Smart river monitoring and early flood detection system in Japan developed with the EnOcean long range sensor technology

Smart city is a term which is heard very often nowadays. It is a synonym for a variety of IoT solutions integrated into the daily city life, for the benefit of its inhabitants. One of these solutions, presented in this paper, is a river monitoring and early flood detection system. The proposed solution consists of an ultrasonic sensor adapted to the EnOcean solar-powered, long range sensor module. This maintenance free, self-powered sensor module was deployed in a couple cities in Japan to monitor river water level. The specially designed generic sensor interface allowed the adoption of the off-the-shelf MaxBotix ultrasonic sensor with a 10 meter measuring range. This can then be turned into a flood detection system which satisfies the standards prescribed by the Japanese River Bureau under the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism. The detailed communication between the ultrasonic sensor and the sensor module via EnOcean Generic Sensor commands is shown. In addition, the transmission of the measured data over greater distances with the use of the EnOcean long range, low power communication protocol, is outlined.