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
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 Gage / Transmitters
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
Site 1 Receiver / Decision Support Community // Reverse 911 911 Site 2 Roadway Gates National Weather Service Site 3 Sirens Traffic Control Signs Emergency Personnel
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.
IFLOWS www.afws.net, or eventually RSS Feeds Backbone via VHF Internet (TCP/IP) Your AFWS Network
Questions? Sam Utley sutley@maptech-inc.com 540-961-7864 x427