Waterborne disease is a leading cause of death and disease around the globe, taking the lives of more than 3.4 million people every year.

One way to tackle this challenge is to better understand the conditions that lead to waterborne pathogens. Due to the complexity of the modelling and the inaccessible nature of many water sources, however, this isn’t always easy.

But one Australian company believes that technology could offer a way forward.

Sentient Hubs is a highly-automated decision support platform deployed on Microsoft Azure that solves complex problems with data insights and forecasting. Recently, its team has developed what experts at the University of Western Australia describe as a first-of-its-kind solution that could provide insights into this critical area of human health.

[caption id="attachment_51135" align="alignright" width="442"] Landscape image of Yellagonga Regional park

Landscape image of Yellagonga Regional park

Sentient Hubs worked closely with the Cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo in Western Australia (Source Yellagonga Regional Park)[/caption]

Working closely with the Cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo in WA as part of the Yellagonga Wetlands Smart Sensor Monitoring Program, Sentient Hubs has created a holistic modelling solution in March 2022 to help the councils manage and protect their local wetlands, which are part of Yellagonga Regional Park.

Deploying a range of sensors around the wetlands, the solution measures environmental factors including water levels, nutrient levels, acid sulphate levels, flora health, and triggers for midge outbreaks. It also uses drones, light detection and ranging technology to survey the topography and geography of the wetlands.

“All of that data is linked back to the Sentient Hubs platform as input to configurable model workflows. Contextualised results are then made available to decision makers in near-real time via customisable dashboards, including Microsoft Power BI,” says David Lucido, Managing Director at Sentient Hubs.

“There’s a lot of technical and scientific complexity being automated, which is all transparent, but we’re really making sure we deliver it in a way that’s easy to understand.”

Lucido describes the solution as “a combination of data science, machine learning and ecological simulation”. He notes that the Cities of Joondalup and Wanneroo have been able to predict the abundance of midges while Sentient Hubs continues to train the model.

“It’s an ongoing process that involves machine learning. The more data that is coming in, the more that the model can be trained,” he explains.

Sentient Hubs deploys holistic modelling solution on Microsoft Azure to help protect wetlands

“When we are not limited, we all thrive”: Fitted for Work and Microsoft’s Digital Upskilling Initiative

Westpac signs five-year strategic partnership with Microsoft to transform into ‘future-ready bank’

3Bridges Community empowers people, streamlines processes with cloud

“I view my dyslexia as an advantage”: How Andrew turned his Achilles heel into his superpower

Indigenous software firm LOGiT Australia streamlines and strengthens organisations’ reconciliation efforts with Azure based weavr

Lifeline digs deep into data to help shine a light on the darkest moments

Hoop dreams: Microsoft’s Kim Robins never stopped believing he would play basketball in the Paralympics

Let’s get personal: Four lessons I’ve learnt about putting diversity and inclusion into practice

Scoping out four steps to success – aspire, deliver, inspire, repeat

Civic Disability Services transforms with accessible cloud

Mission Australia streamlines systems for frontline staff in critical services