SBIR Phase II: An Intelligent Water Monitor and Loss Mitigation Service for Building Owners

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will enable the creation of a powerful, simple to use, low-cost Internet of Things (IoT) device needed to facilitate a dramatic reduction in water waste and damage, transform maintenance from responsive to predictive, and improve the health and quality of life for residents. This project will revolutionize how we track and manage water usage, improve conservation, eliminate water waste, and lower overall operating and maintenance costs. At the same time, the new monitoring system enables large reductions in water consumption, electricity utilization and carbon generation relative to water production, transmission, distribution and recycling. This will improve the water system just as electrical usage and monitoring dramatically improved energy consumption for buildings, i.e. in lighting systems. The data analytics solution is scalable within all water fixtures Most importantly, it can be cost-effectively produced in the U.S. and create sustainable, green jobs. We envision this project will eliminate the need for replacing water fixture parts on a schedule because we don?t know when or how things fail, and it will enable Smart Buildings and Smart Cities to protect an increasingly scarce and expensive resource. The proposed project will build upon the successful technical and customer discoveries from Phase I to develop the ability for a building owner to know when a leak occurs in a water fixture before it does damage, wastes a precious resource, or creates a potential health risk. In Phase I, we demonstrated a Minimum Viable Product that is essentially a ?smoke alarm for water fixtures? that provides a building owner alerts when a water fixture presents signs of a leak, before it does damage. The device is inside an affordable platform can be economically produced in the U.S. Current estimates are that ~23% of water produced is wasted and does damage in the process. Building owners seek a solution that will conserve water, reduce costs and improve their environmental impact. In Phase II, we will measure water from drips to flowing water, develop an IoT device that is simple to install and use, develop powerful analytics for predictive rather than reactive maintenance, and generate data valued by insurance companies and property owners. Data analytics can make the water delivery and consumption process considerably more reliable, and reduce loss and damage significantly.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.