Automated Monitoring at Oil Sands Site

Worldsensing VW Logger at Oil Sands Site

Challenge

Oil sands make up one of Canada’s most important fossil fuel reserves, but their exploitation has to be monitored with care to avoid degrading the natural environment.

To this end, a major Canadian energy company installed 2,000 vibrating wire piezometers in the tailings dams at its northern Alberta oils sands site.

At the time, there was no practical way to implement a data logging system due to the size of the site (40+ sq km), so readings were taken manually at weekly intervals when possible. In winter however, freezing conditions made timely readings impossible.

To fill the gaps in its monitoring data, the company needed a reliable, cost-effective way to automate readings.

Solution

GEO-Instruments Canada proposed using a low-power, wide-area wireless network of data loggers. The technology for these networks was relatively new but specfically designed for long-distance communications.

After testing a range of devices, GEO determined that Worldsensing LoRa loggers met its requirements for cold weather performance, long battery life, and reliable long-distance radio transmissions

 

 

Implementation

Since the vibrating wire piezometers were already in place,  GEO was able to set up the wireless network quickly, installing posts to hold the loggers and connecting the existing cables to the loggers. Most loggers were the larger, 5-channel loggers which offered more battery capacity.

Within four weeks, the logger network was delivering  readings from 200 sensors at four hour intervals directly to the oil-company's systems.

Since then, the network has been expanded to include additional types of sensors, such as Measurerand ShapeArrays, which are used to monitor slope stability.

Results

  • The logger network has increased reading frequency nearly 40-fold. This allows the team to focus on analyzing this higher quality dataset, instead of spending most of their time collecting it.
  • Continuous monitoring provides a much more detailed and immediate view of conditions on the site, allowing the company to make more timely and better-informed decisions.
  • The automated system has eliminated most manual monitoring, enhancing the safety of technicians and reducing costs.

"The return on investment is easily less than a year.” - Adam Dulmage, Businesss Development Executive, Mining sector, GEO-Instruments Canada (formerly GKM Consultants).