ISAW is a web service provided by a network of four Swiss highly-specialized companies that are worldwide experts in the design, installation and operation of remote warning, alarm and measuring solutions in high altitudes, cold areas, and specific hostile industrial environments. The web service provides up-to-date information about ISAW products and access to live measurement data from over 40 installed ISAW stations.
The first of the four companies in the ISAW network, AlpuG, was started in 1994 with the aim to transfer knowledge and experience from research to practical applications in the field of alpine risk management, safety concepts, risk analyses, snow avalanche dynamics, and danger maps. AlpuG is proficient in the development of remote measuring and control systems adapted to rough climatic conditions in alpine environments. AlpuG designs, builds and supports remote warning, alarm and measuring systems. The head of the company, Hansueli Gubler, is a well-known researcher who has worked at SFISAR/DAVOS for the past 22 years.
The three other sisters companies are SensAlpin GmbH Davos, headed by Martin Zimmerli, a former researcher at SFISAR/DAVOS; Waljag GmbH in Malans, headed by Walter Jaeger, a field expert technician; and IAV Sàrl in Tannay, headed by Vincent Chritin and Eric Van Lancker, EPFL PhD’s. With over 15 years of collaboration over hundreds of projects, the strong collaboration among the four companies in the network guaranties that large and demanding projects are expertly completed in a short time at reasonable cost.
The goal of the ISAW network is to develop and provide solutions that help to reduce the impact of natural dangers on humans, and bring tools to better understand the behavior of the phenomena of interest. All solutions are designed to be environmentally friendly. Since its conception in the early 90’s, the key to the success of ISAW has been the post-installation support, constant monitoring of the installation, design evolution and system upgradeability. This is done at a minimal annual cost taking advantage of latest available technologies.
The instruments used to observe natural phenomena, require effective autonomous energy and data communication systems. Raw gathered data requires an interface for its analysis and interpretation. Thus, an ISAW solution is a remote autonomous permanent installation on location that observes nature’s phenomenon(s) or event(s) (snow, wind, air, sand, rain, ground, avalanche, mud flow, hail, etc) with a means of communicating
information or actions (alerts, measurement data, event detection, etc) to a remote server for automated analysis and classification. We integrate standard components and custom-designed elements to ensure the most cost-effective solution over the lifetime of the product and services for specific environmental monitoring.
The ISAW philosophy is based on the principles of Total Quality Management. Every component in an ISAW solution is selected to meet stringent quality standards. This enables ISAW to produce long-lasting cost-effective solutions. ISAW solutions are designed with an open, flexible architecture so they will never become obsolete or disused.
In response to growing demand, the worldwide ISAW stations network is expanding every year with the introduction of new stations in new territories. With the evolution of technologies there is also a constant retrofit (maintenance and upgrade) of existing installation. It has been shown that without high level components, experience, knowledge and a remote monitoring of permanent operations, most of the generic installations in harsh environments (e.g. mountains, cold regions, or other hostile environments) fall quickly in disuse. Our policy is to select and supply top-of-the-range equipment, and
provide installation upgrade services which lead a continual evolution of information visualization for users, Costs of system improvements and innovations are shared across network members resulting in near-zero costs. Our corporate network initiated under this philosophy has over 400 reference installations worldwide. We have gained a global reputation in the supply, deployment and follow-up of all of these installations. Crucial to our holistic approach is working with local experts and suppliers to provide locally-sourced materials, services and on-site support whenever possible.
ISAW solution has been recognized as the official Meteorological Station for the 2014 Olympic Winter Games in Sochi / Russia. In summer 2009, six automatic measuring stations were installed for avalanche warning in the skiing area of Rosa Khutor. (see OSEC newsletter September 2009)
ISAW has developed a broad range of innovative solutions, some of which are listed below:
Due to the variety and customized nature of our installations, we cannot provide an exhaustive online catalogue. However, the ISAW companies have continued to use a very high degree of modularization and integration in their solutions resulting in a quick response with maximum guarantee of operation in any desired configuration of the installation.
