Roke, a UK-based technology company, was approached by the Anglian Water @one Alliance partnership to develop a conceptual solution in one of the industry’s most challenging areas – introducing intelligent digital solutions to harness the value of data for insightful decision-making.
The @one Alliance is a partnership consisting of multiple companies each providing specialised knowledge, allowing it to deliver complex projects in the most efficient way, reducing the cost to Anglian Water’s customers.
As a technology partner, Roke utilises expertise gathered across many industries including energy, law enforcement, aerospace, central government and defence to provide rapid, innovative, and secure solutions to its client’s most complex challenges.
In line with the @one Alliance digital aftercare solution maturity model, Roke’s solution proved a novel application of remote sensing satellite data to detect, locate, and monitor pollution in a river and water bodies around Anglian Water’s process and discharge point, effectively localising pollutants at different points along the river, and estimating the concentrations to mg/l without the deployment of ground sensors. This innovative solution provides the extraction of valuable insight from remote satellites for a data-driven water quality monitoring system.
This novel solution is at an early stage of maturity, and at the advanced analytics stage of future developments, the team will utilise its artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) expertise to generate insights and business intelligence building blocks to enable optimisations in water quality monitoring. This work will lessen the need for physical interventions and critically, reduce Anglian Water’s carbon footprint when monitoring the wastewater network in line with industry decarbonisation objectives.
Raj Dedi, Director of Roke’s Futures Business Unit said:
“We are committed to using our unique capabilities to contribute to the delivery of the Anglian Water @one Alliance digital strategy. This is an important first step for Roke as we aim to build stronger relationships with our Utilities customers and their digital teams.”
“We’re delighted to be a part of the partnership which is currently working on over 700 projects designed to improve and expand the Anglian Water network to better serve existing customers and help ensure supply for future customers as well”.
The team from Roke’s Futures business unit utilised its considerable capabilities to develop this solution. Futures focusses on applying advanced technology in new and adjacent markets. It draws on the innovative skills and expertise of more than 800 engineers and scientists with experience across a multitude of industries and disciplines. From concept to product development, they help clients create innovative solutions to problems in the most challenging physical and digital domains.
Jo Vertigan, Head of Digital @one Alliance commented:
“As part of our broader digital transformation within the Alliance we are rapidly harnessing and exploiting new technologies. I had a little more than a concept initially, the Roke team developed a strategy that was both novel and pioneering with the potential to show value to a huge range of stakeholders from the Environment Agency to farmers as well as custodians of river habitats.”
“We look forward to continuing to work with Roke on @one Alliance projects.”
