How do you ensure real-time water monitoring and flood-warning capability across Morocco’s largest and most economically important river basin – where cellular coverage is unreliable and climatic extremes are common? For the Sebou Hydraulic Basin Agency, the answer was RipEX.
https//www.racom.eu/eng/case/flood-warning-and-water-management-across-morocco
Challenge: A Harsh Environment and Legacy GSM Telemetry Not Fit for Purpose
The Sebou basin contains one third of Morocco’s surface water, with more than 10 dams supporting agriculture, industry and regional development.
The agency is responsible for:
- monitoring water resources
- protecting the region from floods and drought
- operating hydro-climatological stations across rugged terrain
- delivering continuous real-time data for early-warning systems
The original telemetry system used GSM communication, which suffered from:
- unreliable network coverage
- limited throughput
- unpredictable delays and outages
- poor performance in remote or mountainous areas
A new solution was required – one that would be modern, robust and future-proof, while still operating alongside the existing GSM system as a backup.
Solution: RipEX at 160 MHz Provides Reliable, Solar-Powered Telemetry
In 2014, after a public tender, the agency selected RACOM RipEX as the core of its new hydrological monitoring network.
Why RipEX:
- native IP communication
- extremely low power consumption – ideal for solar power
- robust operation in harsh climates
- Flexible protocol enabling dynamic routing and long-range multi-hop topologies
- integrated web interface for simple configuration and remote management
- support for backup routes and hybrid operation with the existing GSM network
- reliable 4CPFSK modulation for long-distance communication
Deployment: From 3 Pilot Stations to a Large-Scale Monitoring Network
The initial phase included:
- 3 stations
- 2 repeaters
- 1 acquisition centre at headquarters
Using RACOM’s Migration Solution, the rollout expanded seamlessly over four years into a full-scale network:
- 25 remote stations
- 4 repeaters
- 1 central acquisition centre
Key achievements:
- remote sites up to 80 km from HQ communicate without signal degradation
- some RipEX units operate simultaneously as stations and repeaters
- fully solar-powered network with no need for grid connection
- reliable real-time hydrological data for early flood detection
The ongoing performance met the agency’s demanding requirements for availability and data quality.
Results: A Highly Reliable, Expandable Water-Management Network
The upgraded RipEX network now provides:
- stable real-time data for flood-warning and drought management
- long-range communication across the entire basin
- a robust alternative to GSM, which remains as backup
- simplified administration using remote management
- the ability to expand further as new hydrological stations are added
Due to the success of the project and high satisfaction among engineers, plans are already underway to replicate the RipEX-based solution for additional water-management clients throughout Morocco.
