Emergency Water Information Network (EWIN)

is of the top Engineering and Physical Science Research Council (EPSRC) projects dedicated to driving innovation, research and implementation of a low cost Internet of Things (IoT) wireless communication network based on mobile and fixed sensor nodes for real time flood forecasting.

Flooding is already a real problem all over the world and with climate change, it is predicted to get worse. Therefore flooding can be seen as a Global Challenge. The Emergency Water Information Network is a project funded by the British government (EPSRC) and supported by the Global Challenge Research Fund (GCRF) that looks at ways to study flooding from rivers in Mexico and UK.

A common problem to many types of flood is that often it is not known where the water has come from and in what proportions. This makes it difficult to learn from past events and recognize warning signs in advance. While most developed countries have sophisticated sensor networks in place that monitor river states, many developing countries lack this infrastructure.

In the EWIN project, teams of researchers and engineers have been looking at ways of monitoring river states using low cost wireless sensor networks close to rivers. Since most of these areas have wide mobile phone coverage, it is envisaged that multiple radio network providers can be used to provide radio coverage for the catchment area.

This research seeks to develop a cost effective flood sensing system that can be easily deployed in developing countries. In EWIN three teams of researchers from the UK and Mexico, supported by small medium enterprises (Siteldi Solutions I+D+i in Mexico and Dynamic Flow Technologies in UK) with expertise in water engineering, radio frequency and embedded electronics have come to together to investigate how real time flood forecasting can be implemented using cellular phone, and WiFi/LoRa technology.

Combined with background research, prototyping of sensors packages and flood modelling, the teams have conducted a series of highly targeted field trials to test the EWIN platform. Therefore, in this Workshop a series of technical sessions and tutorials will be provided in order to understand how this EWIN platform was implemented and how it can be used, configured and operated.

This 2-day event includes an inauguration conference by distinguished speakers from academia and government sectors; technical sessions and tutorials featuring: 1) Embedded System, 2) Water System, and 3) Radio Frequency Analysis and Propagations Models.

EWIN 2020, will be held in Colima City, known as the City of Palms, Colima, is a picturesque colonial town that lies between two volcanoes: the Fire volcano, the most active in Mexico, and the Frosted from Colima. Its magical town Comala, known as "the white town of the Americas" was immortalized by the Mexican writer Juan Rulfo's novel Pedro Páramo, the deep waters of the port of Manzanillo hide a marine life treasure ideal for fishing lovers.