With locations in Texas and Florida, Innotek, Inc. specializes in innovative IoT solutions for remote and smaller facilities in the oil and gas, municipal water, and rural irrigation sectors as well as radio/TV towers. Its affordable line of OverWatch monitoring and control systems are ideal for deployment in hard-to-reach locations and budget-constrained sites while reducing those sites’ eco-footprints, maximizing solar-power usage, and mitigating damage from accidental spills.
Simple, Affordable Well Monitoring
Across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of low-volume petroleum sites called “stripper wells” continue past their peak years to pump out as little as a handful of barrels of crude oil each day. But despite their low average daily production, stripper wells — when managed carefully — can continue to produce modest profits for many years. That careful management includes frequent site monitoring, which can drive up costs.
According to David Lee, Manager/Partner of Innotek, the economics of stripper wells typically preclude the deployment of off-the-shelf monitoring and control systems. “Unfortunately, a SCADA system is complex to install and maintain and can cost tens of thousands of dollars, wiping out that well’s profit,” he said. “You can’t cost-justify it. As a result, many owners stay with what they are used to: hiring people to visit these wells — often in very remote locations — every day or every few days to confirm they’re operating normally and there are no spills or other environmental risks. Each worker might drive hundreds of miles each day to visit 20 or 30 locations and make quick inspections. The labor costs and fuel expenses add up very quickly, and the environmental impact can be significant. We could see there was a market for a simple, affordable well monitoring.”
Remote Tank Monitoring with Cellular Connections
Lee and his team designed and developed Innotek’s OverWatch, a cellular-enabled, industrial-grade well-monitoring controller — complete with timer, tank monitor, and motor controls. Owners can view Innotek’s online dashboard to get immediate reports and alerts as often as every minute across their entire portfolio of locations. The heart of OverWatch is its communication provided by the Digi XBee® 3 Global Cellular LTE-M/NB-IoT modem.
With the Digi XBee® 3 Global LTE-M modem, applications can transmit data over the popular low-powered cellular network protocol. Digi XBee 3 Global LTE-M modems accelerate time-to-market for designers by quickly enabling wireless connectivity. These compact (24mm x 33mm) modules are excellent for low-data, low-power, low-cost applications and feature a power-saving mode that extends sleep time and battery life.
Combined with Digi Remote Manager® providing OTA updates and remote hardware resets, Digi XBee 3 Global LTE modules can be easily configured and controlled from a simple, central platform. Standard Digi XBee API frames and AT commands, MicroPython, and Digi XBee Studio software tools simplify setup, configuration, testing, and adding or changing functionality. What’s more, Digi XBee cellular modems are pre-certified to work on cellular networks, saving months of time and thousands of dollars in development costs.
“We really love the way we can use MicroPython inside the module,” said Lee. For us, it’s a cost-efficient design; we don’t need an external microcontroller. We can just drop the module right onto our system board. Our design supports either Cat 4, Cat1, or Cat-M1/NB-IoT, and the Digi modules are pin-compatible, so it’s a straightforward swap, depending on customer requirements, location, or country.”
Up-to-the-Minute Status at a Very Affordable Price
OverWatch can be remotely controlled and accessed using a smartphone or even a flip phone. “Our solution based on Digi XBee Cellular is simple to install, simple to use, and affordable to operate — just $1/day with complete monitoring and dashboard access on our standard plan. That means no more 30-minute truck rolls to dozens of hard-to-reach sites just to spend five minutes checking tank levels or confirming proper operations. For stripper-well operators, that’s the right value proposition.”
What’s more, OverWatch can provide more information more frequently. Instead of getting a visual or data-check every 24 or 48 hours, OverWatch can transmit data as often as every minute, and issue alerts if any of the readings are out of tolerance — preventing environmental damage on spills, mitigating any cleanup efforts, and minimizing any revenue losses.
Importantly, those frequent updates don’t translate into runaway data costs. Even updating at a five-minute interval, the OverWatch system only consumes (transmits) about 20 MB of data per month. “We’re providing up-to-the-minute status at a very affordable price,” Lee said. “The Digi XBee modem is the center of our system and an integral part of our solution. It’s literally the heart of our business.”
Beyond well monitoring, Innotek’s solution can also support other applications, including monitoring rural water supplies for small towns and or monitoring nitrogen pressures at terrestrial radio/TV towers. “We’re adding value with a flexible, lean, industrial rated solution for remote monitoring at a very fair cost. That’s helping operators save money as they shrink their eco-footprint. We minimize truck rolls. Additionally, a significant percentage of our sites use solar for part of their power consumption. And our early notifications can prevent accidental spills, conserve water from leaking tanks, or mitigate environmental damage.”
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