WaveSave has entered into a partnership with German technology company Hesotech, bringing its iMaster/DocuCam monitoring technology into WaveSave’s portfolio of water management and climate resilience solutions. The cooperation adds a new dimension to early warning systems by combining conventional sensor measurements with systematic visual monitoring and automated image analysis.
For WaveSave, the partnership is a logical extension of its work in flood protection, water management and disaster risk reduction. While sensors and modelling provide essential information about developing hazards, there are situations where measurements alone do not tell the whole story. Being able to see what is happening on the ground can make a significant difference.
Hesotech has developed technology that makes it possible to use camera images as a structured source of monitoring information, rather than simply as footage that someone needs to watch.
Together, the two companies aim to make this technology available for a wider range of water-related and environmental monitoring applications.
Partnership
Omar Saleh
2026
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A conventional early warning system typically relies on measurements such as rainfall, river levels or ground movement. When a predefined threshold is exceeded, a warning can be issued.
This approach is well established and remains essential. However, a measurement does not always explain what is happening at the location concerned.
Consider a river where the water level is rising. The sensor provides an accurate reading, but it may not show whether debris is accumulating against a bridge, whether a nearby embankment is being affected or whether conditions are changing further upstream.
A camera can provide that additional information. The difficulty is that continuously reviewing camera footage takes time, especially when several locations need to be monitored.
This is where Hesotech’s technology offers a different approach.
Hesotech’s iMaster/DocuCam platform has been developed to capture, organise and analyse visual information from monitored locations.
One of its distinguishing features is the way DocuCam systematically records a defined area. Using a controllable camera, the system captures images of individual sections of the landscape. These images are linked to their viewing direction and geographical position, allowing the same areas to be observed and compared over time.
Automated image analysis can then be used to identify changes in the monitored scene.
This is an important difference compared with a conventional surveillance camera. Instead of collecting footage that may only be reviewed after something has happened, the system can use the images themselves as monitoring data.
The wider iMaster platform brings together these visual observations with information from sensors and other relevant data sources. It also provides functions for event detection, warnings, geographical visualisation and long-term data storage.
When a relevant event is identified, operators can review the associated images and measurements, including earlier observations from the same location.
In practice, this means that a warning does not have to stand on its own. The information behind it remains available for further assessment.
Hesotech’s development of camera-based monitoring technology is supported by European patent EP3236440B1, covering methods for monitoring slopes and related applications.
The technology is not limited to laboratory testing or theoretical applications.
An important example comes from Rambura in Rwanda, where Hesotech’s iMaster/DocuCam technology was used in a landslide-monitoring project involving the Rwanda Space Agency and the country’s disaster-management authorities, with support from GIZ.
The project is described in the 2025 peer-reviewed scientific publication Application of geospatial and ICT technologies for landslide disaster risk reduction in Rwanda, published in Progress in Disaster Science.
The monitoring system combined high-resolution camera images with weather observations. Computer vision techniques were used to analyse changes in the landscape, including changes in surface conditions associated with landslide activity.
The work showed how repeated visual observations can help identify and document developments that may otherwise be difficult to assess through individual measurements alone.
It also demonstrated how this information can be collected, analysed and made available within a common monitoring environment.
The distinction between landslide and flood monitoring is important. The Rwanda project provides practical evidence for the application of automated visual monitoring to landslide risks. It does not mean that the same algorithms can simply be transferred to rivers or flood-prone areas.
Different hazards require different monitoring methods and warning criteria. Nevertheless, the underlying principle of combining visual observations, measurements and automated analysis has clear relevance for other environmental applications.
For WaveSave, the partnership opens up opportunities to incorporate visual monitoring into projects where traditional sensor networks would benefit from additional information.
Along rivers and waterways, cameras could be used to observe changing conditions around bridges, embankments, drainage structures and other vulnerable locations. Combined with rainfall and water-level measurements, these observations can help provide a more complete picture of what is happening.
There are also opportunities around reservoirs, retention areas and flood protection infrastructure, where visual records can support remote assessment and provide a useful history of changing conditions.
In mountainous catchments, the technology may be particularly relevant where landslides, debris flows and flooding are closely connected. Changes in the surrounding terrain can affect waterways and infrastructure, sometimes creating additional risks further downstream.
For municipalities and water authorities, such information can support day-to-day monitoring as well as assessments during extreme weather events. Infrastructure operators may use it to observe critical locations, while disaster-management organisations can benefit from access to visual information alongside conventional warnings.
International development projects are another area of interest, particularly where monitoring solutions need to be developed in cooperation with local authorities and maintained over the longer term.
These applications will always depend on the conditions at a specific location. Camera positioning, visibility, connectivity, available measurements and the type of changes that need to be detected all influence the design of a monitoring system.
The two companies bring different, but closely related, expertise to the partnership.
Hesotech has a background in automation, measurement and visualisation technology. Its iMaster/DocuCam platform provides the technical foundation for systematic camera monitoring, automated image interpretation and the management of associated measurements and events.
WaveSave works on practical solutions for water and climate-related challenges, including flood protection, monitoring, modelling and project implementation.
By working together, the companies can develop monitoring approaches that take account of both the technology and the circumstances in which it will be used.
For a water authority, that may mean combining visual observations with an existing sensor network. For a municipality, it could involve identifying vulnerable locations and establishing how warnings should reach the responsible teams. In an international development project, local capacity, maintenance and access to monitoring information may be equally important.
The objective is not to introduce technology for its own sake, but to make monitoring information more useful for the organisations working with it.
“The partnership between WaveSave and Hesotech reflects the direction both companies are heading in, which is to become two of the most innovative climate tech companies worldwide. By offering a wide range of solutions, with a focus on innovation and sustainability, our aim is to help authorities and communities strengthen their resilience to threats caused by climate change.
With our innovative AI-supported early warning system, we are confident that countries all over the world can take early warning to the next level.”
– Omar Saleh, Managing Director, WaveSave –
Collecting more data does not automatically lead to better decisions. What matters is whether the information helps people understand a situation and decide what needs to be done.
This is also the thinking behind WaveSave’s wider approach to Early Warning Systems.
By combining conventional measurements with structured visual observations, the partnership with Hesotech adds another way to monitor changing conditions and provide context when potentially hazardous events occur.
For organisations responsible for water management, infrastructure or disaster preparedness, this offers an opportunity to look at monitoring beyond individual sensors and consider how different sources of information can work together.
WaveSave welcomes discussions with municipalities, water authorities, infrastructure operators and other organisations interested in improving their monitoring and early warning capabilities.
Contact WaveSave to discuss your project and explore whether a combination of sensor measurements and automated visual monitoring could be suitable.
