In response to the rapid increase in water needed for people’s daily lives and industry in the Hsinchu area, the office is committed to developing irrigation technology, using remote sensing satellite communications and geographical information-related technologies to develop a water resources management system. In addition to improving operational efficiency, this also significantly enhances water supply during drought periods and flexibility in resource allocation. The development of the system is positioned at the integration and application of irrigation technology, combining automatic reporting systems and geographical information systems as it moves in the direction of an automated water resources management system. It further integrates water rights, water use planning, water resources allocation and other water resources management services to fully support decision making.

• Telemetry Communication and Data Processing System at the Office
• Telemetry Communication Systems at Workstations
• Telemetry Communication Systems at Observation Stations

  The structure of our office’s telemetry communication and data processing system follows the concept of an integrated information system, adopting a two-tier distributed architecture. This architecture separates the communication network and applications into a server (Business Logic Tier), while databases are formed into another server layer (Data Tier). This distributed computing approach reduces system load and facilitates resource sharing. The telemetry communication system at each workstation integrates hydrological and geographic databases, using LED panels to display real-time hydrological information for staff to access and operate. The telemetry communication systems at observation stations collect real-time hydrological information and transmit it to the central station via GSM modules for consolidation.

  System Communication and Transmission Mechanism

  The communication function of this system meets demands for the automatic monitoring and transmission of remote meteorological and hydrological information, engineering data maintenance etc. In addition to providing users with the latest meteorological, hydrological and geographical information, it also offers a remote maintenance function for maintenance staff to enhance work efficiency.

  Our office’s telemetry communication system primarily receives and collects meteorological and hydrological information from observation stations. At the same time, it updates the meteorological and hydrological databases at the workstations in real-time. Additionally, it converts and maintains the format of the geographic information attribute database while updating the geographic information file databases at the workstations. The telemetry communication system at workstations focuses on downloading the office’s hydrological and geographic information and uploading rainfall and engineering maintenance information. The telemetry communication system at observation stations emphasizes receiving commands from the office and uploading observation data.

  This system employs three main communication methods: RS232/485 serial communication, Ethernet communication, and analog communication. These three communication methods cover all data exchange modes for servers and equipment at the office, workstations, and observation stations.

Telemetry communication and data processing methods have a two-tier decentralized architecture:

1. Applications of communication network, data retrieval, database synchronization and other related applications are independent of each communication server (Business Logic Tier).
2. Independent Data Tiers are formed by meteorology, hydrological, geographical information and other water resources management etc. Distributed computing is used to reduce the load on the system and establishing the database server within the firewall also improves the network security level of the database.

• Automatic acquisition application for water level and flow data:
  This uses equipment such as modems and wireless GSM modules, to dial and issue instructions to each observation station at regular intervals every day (the time interval can be flexibly adjusted), and instantly transmits water level, voltage and other observation data to the hydrological database.
• Office automatic meteorological data retrieval application:
  The meteorological data of Hsinchu Weather Station is archived on the top floor of the office. The data collector automatically uploads rainfall records to the communication server in real time and updates them to the hydrological database.
• Synchronized program for rainfall station and Baoshan weather station database:
  The Internet and local network are used to call each workstation and Baoshan weather station to upload rainfall and meteorological data. At the same time, the communication server also returns water level flow to the automatic reporting host of each workstation in real time.
• Synchronized program between the office and workstation geographic databases:
  This synchronizes and updates the geographic information database of the office and workstations in real time for client end query and retrieval applications.
• Office geographical information data exchange interface:
  Administrators usually only need to maintain the SQL database which is jointly accessed by automatic forecasting and geographical information. Relevant geographical information data is automatically converted into data format by this interface and provided for access and use by front-end staff.
• Remote control application:
  The remote control function is used to help maintenance staff perform remote maintenance operations.
• Alternate communication mechanism:
  If the network communication of the hydrological observation station is interrupted, data collector records can be downloaded with a laptop and then uploaded to the hydrological database; if the workstation’s broadband network communication is interrupted, the modem dial-up transmission method is used.

The functions of the workstation telemetry communication system include a rainfall data acquisition program, hydrographic display board program and Baoshan meteorological data acquisition program.

