3D LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) solutions are quickly gaining the attention of security and facility operations professionals at water and wastewater treatment utilities for their extreme accuracy and cost-efficiency versus traditional video surveillance products. In fact, 3D LiDAR technology is proven to be up to 20x more accurate than video and radar surveillance solutions at approximately half the cost – which are game changing metrics for municipalities across the country who are being tasked to do more for less.  

With the ability to accurately identify, classify, and track up to 600 moving objects  

simultaneously in real-time, 3D LiDAR solutions are revolutionizing security, safety and operations practices at water treatment facilities. While conventional video cameras provide 2D views of an area, LiDAR sensors create a precise 3D image of the entire area with a 360° field of view and at a much longer range. This allows 3D LiDAR systems to pinpoint the exact location of a potential threat and provide actionable insights with hyper accuracy and speed. These systems deliver proactive intelligence 24/7/365 under virtually any environmental condition and in complete darkness.  

To fully understand the power of 3D LiDAR, here are four prevalent applications for water resources management applications and utilities:  

  1. Physical Security – Security at water and wastewater utilities and other critical infrastructure sites is a matter of public health and economic security. As such, the security solutions deployed at these locations need to detect a wide range of potential internal and external threats such as unauthorized entry, vandalism, domestic terrorism, equipment tampering, theft, and more. The real-time alerts generated by 3D LiDAR systems ensure that security personnel can react quickly and swiftly to proactively prevent events from happening or escalating.   
  2. Safety – Though closely related to water utilities’ security operations, 3D LiDAR safety applications help ensure the physical well-being of employees, visitors, and contactors. For example, Quanergy Q-Track™ 3D LiDAR solutions can track as many as 600 moving objects simultaneously, providing unparalleled autonomous  event tracking for improved safety operations. What’s more, the speed and accuracy of 3D LiDAR initiates a fast emergency response following the identification of water and wastewater treatment plant safety hazards or other personal injury events as simple as slip and fall accidents and vehicle collisions or near-miss incidents.  
  3. General Surveillance Monitoring – Remote sensing applications for large scale water security applications are usually performed by satellite to monitor three critical criteria: water quality, water quantity and extreme events. LiDAR sensors can be utilized by local water utilities to monitor water depth and flow, and other KPIs to best manage and sustain operations.  

 3D LiDAR technology represents the “next big thing” in physical security and business intelligence. Innovative proactive solutions like Q-Track™ 3D LiDAR are driving a paradigm shift in the way large open venues such as water and wastewater treatment facilities deploy new technologies to better secure and operate their facilities.   

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