Massa Products Corporation has been producing ultrasonic transducers for industrial applications for over sixty years. They have designed different types of transducers with a wide variety of electroacoustic characteristics for use in many applications including liquid and bulk level measuring, counting, position location, profiling, collision avoidance, web break detection and tensioning, ultrasonic intrusion alarms, and an automatic scoring system for ten-pin bowling. 

Technical Skills
C, Python, Wireless Development, ZigBee Mesh Networking

The Task - Wireless Integration of Tank Monitoring System to Measure Liquid Levels

Massa was looking for assistance to implement a wireless tank monitoring system to measure liquid levels.  Digi International, a leader in device networking products, recommended Massa work with SSI.  As a Digi Gold-level partner in their Drop-in Networking Program, SSI had previous experience integrating XBee radios with developed sensor products.

The challenge was to make the system intelligent and reliable, allowing it to handle timeouts and sleep mode to preserve battery life without missing critical data collection.

The SSI Wireless Solution - Intelligent Wireless Tank Monitoring Solution

The XBee Radio was integrated into the cap of a large fluid tank.  The cap contains the ultrasonic sensor that measures the fluid level when polled.  The radio connects wirelessly to the main Gateway and other nodes on the mesh network.  The Gateway will poll the sensors and keep a historic record of fluid levels, allowing for closer remote monitoring of inventory.  This information allows the user to reduce unnecessary truck rolls to check and refill tanks.

SSI’s effort helped the sensor manufacturer replace a previous wired solution with a more convenient wireless one while keeping the polling protocol in place.  Our engineers even helped design the hardware circuitry that interfaced with the client’s sensor circuit to create a unified hardware solution.   We also allowed for remote upgrades to the software through a custom  bootloader mode, allowing for much easier field maintenance. 

The end result is a reliable, convenient, intelligent sensor solution that is easy to install and maintain.