1. Rainfall data acquisition program: Regularly calls rainfall stations to upload rainfall records, uploads records to the office communication server through the Ethernet network, and updates the records to the hydrological database.
2. Hydrographic display board program: The Ethernet TCP/IP communication protocol is used to download office hydrological information, with real-time rainfall and hydrological information transmitted to the LED panel for display through the RS485/432 interface, making it easier for workstation staff to view real-time water conditions.
3. Baoshan meteorological data acquisition program: The Baoshan Reservoir Management Group's meteorological rainfall, water level and flow records are downloaded by Zhudong Workstation reporting host through the local network, the data is uploaded to the communication server through the ethernet network, and the hydrological database updated.

• Power Systems:
  When there is sufficient sunshine, the solar panel provides power, and the solar charge controller powers instruments, including a modem, a field controller, and an analog input and output module, while simultaneously charging lead-acid batteries.The lead-acid batteries are used as backup power for the observation station system and have the capacity to maintain normal on-site system operations for three months.
• Data retrieval and storage system:
  The data access part includes an analog water level gauge, analog input module or digital water level gauge and on-site controller. The analog input module reads the on-site voltage value and current value of the water level meter, converts it into a digital signal, and transmits it to the on-site controller. After calculating the water level movement average per minute, the result is stored in the flash memory of the on-site controller. The on-site controller records per minute voltage and water level values, which the central station can use to test the operation of the on-site power system. The minute average water level calculation uses average movement over 20 seconds. In addition, the analog water level meter uses internal difference to convert the water level value, and then uses the internal difference of the water level flow rate curve to convert the observed flow value. However, siltation in the on-site environment and the potential errors caused by the long-term use of the water level meter may affect monitored water level and flow values. As a result, an error compensation value is added during the calculation process to enhance accuracy. The value used for adjustment is the on-site water level correction parameter.
• Communication system:
  This is a wireless GSM module or wired modem, available for the office server to dial in and retrieve data at any time. If there is no response within 90 seconds after connection, the communication is immediately and forcibly interrupted.

Most water level observation stations are located in suburban areas. It is highly time-consuming and laborious to visit those sites to check whether the system is operating normally. As such, automatic data acquisition determines whether the system is operating normally based on interactions with the observation station and automatically records errors in the database for managers to query. There are four main categories of automatic detection fault signals.

• Communication failure:
  The modem dial up is busy and there is no response from the other party.
• Logger failure:
  The modem connection is successful, but the recorder is not responding.
• Water level or flow meter failure:
  The modem connection is successful and the recorder responds, but the water level value returned is unreasonable, for example, the value is negative or exceeds the maximum value.
• Low voltage warning:
  Observation station power systems have low-voltage protection. When the voltage is lower than 11.5V, the power supply to the load end is automatically cut off to prevent the battery from over-discharging. When the system detects that the voltage is lower than 12V, a low-voltage warning appears.
• Voice dialing function detection:
  This automatically detects whether the voice dialing function is operating properly and whether it is recording.
• Data verification, correction and detection:
  This records whether each entry of original data went through verification and correction procedures.

This system regularly retrieves data from various environmental data recorders, but it can still encounter unexpected situations such as disconnections, computer crashes, power outages etc. When such situations occur, the database stops recording data and activates data supplement mechanism. Under normal circumstances, manual operation is not required. The acquisition application of the office and workstation automatically check the integrity of the database at a specific time every day to determine whether to re-download historical data from the recorder. This is the automatic data back-up mechanism. If the administrator suspects that the automatic data back-up results are still incomplete, the he or she can retrieve the records for a specific period of time, which is called a manual data back-up mechanism.

The system stability index refers to the number of stations that complete data acquisition transmission, relative to the those that complete data acquisition transmission scheduled by the system under normal operating conditions and times. It is used to determine the stability of system operations.

The office is committed to the development of irrigation science and technology based on modern developments in the field. With the goal of improving the operational efficiency of water resources management systems, the office used telemetry communication technology to build an automatic reporting system to retrieve real-time meteorological and hydrological information. This also integrates water rights data and water use plans, water resources allocation and other irrigation water demand data, and establishes a real-time decision-making support system for irrigation management, as a reference point for on-site staff and supervisors.