Cromarty, an Australian automation and electrical engineering specialist, has worked with remote telemetry systems specialist Ovarro to deploy a telemetry solution for remote outlet installations on the Don Irrigation Scheme in north-west Tasmania. The system, based on Ovarro’s TBox remote telemetry units (RTUs), provides flow and pressure monitoring as part of Tasmanian Irrigation‘s SCADA system.
A regional irrigation scheme for north-west Tasmania
The Don Irrigation Scheme supplies high-reliability agricultural irrigation water to the Don, Forth, Barrington and Sheffield districts. It delivers 4,750 megalitres of summer water and 4,750 megalitres of winter water, supporting irrigators across a 180-day summer season and a 180-day winter delivery period.
Drawing water from the Forth River catchment, the scheme uses three pump stations, balance tanks and 53km of distribution pipeline to deliver water to irrigators at a peak flow rate of 39.6Ml/day. According to the case study, reliable access to irrigation water helps local agricultural businesses diversify, expand and increase crop rotations.
Remote sites with limited power and communications
Many of the property outlet installations are located away from mains power and fixed communications infrastructure. The telemetry system therefore needed to combine low power consumption, reliable cellular communications and robust field performance, using a solar-charged approach.
Alternative telemetry technology had previously been trialled but was found to be insufficiently robust for the remote signal strengths across the scheme.
TBox RTUs selected for robustness and integration
Ovarro’s TBox RTUs were selected for their compact form factor, all-in-one design, temperature rating, communication protocols and reliability. They also support physical I/O, DNP3 protocol capability and integration with the existing SCADA environment.
“The devices have to be robust. They have to be able to work in the environment and also needed to be practical for repeat deployment,” said Paul Stute, product sales manager for RTUs at Ovarro. “They need to have the communications capability and the protocols required for this type of infrastructure.”
During integration, early technical challenges were resolved with support from Ovarro’s technical team, and suitability testing was carried out before final decisions were made with the client. Support included assistance with the communications set-up, including virtual private network configuration and the allocation of IP addresses to the RTUs through the telecommunications provider. Cromarty also developed and tested code off site, creating a template that could be rolled out across multiple installations.
“Ovarro’s support helped resolve the early integration challenges and gave us confidence in the suitability of the solution before deployment,” said Eric Goh, automation engineer at Cromarty. “The system has been reliable since deployment, with minimal issues.”
Monitoring without remote control
The TBox RTUs collect pressure and flow data only, giving Tasmanian Irrigation visibility of farmers’ water allocation usage without remotely controlling the sites. The property outlets are the points at which farmers access their water allocation.
The remote visibility is intended to help operators identify issues without relying solely on site visits. No quantified reduction in site visits has been confirmed.
“The TBox is well suited to remote site applications like this one,” said Michael Holmes, manager engineering & asset intelligence at Tasmanian Irrigation. “It is proven on our network, integrates cleanly with our SCADA and performs reliably in the conditions we deploy it into.”
Further work on the Northern Midlands Irrigation Scheme
Following the Don Irrigation Scheme project, Cromarty has been awarded further work involving additional TBox RTUs for the Northern Midlands Irrigation Scheme, using the same telemetry approach.
H2O Global News has previously reported on SitePro’s water automation partnerships for wells and pumping assets, including irrigation water quality management.
About Ovarro
Ovarro is a business unit of AMETEK‘s MCT division. It is a global technology company working with customers across water, energy, oil and gas, broadcast and transportation, providing end-to-end solutions to help monitor, control and manage their assets.
Frequently asked questions
The Don Irrigation Scheme is a regional infrastructure project in north-west Tasmania supplying agricultural irrigation water to the Don, Forth, Barrington and Sheffield districts. It delivers 4,750 megalitres of summer water and 4,750 megalitres of winter water.
The scheme uses Ovarro’s TBox remote telemetry units (RTUs), deployed by Cromarty. They provide flow and pressure data to Tasmanian Irrigation’s SCADA system.
They were selected for their compact form factor, all-in-one design, temperature rating, communication protocols and reliability. They also support physical I/O, DNP3 protocol capability and integration with the existing SCADA environment.
No. The RTUs collect pressure and flow data only, giving Tasmanian Irrigation visibility of farmers’ water allocation usage without remotely controlling the sites.
Cromarty has been awarded further work involving additional TBox RTUs for the Northern Midlands Irrigation Scheme.
