SBIR Phase II: Implementing an Infrastructure Intelligence System for Water and Wastewater Utilities Using the Software as a Service (SaaS) Delivery Model

该小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第二阶段项目将建立在第一阶段研究的成功基础上，第一阶段研究显示了市场对直观的基于位置的基础设施智能系统（Neptune）的需求，并证明了为水和废水公用事业以及公共工程机构提供SaaS解决方案的技术可行性。Neptune代表了基础设施信息管理领域的一项重大技术创新;它将通过一个直观、强大、全面且经济实惠的产品提供关键基础设施信息，从而成为一个领域趋势的制定者。当前的公用事业软件系统是复杂的独立系统，通常由技术专家使用。从这些系统中检索信息需要大量的资源和技术专长，而这些资源和技术专长是大多数公用事业公司所不具备的。该项目将设计、开发、测试和部署可投入生产的海王星产品，通过类似谷歌地图的界面，向从外地工作人员到行政管理人员的广大用户提供即时获取基础设施信息的机会。Neptune将消除进入的技术障碍，增强企业知识库的捕获和检索，并帮助延长我们基础设施的使用寿命。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力在于，保护公共健康和安全的公用事业和公共工程机构迫切需要在预算短缺的情况下有效管理其老化的基础设施。我们的国家？香港的基础设施不足，威胁到公众安全和福利，也威胁到我们的经济增长和竞争力。美国环保署估计，美国每年有超过240，000条水管破裂和170，000条下水道破裂。据估计，修复我们的基础设施需要数千亿美元。为了优先考虑基础设施维护，公用事业公司必须分析各种数据集，包括水力模型，GIS，SCADA，维护，应急响应和项目文档。现有的软件复杂而昂贵，对大多数中小型公用事业公司来说是一个巨大的进入障碍。这使他们的居民和环境面临更大的风险。通过其简单的界面和SaaS交付模式，Neptune将可供所有基础设施机构访问和负担得起。它将向民选官员和公众宣传基础设施投资的重要性。Neptune有潜力通过减少基础设施故障和指导公用事业公司采取积极的基础设施维护做法来提供显着的社会效益。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project will build upon the successes of the Phase I research that showed the market need for an intuitive, location-based Infrastructure Intelligence System (Neptune), and demonstrated the technical feasibility to deliver a SaaS solution for water and wastewater utilities and public works agencies. Neptune represents a significant technological innovation in infrastructure information management; it will be a domain trend setter by delivering critical infrastructure information through one intuitive, powerful, comprehensive and affordable product. Current utilities software systems are complex standalone systems, typically used by technical experts. Information retrieval from these systems requires significant resources and technical expertise that are not available for most utilities. This project will design, develop, test and deploy production-ready Neptuneproduct that will provide instantaneous access to infrastructure information through Google Maps-like interface to a broad range of users from field staff to executive management. Neptune will remove the technology barriers of entry, enhance the capture and retrieval of enterprise knowledgebase, and help extend the useful life of our infrastructure. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project lies in the urgent need for utilities and public works agencies that protect public health and safety to efficiently manage their aging infrastructure with budget shortages. Our nation?s infrastructure deficiencies threaten public safety and welfare as well as our economic growth and competitiveness. The EPA estimates over 240,000 water main breaks and 170,000 sewer main breaks annually in the United States. Estimates for fixing our infrastructure run into hundreds of billions of dollars. To prioritize infrastructure maintenance, utilities must analyze diverse datasets including hydraulic models, GIS, SCADA, maintenance, emergency response and project documents. Available software are complex and expensive and presents a huge barrier to entry for most small and medium utilities. This is putting their residents and environment at increased risk. Through its simple interface and SaaS delivery model, Neptune will be accessible and affordable to all infrastructure agencies. It will communicate the importance of infrastructure investment to elected officials and public. Neptune has the potential to provide significant societal benefit by reducing infrastructure failures and guiding utilities towards proactive infrastructure maintenance practices.