WOTA Strengthens Water Quality Data Infrastructure with Support from Hamamatsu Photonics’ Optical Sensing TechnologyBegins Development of Water Quality Sensing Technology to Support Autonomous Control of Next-Generation Water Recycling Systems
— Advancing more sophisticated water treatment and digitalization of water infrastructure through integration with world-leading optical sensing technologies —
WOTA Corp. (Representative Director and CEO: Yosuke Maeda; hereinafter “WOTA”), a company committed to addressing global water challenges at a structural level, has begun developing advanced water quality sensing technologies to support the autonomous control and further advancement of next-generation small-scale decentralized water recycling systems.
In this initiative, WOTA is collaborating with Hamamatsu Photonics K.K. (President: Tadashi Maruno; hereinafter “Hamamatsu Photonics”), a global leader in optical technologies. Leveraging Hamamatsu Photonics’ spectroscopic technologies, WOTA is developing a continuous monitoring system capable of simultaneously measuring multiple water quality parameters. This technology aims to enable real-time detection of changes in water quality and feed the data directly into water treatment control processes, enabling real-time optimization of water treatment.
Background of the Technology Development
WOTA’s core technology lies in its proprietary autonomous control system, which integrates water treatment processes with control algorithms. By combining various sensors with advanced algorithms, this system continuously monitors the condition of equipment and water quality in real time and automatically controls the treatment process. This enables optimal water treatment while continuously monitoring system status remotely, ensuring safe and sustainable water recycling.
Accurate, real-time water quality sensing plays a central role in enabling such autonomous control.
To further advance its technology, WOTA is collaborating with Hamamatsu Photonics—renowned for its global leadership in optical sensors and photonic measurement technologies—to develop advanced sensing technologies capable of monitoring diverse water quality parameters using spectroscopic methods.
This initiative goes beyond the development of water treatment equipment, representing a critical step toward advancing water infrastructure through the acquisition and analysis of water quality data. The water quality data collected through this initiative will be accumulated and analyzed, helping lay the groundwork for a data platform that enables sharing and utilization across multiple decentralized water recycling systems.
Through the integration of sensing technologies and data utilization, WOTA is working to build a foundation that supports not only the advancement of water treatment systems but also the optimization of overall water use.
Strengths of Hamamatsu Photonics
Hamamatsu Photonics is a global leader in optical sensors and photonic measurement technologies, providing high-precision sensing solutions across advanced fields such as medical devices, scientific research, and space exploration.
The company possesses strong technological capabilities in both light detection and light emission. In particular, it holds a leading global market share in photomultiplier tubes (PMTs), which enable highly sensitive detection of weak light. These technologies are widely used in academic research, medical imaging such as PET scanners, and industrial measurement applications.
Hamamatsu Photonics’ PMTs have also been utilized in neutrino observation experiments such as Kamiokande and Super-Kamiokande, contributing to research recognized by the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2002 and 2015.
In addition, the company demonstrates strong capabilities in semiconductor analysis and other advanced fields, supporting R&D and practical implementation through optical measurement and analysis technologies.
These advanced optical sensing technologies form a critical foundation for enhancing water quality sensing in this development. In particular, the ability to detect extremely weak light with high sensitivity is highly effective in identifying subtle changes in water constituents.
Key Features of the New Technology
The sensor under development incorporates the following features:
・Real-time and continuous monitoring of water quality
・Simultaneous acquisition of multiple water quality parameters
・Use of collected data for autonomous control of water treatment
These capabilities will enable optimization of water treatment processes, early detection of anomalies, and improved overall system safety.
Furthermore, through the accumulation and analysis of water quality data, the system will enable more advanced control and efficient operation of water treatment processes.
This initiative represents a key step in strengthening the data infrastructure for water quality monitoring and analysis, thereby promoting the advancement and digitalization of water infrastructure. Within WOTA’s decentralized water recycling systems, this sensing technology will serve as a foundational technology for autonomous water treatment control, contributing to safe and sustainable water use.
WOTA will continue to advance water quality sensing and treatment technologies, further enhancing small-scale decentralized water recycling systems and working toward the realization of sustainable water infrastructure.
Company Overview
About Hamamatsu Photonics K.K.
Hamamatsu Photonics develops and manufactures a wide range of products, from optical devices such as sensors and light sources to value-added modules and systems. Through technologies that “measure, generate, and control light,” the company provides optimal solutions across various industries. It aims to create new industries through photonics and contribute to society, the environment, and humanity.
Head Office: 325-6 Sunayama-cho, Chuo-ku, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka 430-0926, Japan
Business: Development, manufacturing, and sales of devices, modules, and systems utilizing photonic technologies, including photomultiplier tubes and optical semiconductor devices
Website:https://www.hamamatsu.com
About WOTA Corp.
WOTA is a private company aiming to provide structural solutions to water-related problems.
Since our founding in 2014, to address issues arising from the uneven distribution, depletion, and pollution of the planet’s water resources, WOTA has been developing “small-scale decentralized water-regeneration systems,” which regenerate and maximize the use of domestic wastewater, and the “autonomous water-treatment control technologies” that enable them. WOTA has already launched two products, contributing to emergency water use during water outages in disasters and to improvements in public health. WOTA has also developed a “household water-regeneration system” that enables everyday water use, and has begun water supply services in select areas both in Japan and overseas.
Head Office: 1-13-13 Bakurocho, Nihonbashi, Chuo-ku, Tokyo 103-0002, Japan
Business: Development of decentralized water recycling systems and autonomous water treatment control technologies
Website:https://wota.co.jp