Smart Douro Inland Waterway Infrastructure Resilience Management

Aiming to get effective monitoring of wastewater deposits and prevent illegal wastewater dumping, the next step is critical and already underway through the ongoing selection of the vessels for the installation of the data loggers. The goal is to conduct the necessary tests to validate the chosen solutions in terms of security, immutability, transparency and decentralization during the first months of 2025.

In parallel, APDL and Magellan have collaborated with WP2 and 3 to provide data, information and inputs towards the development of the Douro’s digital twin aiming to better analyse and handle drought and flood situations within the waterway, specially in critical emergency situations. A special focus is also being given to the connection possibilities with the existing railway along the river to move cargo and passengers in such scenarios.

ReNEW was presented during multiple sessions at the Port Innovation Days organised by APDL in the Porto Cruise Terminal, Portugal from 16 to 18 October 2024. The event brought together experts to discuss the future of port operations, focusing on innovation, digitalization and energy transition. Among the topics covered are smart logistics projects, sustainability in transportation and zero-emission solutions.

March 2024

In the context of the pollution control use case, the preliminary implementation of the solution for storing data from data loggers on the Ethereum blockchain is now completed. The solution involves the creation of a smart contract that stores data based on the device and timestamp pair, also recording the sensor reading value and the ship coordinates. An Ethereum wallet is used to pay the cost of transactions for which the Ethereum Sepolia Testnet is being used (photo below).

Using the Ethereum blockchain to store data from data loggers offers significant advantages in terms of security, immutability, transparency and decentralization. However, it is important to consider challenges related to cost, network slowness, and scalability before implementing this solution.

To lower the burden on the network and the overall cost, the LL2 has devised an approach that maintains the immutability of the data and the identification of potentially harmful discharges, but with a less frequent need to write data to the ledger.

This approach considers that the datalogger itself is an intelligent element, capable of carrying out a prior analysis of the values measured at each moment and determining whether they should be transmitted immediately, or only when a predefined time interval between transmissions is reached.

In other words, an interval of 2 hours can be defined between transmissions for normal values, that is, values that do not indicate a decrease in the volume of water in the tank. However, measurements will always be made with a very short measurement interval (e.g. 5 minutes) and if the measurement at that moment is lower than the measurement immediately before, then this value will be transmitted immediately. The transmission of values that are lower than those preceding will always be done immediately, to ensure that all situations of possible non-compliance are quickly transmitted.

The next step will be the installation of the data loggers on board one or two pilot ships.

September 2023

The main objectives of the Living Lab 2 – Smart Douro are to improve predictions of extreme conditions, adapt to the circumstances and plan the adequate response, considering several scenarios, including existing rail connections and their role in urgent situations. With effective monitoring of wastewater deposits and providing public entities with necessary information to act, the LL aims to prevent illegal wastewater dumping and help improve the water quality.

Since March 2023, the LL2 has organised meetings with key stakeholders including APA (Portuguese Environment Agency) and DGRM (Directorate-General for Natural Resources, Safety and Maritime Services) to refine requirements and discuss approach to the legal and operational implications, legislative process, and enable the acceptance of means of verification of infractions. Additional meetings have been organised with technological partners to explain the project and analyse how to manage the outputs and data coming from the equipment and feed it to the blockchain. In this regard, the LL2 is in the process of making a cost benefit analysis in order to evaluate potential solutions and choosing the best one for implementation in the Douro.

In addition, in the last period the LL2 verified the operators’ interest to participate in the pilot and factors that might be of importance for future use including discounts for collaborating companies, better trip planning and avoidance of unjust advantages by non-compliant operators.

Next steps for early 2024 include blockchain and partner operator selection, followed by implementation and trials of selected solutions for the Living Lab.