One simple solution for effective utilities management

If you’re responsible for managing all types of urban infrastructure, from water supply to residential wastewater pumps, our simple, proven system puts you in control. It gives you the information you need, when you need it, helping you save time, money, energy and resources.
Observant offers the ideal solution for all types of organisations, from rural water authorities and design-build operators to large urban utilities with extensive networks of equipment or properties.
With Observant, you can finally bring together operating data from a diverse network of equipment and manage it at one central online facility. Continuous equipment monitoring ensures you receive alerts as soon as an issue is detected, and you can measure, capture and share all the data you need to manage your networks efficiently.

How it works

For centralised utility management, Observant combines dedicated onsite monitoring equipment, flexible deployment options such as repeaters and collectors, and the Observant Global service to securely manage operating data for your network – including data transmission, storage and access to software services online, by SMS or through your smartphone.
The system operates on a mesh network, where each property helps move data to the nearest Observant Collector without the need for multiple modems and SIM cards. This makes systems easier to deploy across large geographic areas, and it’s also cost-effective to run.
We’ve designed our monitoring modules to be so simple that you can set it up yourself, or with support from our qualified staff and partners. Monitoring equipment can connect directly to all types of equipment without the need for onsite expertise, thanks to our partnerships with key manufacturers.
And here’s what it provides, all from one central online location owned and managed by Observant:

Access to the information you need to manage the equipment for your entire property portfolio, with secure logins for authorised users and useful map overviews of equipment status.
Alerts about equipment problems, so you can manage repairs and ongoing maintenance.
Reports on water and energy use to support demand management and sustainability outcomes. All data is acces- sible via a variety of means for easy export and integration to existing systems

Manage your entire portfolio from one location

Centralised logging of faults and resolutions. Detect, diagnose and manage equipment maintenance across your network. It’s easier to assign repair work to sub-contractors, so you can resolve faults faster.
Automatic measurement of water and energy use. Capture a detailed view of water use, as well as electricity, power and gas and more.
Location awareness. Each unit is tracked by location so you can see all equipment status information by a property address, making effective management and maintenance much easier.
Mobility. Access our system on your computer or smartphone, and receive alerts via SMS or email, so you can man- age and control your network from wherever you need to be.
Stakeholder engagement. Share relevant information easily and securely by giving stakeholders a personal login. For example, home-owners can see their home water and energy use.
Scalable. Dedicated online tools can map and visually display information, allowing small to very large networks to be deployed and managed.

How you benefit

Reduce operating costs

By detecting problems early in one centralised location, you’re can solve them quickly and efficiently. So you cut the cost of labour and materials significantly, and make substantial savings on ongoing maintenance.

Save time in management and maintenance

Monitoring your assets online is much quicker than travelling to check each piece of equipment. And if there’s a problem, you find out about it sooner, so you can deal with it before the costs of repair or water wastage begin to mount up.
You’ll also save time on reporting, with the ability to easily share key information on your energy and water foot- print, and sustainability outcomes.

Simplify while you save

The Observant approach combines hardware and software in a single system that takes care of all aspects of water management. So there’s no complex integration to deal with, and you don’t need to design any new IT systems.
It also supports other utility equipment you may be responsible for, such as gas and electricity meters. This gives you an opportunity to streamline your activities, saving you even more work, time and cost. It all adds up to a smart investment for the future.

Purpose built for Australian agriculture, the Observant system helps you to monitor water usage and minimise loss, better manage irrigation schedules and help improve river health.

Run it all from your computer — turn pumps on and off, access accurate metering and soil moisture data, and quickly identify equipment breakdowns. You can keep aneye on your entire irrigation system from wherever you are.

A single system approach to water management

Observant integrates with your irrigation equipment, such as pumps, flow meters, soil moisture probes and weather stations. You’ll find AquaSpy®, MACE™, NOV Mono®, Sentek, Vaisala, Yanmar™ and many more on our expanding list of supported equipment. Observant is a single system that provides an easy alternative to multiple, independent telemetry products.

Easy to install, and easy to manage

Equipment is designed for simple self-installation, or your reseller can provide a full service. The easy to use software makes it simple to view recorded data and set up your alerts. If you need help, the Observant Customer Service team is just a phone call away.

Real-time access to vital information

You’ll have access to precise, current information on the road or at home to help you make informed decisions about the way you manage your water. It’s easy to securely share the relevant data with your partners.

Save time while you safeguard your assets

Because you can monitor your irrigation assets from your computer, you won’t spend as much time making trips to check equipment. If there’s a problem you’ll be alerted, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so you can take care of it before it results in a costly repair bill or water wastage.

Designed in Australia, for Australian agriculture

Observant understands the challenges that make Australian agriculture unique, and has designed this robust equipment to handle the toughest conditions. The results have been consistently proven in the field.

