Virginia’s IFLOWS System and Future Approaches to … › public › presentations › VLWA2008.pdfVirginia’s IFLOWS System and Future Approaches to Dam Safety Sam Utley Division

http://www.maptech-inc.com/public/presentations/VLWA2008.pdf

Virginia’s IFLOWS System and Future Approaches to Dam Safety

Sam Utley

Division Manager, Environmental Monitoring Services

3154 State Street, Blacksburg, VA 24060

PH: 540-961-7894 x427

March 10, 2008


MapTech

• Environmental Modeling / Geospatial Analysis

– Hydrologic, Hydraulic, Inundation

• Environmental Monitoring

– Water Quality, Discharge, Bacterial Source Tracking, Systems Integration for Automation

• Dam Safety and Automated Flood Warning

– Dam Inspections, Instrumentation, EPP and EAP preparation

• Laboratory Analysis

– Water Quality, Bacterial Source Tracking

• Software Development

– Desktop, Palmtop, Web, Database, Model Integration, Embedded


Integrated Flood Observing and

Warning System

• National Weather Service program

• Started in 1979

• Prototype completed in 1981

• Vastly expanded by 1986 in the areas hit hardest by

Juan (1985)


IFLOWS Today•State owned with the aid and guidance of the

NWS

•Links 13 states along the Eastern U.S. with

approx. 250 Computer/Base Stations and 1450

sites

•285 sites within VA which are installed, repaired,

updated, and maintained by MapTech, Inc of

Blacksburg, VA

•Data fed into NWS - Advanced Weather

Interactive Processing System (AWIPS) and

other forecast models




VA-IFLOWS

• Gages / Transmitters

• VHF Repeaters

• Microwave Transmitters

• Base Stations

– IFLOWS v4.6 Software

– Local Audible Alarms


Gage / Transmitters• Sensor(s)

– Precipitation, Water Level, Wind Speed

• Data Collection Platform (DCP) and VHF Transmitter

– Switch Closure, Analog, SDI-12

– In VA, Limited To Transmitting 5 Parameters Per Site

– One-Way VHF at 169.5 MHz

• Power System

– Powered By Battery Charged By Solar or AC/DC Converter

• Enclosure– Stand Pipe, Gage House,

Facility, Mounted Enclosure


Enclosure


Base Station / IFLOWS v4.6

• Generally located at EOC

• Passive Receipt

• Short Term Data Logging

• Programmable audible alarms.

• Generally managed locally with phone support

• Free Software (as in price)



More Advanced Technology

Available and Affordable Since

Inception of IFLOWS Program

• Robust sensors

• Fast, low power, embedded systems

• Many migrating to digital broadcasting

• Widespread cellular and internet availability

• License free communications

• Revolution in personal communications


Automated Flood Warning System

(AFWS)

or

Automated Monitoring System

Automated detection of pre-flood, hazardous, or

dam failure prone conditions coupled with

automated notification of emergency personnel and

community


Emergency Personnel

Emergency Personnel

Receiver / Decision

Support

Site 1

Site 2

Site 3

Community / Reverse

911

Community / Reverse

911

National Weather Service

National Weather Service

Roadway

Gates

Sirens

TrafficControl

Signs


What To Measure?

• Precipitation

• Water Level

• Temperature

• Barometric Pressure

• Wind Velocity

• Soil Moisture and Conductivity

• Turbidity

• Image Acquisition

And More …


Retrieving Information

• UHF/VHF

• Spread spectrum

• WiFi

• Cellular

• Satellite

• Ethernet

• Short-haul and land-line

VA-IFLOWS gage

that monitors

precipitation using

a rain gage

tipping bucket and

stream level using

a 30 PSI pressure

transducer.

Transmits data via

VHF base station

computer.


Survey Your Existing

Communication Resources• Are your emergency services migrating to digital

broadcast? Is there room for your data?

• Can you piggy back onto your city’s Utili-Net?

• Are your gages located in a WiFi cloud?

• Does your organization have a great deal on

cellular broadband service?

• Would it be cost effective to run dial up or

broadband lines to the sites?


Base Station• Passive receipt and or

active polling of stations

• Data logging/display, trend analysis, predictive modeling

• Programmable alarms: audible, phone, email, text message, remote control of signs, lights, gates, and sirens

• Redirect information

• Remote Access / Maintenance

Base station computer located at

Richmond City Hall. Utilizes DEC’s

DataWise to collect, log, and analyze data.

Issues alarms via email to emergency

personnel. Anticipate future upgrade to

control remote siren on Market Street.


Will Using Different Technology Affect My Ability

To Participate In Virginia’s IFLOWS Program?

• Currently, data in Virginia is centrally collected

within VA and then sent to the NWS.

• Data from your network can be shared in this

same manner in variety of ways.

– Port data to IFLOWS v4.6 and broadcast on

“backbone”

– Send data to Richmond via internet (TCP/IP) *

– Send data directly to NWS via internet (TCP/IP) **

* Pending VSP implementation of additional computers running IFLOWS 4.6 or more modern data collection software; ** Will be available in a few months when NWS upgrades to new software.


IFLOWSIFLOWS

YourAFWS

Network

YourAFWS

Network

Internet(TCP/IP)

“Backbone” via VHF

www.AFWS.net, or eventually RSS Feeds


Questions?

Sam Utley

[email protected]

540-961-7864 x427

Virginia’s IFLOWS System and Future Approaches to … › public › presentations › VLWA2008.pdfVirginia’s IFLOWS System and Future Approaches to Dam Safety Sam Utley Division

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