2012 saw the big announcement of Google Glasses. But fast forward five years and they’re far from living up to all the hype that surrounded them at the time. Meanwhile, Microsoft is betting on augmented reality with his Hololens glasses, focusing on medical and industrial applications. One of his most interesting uses of the technology developed by the Redmond giant is in the water treatment sector.
Along these lines, Spain “Extended Facility Management” Program developed by ACCIONA Water’s O&M department. The program brings a unique approach to water quality management, already high-tech through SCADA (Supervisory control and data collection) system. The latest project in the ACCIONA program was implemented at the La Almunia de Dona Godina sewage treatment plant in the Zaragoza region of Spain. Here, virtual reality and augmented reality are fused with an innovative approach.
Equipped with Hololens glasses, each operator can view their working environment using a series of superimposed holograms and navigate through augmented reality. Each screen displays a holographic representation of the measurements made by various sensors, making it easier for the wearer to perform the quality control process. Another advantage of this solution is the ability to remotely control facilities by collaborating in real-time with experts around the world who can diagnose problems or guide operators through the steps necessary to resolve critical situations. possibility to monitor.
In addition to this, ACCIONA supports the Augmented Reality initiative with a new training approach utilizing virtual reality to enable future technicians to become familiar with different work situations and their peculiarities in a risk-free environment. I’m here. This technology also allows multiple students to participate remotely in each training session at the same time.
Augmented reality is very active in Japan
Japan is another country that has made great strides in this area. The software “Interstage AR Processing Server” developed by Fujitsu is used at a water purification plant owned by Metawater, one of the largest companies in Japan. Operators wearing augmented reality glasses and tablets can check the status of various components without requiring detailed knowledge as the system stores a repository of images from various malfunctions and detects problems. Use of technical handbooks. In addition to this, each plant uses up to 400 AR markers so the glasses can detect each component regardless of distance, framing, or contamination. If an anomaly is detected, the operator can take a picture or record a video along with an explanation.
Using these technologies will undoubtedly give you a myriad of benefits. A recent study conducted in Italy on the implementation of augmented reality in water treatment plants in southern Italy summarized the following benefits:
- Speed activity monitoring and control.
- The cost of field activities is reduced due to the possibility of hiring less specialized workers.
- Improve decision-making processes through faster intervention.
Digital tools for processing and communicating with reality have evolved to the point where the virtual and real worlds are fully integrated, and the boundaries between them are getting thinner every day. Integrating such real-time analytics will immediately benefit a wide range of sectors, enabling a faster, more efficient, and more informed decision-making process.
sauce: Stock, MDPI, Metawater, Zataka