To view the full range of possibilities within ISAW solutions, please browse the ISAW Companies websites.
www.alpug.ch The AlpuG GmbH company is a local reseller of Campbell Scientific (CSI) UK. AlpuG has over 25 years of experience with CSI instrumentation and can provide special solutions based on CSI data loggers. AlpuG and its ISAW partners have developed a number of special data acquisition, transmission and control applications based on CSI loggers. Some of these are listed here:
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Some of the dataloggers and communication Interfaces used are:
GSM, GPRS, 3G, Hedge, Radio RF, Spread spectrum radio, Ethernet, RS232, RS485, Short Haul, Phone, communication switches, serial optocoupler, i/o modules, routers, solar power systems.
www.sensalpin.ch Founded in 2003, SensAlpin GmbH has been active in the planning, design and building of autonomous measuring systems. The SensAlpin company headquarters lie in the Alpine town of Davos located in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Prior to founding the company, Martin Zimmerli was a researcher at the WSL Institute for snow and avalanche research SLF in Davos. The focus of his research was in the handling of alpine natural dangers. SensAlpin specializes in autonomous measuring systems, warning systems and alarm installations for the management of alpine natural dangers, weather stations for tourism and traffic, and measuring systems for engineering, research and science. SensAlpin systems have been deployed worldwide and have been proven to be operationally successful in the harshest of environements. SensAlpin provide custom solutions and design products/solutions for specific requirements. With the collaborative backing of the ISAW highly-specialized network, SensAlpin can meet the demands for planning, execution and follow-up assistance of your project. For their measuring systems, SensAlpin use proven products from world-leading manufactures. Their largest supplier is Campbell Scientific, whose products have worked very well over the years in numerous operational applications and research projects at all altitudes and climatic regions of the world. A compact and economical alternative is also available for simple measuring tasks with the MSP (monitoring service POINT) of IBEXIS, which contains the entire data lifecycle starting with the local measurement over GPRS communication up to its Internet representation.
www.waljag.ch Since 2001 Waljag has been actively involved in building stations in alpine regions. They are specialists in the building of weather and measuring stations, alarm installations for natural dangers, design controller for the artificial avalanche release and for general controller design.
www.sensalpin.ch Founded in 2003, SensAlpin GmbH has been active in the planning, design and building of autonomous measuring systems. The SensAlpin company headquarters lie in the Alpine town of Davos located in the heart of the Swiss Alps. Prior to founding the company, Martin Zimmerli was a researcher at the WSL Institute for snow and avalanche research SLF in Davos. The focus of his research was in the handling of alpine natural dangers. SensAlpin specializes in autonomous measuring systems, warning systems and alarm installations for the management of alpine natural dangers, weather stations for tourism and traffic, and measuring systems for engineering, research and science. SensAlpin systems have been deployed worldwide and have been proven to be operationally successful in the harshest of environements. SensAlpin provide custom solutions and design products/solutions for specific requirements. With the collaborative backing of the ISAW highly-specialized network, SensAlpin can meet the demands for planning, execution and follow-up assistance of your project. For their measuring systems, SensAlpin use proven products from world-leading manufactures. Their largest supplier is Campbell Scientific, whose products have worked very well over the years in numerous operational applications and research projects at all altitudes and climatic regions of the world. A compact and economical alternative is also available for simple measuring tasks with the MSP (monitoring service POINT) of IBEXIS, which contains the entire data lifecycle starting with the local measurement over GPRS communication up to its Internet representation.
www.waljag.ch Since 2001 Waljag has been actively involved in building stations in alpine regions. They are specialists in the building of weather and measuring stations, alarm installations for natural dangers, design controller for the artificial avalanche release and for general controller design.
www.iav.ch IAV Engineering Sàrl is an engineering and technology transfer company that is expert in the field of microtechnics, acoustics and vibrations. IAV is highly experienced in developing industrial partnerships, institutional collaborations and expertise in the areas of meteorology, instrumentation, optimisation, prototyping, development, calculations and tests as applied to acoustics, vibro-acoustics, sound design, industrial acoustics and vibrations. In these fields, IAV is a world-leading pioneer in the control of acoustic and vibratory behaviour of components, products, processes, machines, equipment, installations and infrastructure. IAV Engineering works as a trusted partner in close
collaboration with its customers and has extensive experience in managing intellectual property confidentiality. An informal ISAW network was initiated in the early 90’s by IAV on their first meeting with Hansueli Gublers while working on the development of the prototypes for FlowCapt and Arfang . These two “acoustic apllication inventions” have provided innovative solutions in the fields of snowdrift monitoring and infrasonic avalanche detection, respectively. Both FlowCapt and Arfang are now acclaimed established products. Rainflow and Windflow are derived applications for rain and wind monitoring, respectively.
Should you need any further information, or if you wish to evaluate the acquisition of an ISAW station, and require an estimate for installations, do not hesitate to contact us.
ISAW Networked Companies
Ch. des Couleuvres 4A, 1295 Tannay (Switzerland)
Phone +41 (0)22 960 11 04 - Fax +41 (0)22 960 11 06
Portal operated by IAV Engineering
SWISS DESIGN & SWISS MADE
Ch. des Couleuvres 4A, 1295 Tannay (Switzerland)
Phone +41 (0)22 960 11 04 - Fax +41 (0)22 960 11 06
Portal operated by IAV Engineering
SWISS DESIGN & SWISS MADE