The community service team from the Department of Geosciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI), led by Dr. Eng. Supriyanto, was present in person at the Citengah River area in South Sumedang District to install rainfall monitoring technology on Thursday (August 18, 2022). This Indonesian-made technology is called Pantir. This activity is a collaboration between FMIPA UI and the Sumedang Regency Government.
Dr. Eng. Supriyanto explained that the pantir has the ability to measure rainfall intensity, river water levels, groundwater levels, temperature, and humidity in the installation area. By utilizing pantir, the potential for flooding, which frequently threatens Indonesians during the rainy season, can be detected early. This allows for the avoidance or minimization of material losses and loss of life.
“Pantir can be relied upon to mitigate flooding by monitoring river water levels, groundwater levels, and rainfall intensity in the catchment area,” said Dr. Eng. Supriyanto, explaining the use of pantir.
Measurement results can also be accessed by the public via the website with the following email address andpassword: public. Under normal conditions, the Pantir measurement results areupdatedevery 10 minutes. However, under standby conditions, the measurement results areupdatedevery 5 minutes or even every 3 minutes.
Pantir was designed and developed at the Disaster Laboratory of the Department of Geosciences, FMIPA UI in 2019. Pantir began to be tested in real environments throughout 2020, namely in the UI campus area and Depok City.
Entering 2021 to 2022, floodlights have also been installed in three rivers in West Java, namely the Ciliwung River in Depok City, the Cibeet River in Karawang Regency, and the most recent one is the Citengah River in Sumedang Regency.
This technology incorporates digital electronics in the form of a 32-bit microcontroller that controls water level monitoring sensors and rainfall intensity sensors. Pantir’s monitoring data can be stored on an SD card or sent toa database servervia the internet. Pantir’s monitoring is carried out in realtime .
“Another advantage of Pantir is the GPSreceiverfeature so that the monitoring time (year, month, day, hour, minute, second) is synchronized with the server and other Pantir stations,” said the Head of the Disaster Laboratory of the Department of Geosciences, FMIPA UI.
Another advantage, said Dr. Eng. Supriyanto, is that the Pantir’s solar power source frees it from dependence on the state electricity company (PLN), allowing it to be placed in remote areas. With a maximum power consumption of 15 watts, the Pantir’s battery can last up to three days without solar power.
Drs. H. Otong Sumarna, M.Pd., Head of Citengah Village, South Sumedang, welcomed the installation of a water level monitor for the Citengah River. He stated that Citengah Village has experienced flash floods caused by overflowing rivers for the past two years.
Meanwhile, Drs. Atang Sutarno, M.Si., Head of the Sumedang Regency BPBD, who also accompanied the installation of the Pantir device, also expressed his gratitude to the FMIPA UI team for selecting Sumedang, especially Citengah Village, as a partner area for the trial location.
With the installation of the water level gauge, Atang hopes that in the future the Sumedang Regency BPBD can optimize monitoring of the movement of the Citengah River water level and other potential disasters throughout the Sumedang Regency area.
