About UDlive
UDlive develops environmental
sensor technology enabling digital
transformation, compliance, increased
eiciency, and reduced costs in a
variety of industries - the water industry
being their biggest market. Currently,
UDlive’s works primarily in the UK, and is
expanding overseas.
Customer Success
Story: UDlive
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“Now we know that the antenna is such
an important part of any large scale,
deployment of this type, which is oen
overlooked. Taoglas will be pulled in at the
beginning of design on the front end.”
Phil Bennett
Technical Director, UDlive
The Challenge
UDlive began working with the local water
authority on underground sewer monitoring
for multiple counties in the UK. When levels
rise, this causes the risk of raw sewage
overow into the freshwaters, causing beach
access closure. With over 400,000 sewer
spillages in 2021 in the UK alone, it has
become a sizable environmental issue.
UDlive was tasked with optimizing the aging sewer networks by
updating the current system to reliably monitor sewer levels,
ows, and blockages, which can cause overow, whereby
causing a serious health threat. The monitors that need
replacing are located under heavy metal access lid covers, or
manholes. External antennas were not an option because they
caused technical problems due to environmental exposure.
Being underground in damp conditions created a challenging
environment. Only sparse weak signals were being received.
UDlive felt the pressure as they had a deadline to perform a
pilot test for the water authority, working up to full scale live
deployment date.
“We were having diiculties with poor antenna signal quality.
We reached out to a few dierent companies and Taoglas gave
us by far the most technical and customer support of anyone
we talked to,” said Phil Bennett, UDlive Technical Director.
The Solution
Familiarity with Taoglas’ reputation of being a
manufacturer of quality products, UDlive and their
distribution partner, EBV, reached out to Taoglas. The
experienced Taoglas engineers suggested a variety of
standard antennas to use that were already tested in
similar conditions.
“Because of Taoglas’ vast experience in various
markets, particularly at poor coverage in challenging
environments, Taoglas was able to quickly suggest a
product and provide us with a quick solution,” said Phil.
“Also getting access to knowledgeable people is
paramount, especially in the time crunch we were in.
Engineers, salespeople and customer service were
willing to follow things up and engage so that we had
the right solution with the right product.”
The GSA8845, an o-the-shelf standard product was
chosen, along with custom cabling. A silicone boot,
was used to insure product reliability for the damp
environment.
“Whenever we asked about delivery dates or other
production information, we always get that information
very quickly and it’s that’s not always the case with a lot
of our suppliers. Taoglas have been very responsive to
us. It’s been very good.” - Craig Barclay, EBV
The Outcome
It only took a few weeks from start to nish to
implement the GSA8845 for UDlive’s monitoring
system under thick metal, in a damp challenging
environment. The antenna provided strong
coverage with a strong reliable signal strength.
“Taoglas supported us with an extremely fast
development pace. Also, lately we were having
supply chain issues but are pleased that we’ve
receiving product on time with Taoglas, allowing
us to meet the beta deployment deadline, and
at the beginning of this year, we’ve gone ahead
at full scale.”
“I wish we had been in touch with Taoglas
sooner. Taoglas not only provides premium
products for our customers, it provides us with
condence.”
taoglas.com
Taoglas Customer Success Story | UDlive
Featured Taoglas Product
GSA8845
Wideband 5G/4G I-Bar Adhesive Antenna
Dimensions: 176*59*14mm
RoHS and REACH Compliant
GSA8845 Datasheet
udlive.com