IoT Infrastructure Monitoring - Smart Manhole System

Domain: IoT / Smart City / Infrastructure Type: Proprietary IP (built and presented to local municipality; project discontinued, IP retained) Team Size: Backend + IoT integration

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The Problem

Urban infrastructure teams responsible for underground utilities (sewage, drainage, telecom ducts) had no way to monitor manhole conditions in real time. Problems like flooding, unauthorized access, structural tilt, and extreme temperatures went undetected until they caused failures or safety incidents.

We built this as proprietary IP and presented it to the local municipal corporation for monitoring approximately 50,000 manholes across the city. The system was designed to:

• Continuously monitor manhole conditions using IoT sensors
• Provide real-time alerts for anomalies
• Work reliably over cellular networks (NB-IoT/4G)
• Dashboard visibility into tens of thousands of manholes across a city

The project was ultimately not deployed and was later discontinued, though we retain the IP.

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What We Built

Sensor Integration

• CNDINGTEK DC413 sensors for manhole monitoring
• Metrics captured: water height, temperature, tilt angle, battery level, tamper detection
• NB-IoT (Narrowband IoT) connectivity for low-power, wide-area coverage
• 4G gateway fallback for areas without NB-IoT

Data Ingestion API

• Python-based API receiving sensor telemetry
• Protocol handling for CNDINGTEK sensor data format
• Real-time data parsing and validation
• Database storage with time-series indexing

NB-IoT Gateway

• Gateway configuration and management
• Sensor registration and provisioning
• Connectivity monitoring
• Remote configuration updates

Monitoring & Alerting

• Threshold-based alerts (water level, temperature, tilt)
• Battery health monitoring for preventive maintenance
• Tamper detection notifications
• Historical data for trend analysis

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Technical Highlights

IoT Architecture

Sensors (DC413) --> NB-IoT/4G --> Gateway --> API --> Database --> Dashboard

Challenges Solved

• Low-power communication: NB-IoT protocol optimization for battery-powered sensors
• Harsh environments: Handling intermittent connectivity and sensor data gaps
• Sensor protocol: Reverse-engineering CNDINGTEK proprietary data formats
• Scale planning: Architecture designed for city-wide deployment (hundreds of nodes)

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Tech Stack

Layer	Technology
Sensors	CNDINGTEK DC413
Connectivity	NB-IoT, 4G
Backend API	Python
Gateway	NB-IoT Gateway (custom config)

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Outcome

• Working prototype demonstrated to municipal authorities for 50K+ manhole monitoring
• Real-time monitoring of underground infrastructure conditions
• Automated alerting replacing manual inspection rounds
• Battery and connectivity health tracking for proactive maintenance
• Architecture designed for city-wide scale; project discontinued before deployment, IP retained by Kiwimesh

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Key Takeaway

IoT projects are uniquely challenging because they span hardware protocols, low-power networking, and cloud software. Even though this project was not deployed in production, building and presenting it to municipal authorities demonstrates our ability to work at the hardware-software boundary -- integrating proprietary sensor protocols, managing cellular connectivity, and building reliable data pipelines from physical infrastructure to digital dashboards. The IP remains with us for future opportunities.