New Cairo
Cairo Governorate
Egypt
Site Profile
Featuring an array of unique, groundbreaking innovations, Cairo Festival City sets the ultimate standard for residential developments, retail shops, leisure activities, entertainment, and dining in an eco-friendly, self-sustaining city within a city. With the imagination and expertise of participating developers, UAE-based company Al-Futtaim has created Egypt’s premier, mixed-use development, which extends over 32 million ft2 (3 million m2) from the gateway to New Cairo along the east side of Cairo’s Ring Road. Featuring modern architecture, a vibrant business district, and stunning living accommodations, the city offers a range of beautiful spaces for residents to enjoy.
Cairo Festival City’s Smart City Team sought a solution that would allow them to integrate their irrigation system with other infrastructure applications. They aimed to ensure harmonious, automatic operation between their system and its corresponding applications as well as produce hydraulic balance in their irrigation network. Their former system relied on fixed schedules and manual operation, which was time-consuming and resulted in continuous water waste. With the additional goals of maximizing water savings, cutting costs, and enhancing irrigation system efficiency, they turned to Hunter for a comprehensive solution.
In March 2021, the Smart City Team incorporated Hunter’s ACC2 Controller and FS-3000 Field Servers into their system. Designed to connect irrigation systems to configurable buildings and industrial automation gateways, the field servers allow the team to easily transfer irrigation control from the ACC2 Controller to networks in their smart city. The system is connected to a unified operations center, which allows centralized monitoring and management of water resources.
As a key benefit, the ACC2 Controller included advanced weather sensors that monitor soil moisture, temperature, humidity, and rainfall. In the case of a sensor-detected leak in a water pipe, the controller automatically shuts off the water supply and notifies maintenance personnel.
This solution provides easy integration with various other smart city infrastructure components and verticals, such as water and flood management systems, fire systems, and CCTV cameras. Using real-time information from fire alarms and water tank levels, the system automatically adjusts irrigation schedules by reducing flow when tanks reach their capacity or suspending irrigation to prevent water waste during emergencies.
By using strategically placed CCTV cameras to monitor their system in real time, the landscape managers can easily identify issues related to uneven water distribution, malfunctioning sprinklers, plant damage, and blocked nozzles or irrigation lines. This allows them to make timely adjustments and repairs while ensuring optimal water coverage and system efficiency.
With the addition of Hunter’s ACC2 Controller and Field Servers, the Smart City Team has achieved their goal of creating automatic, harmonious interactions between their system and its corresponding applications while enabling smart water practices for the city.
By harnessing the power of real-time data analytics, advanced sensors, and intuitive automation capabilities, the team has attained significant water savings, improved system efficiency, and gained key insights for urban planning and resource optimization. These proactive functions not only prevent water loss but also reduce the need for manual inspections and repairs. Compared to the city’s previous system, Hunter’s comprehensive, integrated irrigation solution has already saved the Smart City Team 28% in water usage!