Act now to start saving time, water and money

Many customers have already achieved significant savings, and taken advantage of government schemes. Observant products are of the highest quality, easy to use and are supported by local irrigation experts. Please ask your local reseller for a quote.

Observant supports soil moisture sensors from Sentek and AquaSpy and weather stations from Vaisala to bring up to date information from the widest range of sources.

All this information can be viewed in a single location, and overlaid with other data to improve understanding and gain new insights.

Combine soil moisture and weather information in to a whole-of-farm system. Use this information to make better decisions about irrigation schedules and as rules for pump automation.

Weather

Weather data includes:

• Air temperature
• Rainfall accumulation & intensity
• Wind speed and direction
• Barometric pressure
• Humidity
• System status

Soil Moisture

Soil moisture data includes:

• Soil moisture readings across different soil profiles
• Soil temperature
• System status

All data is delivered as current values and with full historical recording and reporting. Remote units can store many weeks of data, and software services (desktop or web based managed services) retain historical recording for years.

View our Water Meter Monitoring Capability Statement.

Flow Meter Monitoring

Observant field units are capable of monitoring data from all major brands of electromagnetic flow meters including:

• MACE
• Siemens
• TYCO
• ABB
• Any pulse counter output meter

Using a serial or other direct connection, the following information can be collected and displayed on the user’s computer or hand held device:

• Meter ID. Each flow meter has a unique identity. This enables flow data to be assigned with accuracy to the correct meter or irrigator.
• Flow rate. Current flow rate, expressed as litres/minute, is kept current with each refreshed connection to the Observant field unit
• Total flow. Total flow for a selected period. This can be configured according to the users requirements to show total water flow over a given period.
• Meter health. Depending on the meter, information such as battery health, solar voltage or any error flags can be displayed on the user’s software.

Flow meter data can be securely shared to more than one user if required. Properly authorised users can download data directly, view it on a secure web site, with syndicate portions of the data on to third-party web sites.

Advanced Protection & Diagnostics

To help protect your investment, the Observant engine management solution is able to gather and report a wide range of diagnostics and ensure the safe operation of your engine. In addition to protecting your engine against a wide range of operating failures like high water temperature, oil pressure and low fuel the

Local & Remote Control

All the features of the system can be accessed directly from the M2 front panel, or remotely via Observant’s software & online services.

Automation & Scheduling

Pumps and engines can set up to turn on and off in response to events at the same site, or at any other site connected to an Observant system. Scheduling can also be set up to use timers and combine timers and events for efficient and cost effective operation.

Configuration of pump automation setting is done with simple, user friendly software and can be easily changed or over-ridden. Safety features and protection are built-in with maximum runtime, manual over-ride and emergency cut-off as standard features.

Even under automatic control, all the engine protection features of the M2 are fully operational and will shutdown the engine if any protection conditions arise.

Factory Direct Integration

Observant continues to work directly with engine manufacturers so you can order your engine directly “Observant Ready”. This factory installed integration means the easiest possible installation, often only requiring

Occupational Health & Safety

Pumping and power generation equipment must meet high standards or occupational safety.  All Observant engine management systems come with factory installed alarm and manual shutdown features.

With an Observant system, you can continually be up to date about the state of your livestock water. Learn about problems faster, and assure yourself that water levels are where they should be.

Monitor and Control Water

An Observant system can provide all the information you need to maintain safe and efficient livestock water systems. You can monitor and manage:

• Water Levels in Dams, Nests & Tanks
• Water Flow from Storages
• Automatically Start & Stop Diesel, Petrol, Electric & Solar Pumps
• Take photos on demand or on a schedule

All this information can be easily viewed from your desktop computer in the home or office, or via any internet connected computer or compatible smart phone.

The comprehensive and accurate picture provided by this system means you spend less time traveling to and worrying about your watering points. You save time and learn about problems faster, resulting in more savings.

Managing environmental assets can pose a big challenge. Often spread over large a geographic area, managing and monitoring protection, remediation and restoration projects and be costly and time consuming.

With its landscape scale, solar powered monitoring solutions, Observant offers a way to manage the cost and efficiency of environmental programs. The system makes it easy to capture and share valuable project outcomes with a wide audience.

Observant solutions are being used to support a wide variety of environmental water and land management outcomes

• Environmental Water Releases
• Wetland Monitoring & Restoration
• Wildlife Protection and Reintroduction
• Feral Animal Management

No Software or Computers Required

With the Observant Managed Services, you can gain all the benefits of having a remote monitoring system without the need to install or operate any software of computers. All the data captured is securely stored, and easily accessed from our password protected web site.

Easy Sharing of Project Outcomes

The Managed Service provides many different ways to access the information captured. Images and digital data like rainfall, water flow and water levels can be downloaded at any time. Observant also provides a set of tools that make it simple to include up-to-date information in any web site.

The information below can be included in any web site with a few lines of HTML. The data can be view online, or easily downloaded in to popular spreadsheet programs such as Microsoft Excel.