The Challenge
Cyprus faces escalating climate challenges: water scarcity in agriculture and urban systems, air pollution in industrial zones, and increasing wildfire risks in forested areas. Existing monitoring methods are fragmented across different agencies, rely on manual sampling, and lack real-time data integration. Without a unified system, early intervention is impossible and response is always reactive.
The Solution
Altirratech EU, through its parent company Altirratech Ltd, developed EcoWatch, an IoT platform that integrates multi-sensor nodes with edge AI and cloud analytics for continuous environmental monitoring:
- Sensor nodes: Low-power modular units equipped with sensors for water quality (pH, turbidity, dissolved oxygen), air quality (PM2.5, NOx, CO), and wildfire risk (temperature, humidity, gas detection). Solar-powered with battery backup for autonomous operation.
- Edge AI: On-device machine learning inference for real-time anomaly detection. The node can classify events (e.g., sudden pollution spike) and trigger alerts without cloud connectivity.
- Cloud platform: Aggregated dashboard with historical trends, geospatial heat maps, and automated reporting. Multi-tenant architecture supports municipal, industrial, and conservation stakeholders.
Results
- Pilot deployment across 2 regions (forest and municipal) with 50 sensor nodes
- Sub-minute alert latency for critical events (pollution spikes, fire precursors)
- Edge AI enabled autonomous operation for up to 14 days without cloud connectivity
- Platform designed to scale to 1,000+ nodes across the Mediterranean basin