Automated Industrial Safety: Preventing Failures with Critical Leak Alerts
Use Case
This case study details how SmartNode Ltd. and Airlock Ltd. addressed a critical vulnerability at a Hungarian healthcare facility. The facility, which lacks 24/7 staff, had previously suffered catastrophic damage from an unnoticed water leak.
To prevent a recurrence, the team implemented an SMSEagle hardware gateway as a standalone emergency solution. The system uses a dedicated water leak sensor and power outage detection, immediately notifying staff via SMS and automated voice calls, functioning independently of the main building management system.
“Although the SMSEagle can be integrated into a Tridium Niagara system, in this case it was deployed as a standalone emergency solution. Its setup is quick and user-friendly, and its operation is highly reliable. It provides fully autonomous monitoring in emergency situations.”
Péter Nagy
System Integrator, Airlock Ltd.
About the company
SmartNode Kft., based in Hungary, specializes in industrial monitoring and IoT solutions. The company designs advanced sensor-based systems that help organizations safeguard their infrastructure and maintain uninterrupted operations across a wide range of sectors.
The project took place at a Hungarian healthcare facility where staff is not present 24/7.
A previous burst pipe incident had flooded the central heating plant room, destroying pumps, sensors, valve actuators, and parts of the electrical system.
To prevent another costly event, the facility required a stand-alone alerting system that operated independently of the building management system (BMS).
The system needed to notify staff immediately through both SMS and voice calls.
Solution & Deployment
On SmartNode’s recommendation, the facility chose the SMSEagle hardware SMS gateway.
The device was selected because it provides ready-to-use extensions, including a water leak sensor and voice calling features.
A key requirement was Hungarian-language voice support, which SMSEagle offered out of the box via pre-recorded voice samples.
To ensure stable operation, an external 4G antenna with a 10-meter cable was installed to improve reception in the basement, and the gateway was connected to an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) to ensure uptime during power outages.
Two digital inputs were configured: one for the water leak sensor and one for power outage detection.
The system works on event triggers, automatically sending predefined SMS alerts and initiating voice calls to a contact list whenever an input changes.