Singapore Pioneers an Innovation in Water Quality Monitoring; PUB and ASTAR Develop Intelligent Fish Activity Monitoring Technology to Ensure Water Quality

JCN Newswires,  June 24, 2008  

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Singapore, June 24, 2008 - (ACN Newswire) - PUB, the national water agency, and the A*STAR Institute for Infocomm Research (I2R) are jointly pioneering an innovative water quality monitoring technology that uses video imaging of fish known as the Fish Activity Monitoring System (FAMS).

One of the ways that PUB ensures water quality is by monitoring live fish kept in tanks for any sudden decline in their population ? an indication of possible decline in the quality of water. This method of monitoring fish activities for water quality is done on top of the regular comprehensive physical, chemical and bacteriological analysis of drinking water.

Currently, fish kept in tanks are monitored manually. By deploying sophisticated image processing and analysing techniques in the locally-developed FAMS technology, the process of monitoring fish activities and raising alerts can now be fully automated. Any sudden dip in the number of live fish will raise a visual and audio alert to the operators at the control centre. This not only increases the reliability of the technique as an early warning system, but also allows the monitoring of fish to be carried out at a central location. This innovation will help enhance the security of water as a strategic resource. See Annex for graphical presentation.

Mr Chong Hou Chun, PUB's director of Water Supply (Network) said, "The PUB-I2R project team is innovative in using video imaging technology, similar to surveillance systems found at the airports, to monitor fish movements. With such a system, the operators will be more effective in their round-the-clock monitoring of the water quality in the water supply system."

Raising safety levels further, the PUB-I2R project team is currently improvising the system to raise alerts even earlier such that at the moment when a high number of fish show signs of distress, immediate action can be taken. FAMS has undergone user acceptance and will be deployed in the water supply system.

Said Professor Lye Kin Mun, Deputy Executive Director (Research) for I2R: "Water is a strategic resource, especially in the wake of potential environment and security threats to water supplies globally. The Institute of Infocomm Research is happy to partner PUB in harnessing our technologies to give us the leverage to secure this resource. This is a clear demonstration of the relevance of I2R's capability to the needs of industry."

"PUB has continuously invested in water technology R&D, often in partnership with water industry players, academia and researchers from the local and foreign tertiary and research institutions. This project with I2R to make use of video imaging and analysis technologies to further enhance water quality monitoring is one good example. We look forward to such partnerships as we continue in our efforts to develop Singapore as the ideal place for water R&D," added Mr Harry Seah, PUB's director of Technology & Water Quality Office.

Moving forward, PUB and I2R have plans to market the Fish Activity Monitoring System overseas. The technology will be demonstrated at the Singapore Pavilion at the Water Expo, at the Singapore International Water Week held from 23-27 June, which is a global platform for sustainable water solutions for cities. I2R is also participating in the World Cities Summit that is held in conjunction with SIWW, to showcase technologies that can impact on future cities such as smart monitoring of urban infrastructure.

About I2R's Video Analysis Technologies

I2R's research in video understanding started five years ago and has since received international commendation, including being a finalist in the 2007 Asian Wall Street Journal Innovation Awards. Its innovation lay in being able to extract objects over long periods, in high-crowd density, and rapidly changing window scenes, even with low bandwidth CCTV video feeds. Behind all these are new methods developed that perform detection and tracking of target as well as interpretation of individual's and group's activity from CCTV videos.

By working closely with end-users on real-world problems, I2R has been able to refine its video monitoring technology to become one that's comprehensive and applicable to the real-world. Applications include CCTV monitoring in trains to detect sudden collapse of passengers from colourless and odourless gas or suspicious bags that are left behind, and even in swimming pools as a drowning alert warning systems.

About PUB ( www.pub.gov.sg )

PUB is a statutory board under the Ministry of the Environment and Water Resources. It is the national water agency managing Singapore's water supply, water catchment and used water in an integrated way. PUB won the 2007 Stockholm Industry Water Award and was named Water Agency of the Year at the Global Water Awards 2006.

About PUB's tagline: Water for All: Conserve, Value, Enjoy

PUB has ensured a diversified and sustainable supply of water for Singapore with the Four National Taps (local catchment water, imported water, NEWater, desalinated water).