bacteria such as legionella – which causes Legionnaires’ disease – through digital means.

A combination of IoT data capture and cloud computing has made empirical evidence available to HMNB Portsmouth’s operational and strategic decision makers.

This in turn will help to improve the management of water hygiene, which is particularly important in mixed estates with ageing infrastructure and spaces that are used irregularly – all common features of many defence facilities.

Fubara Pepple, head of strategic asset management at HMNB Portsmouth, said: “We’ve worked closely with Smarter Technologies to ensure any potential risk to water supplies is identified at an early stage therefore making it much easier to keep our people safe.”

Smarter Technologies has positioned IoT sensors strategically around the water system of the historic Wardroom at HMNB Portsmouth to monitor the temperature at which water is stored and distributed in real time.

The firm has also installed automated flushing units at key outlets, reducing risk of stagnation.

Data captured by these devices is passed to Smarter Technologies’ secure cloud platform via Orion, a proprietary low-powered wide-area communications network (LPWAN).

The data is presented back to the user in SmarterView, a web-based interface which can provide programmable alerts and notifications, trends and reports.

Mark Read, chief executive of Smarter Technologies Group, added: “We’ve been delighted to work so closely with the HMNB Portsmouth team.

“They understand the value that our Orion systems can bring and have embraced the use of targeted technology innovation.”