Singapore start-up ZWEEC Analytics has successfully leveraged on technologies from the Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) and national water agency PUB to create an intelligent water quality monitoring system known as Fish Activity Monitoring System (FAMS). The project, a collaboration with both agencies, was presented with the Honour Award for Applied Research at the 2012 International Water Association Asia Pacific Regional Project Innovation Awards (PIA) on 3 July 2012.

ZWEEC Analytics is a video, imaging and data analytics solutions company which creates integrated solutions for various industries and applications. It comprises of a team of video analytics experts, a dedicated engineering support team as well as industry veterans.

The water quality monitoring system, FAMS, uses video analytics to monitor and analyse swimming patterns and activities of fishes to detect irregularities in water quality. The behaviour of fresh water fishes placed inside tanks of water samples is one of the ways in which Singapore monitors the quality of its water supply. These samples are collected daily from different reservoirs and waterways across the island. However, the human observation process can be a laborious and subjective process.

With FAMS, monitoring of fish activities is now fully automated and centralised, with an island-wide network of fish tanks monitored round-the-clock from one central control centre. The use of FAMS thus allows easier management and effective tracking of water quality at great scalability. A camera monitoring each tank of 20 fishes can pick up any signs of distress from the fishes. The system also carries out group behaviour analysis and can be easily calibrated for different fish species. When the number of dead fish reaches a preset threshold, alerts are set off and an automated alarm notification is sent to the control centre via the Internet for immediate human intervention.

FAMS can be located in remote locations and the data can be sent for monitoring at a centralised control centre. In Singapore, this system has been adopted by the country’s national water agency, PUB, to monitor water quality in various important locations such as service reservoirs and waterworks. At present, 42 units of FAMS have been installed at PUB’s various installations across Singapore. There are plans to increase this in the next few years.

The system has also won ZWEEC Analytics up to S$7 million in overseas business contracts to date, and the company expects more interested parties from the region to use the system. Potential customers include large corporations and governments in the region.

ZWEEC Analytics’ success in bringing in overseas deals was made possible with technical expertise from PUB and I2R, a member of the Agency for Science, Technology and Research family. The research institute, in close partnership with A*STAR’s technology transfer arm, Exploit Technologies, has been providing support to numerous local small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which provide value-added products and solutions for the local markets as early adopters. The technologies give these SMEs a sustainable competitive edge over the rest and enable them to break into the international market successfully.