Behind the Scenes: Building the UNIVERSWATER DSS Platform
How a modular DSS fuses IoT sensing, Earth Observation and AI for scalable agri-water decisions.
UNIVERSWATER is building a decision support system (DSS) that does not live in a lab, but where water decisions are made, including farms, treatment units and irrigation networks. Behind the scenes, we are engineering a modular “system-of-systems” that connects heterogeneous data streams and turns them into clear, actionable recommendations for diverse European agri-water contexts.
- Photo: Distribution box, Smart gateway solar panel deployment at a pilot site (edge acquisition layer).
At the edge, smart gateways and on-field sensors capture real-time signals (e.g., soil moisture and nutrients, weather and water-quality parameters). In parallel, earth observation (EO) products add the wider spatial picture, helping detect variability and trends beyond single measurement points. These inputs flow through open interfaces into a unified data platform that supports secure ingestion, time-series storage, data quality checks, and provenance. On top of this foundation, predictive models and AI analytics generate decision layers like irrigation scheduling, water-quality indices, salinity-risk alerts, and input optimization actions, with explainability cues that keep humans in the loop.
- Screenshot: DSS dashboard showing real-time indicators, trends and alerts.
The same core architecture is being tailored across the three pilots (Ireland, Italy and Greece), proving that a DSS can be both locally fit-for-purpose and scalable. Wi.sense, the end-to-end water-agri management solution developed and commercially launched by WINGS, is used as a basis and extended in the context of the Greek and Irish pilots. Next, we are finalising end-to-end integrations (sensors, software, models and dashboards) so partners and end-users can test recommendations in realistic conditions, refine thresholds and feed lessons learned into a robust, repeatable blueprint for wider European uptake.
