For organizations that utilize tanks for fuel, water, waste liquids and sector-specific substances such as both fresh and used cooking oil, inefficiency is being ended thanks to IoT-enabled remote tank monitoring. The relatively simple addition of a sensor or multiple sensors for different inputs and a gateway to a tank can allow it to communicate its status in real-time, thereby enabling far greater precision to be applied to refilling and emptying schedules. In addition, the need for physical checks is removed and anxiety about the amount left in a tank is taken away by the ability to provide exact, current data.

It’s therefore no surprise that remote tank monitoring is a growing and substantial global market. Research firm, Berg Insight, estimates that the global installed base of active remote tanking monitoring systems exceeded 6.2 million units at the end of 2021 and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 29.9% with the firm expecting the active installed base to hit 23 million units in 2026. The North American market leads current adoption with more than 2.6 million active units deployed. It is followed by Europe with 1.5 million and the APAC region which has 1.4 million units deployed.

What types of connectivity can support remote tank monitoring?

The critical enabler of the “remote” part of remote tank monitoring is the network connection that enables the sensor data to be communicated to the back office. Connecting to a 4G network, for example, requires no wiring and can be a very cost effective method of delivering the low bandwidth connectivity that tank monitors require. With the ongoing retirements of 2G and 3G networks across the globe, 4G in the form of LTE Cat 1 is expected to be the most popular network selection for tank monitoring.

Remote mining sites that have large fuel tanks for excavators and other equipment are often in remote locations that are served neither by cellular nor LPWA networks, for example. Organizations in markets that face coverage issues will need to consider satellite connectivity in the form of the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) using connectivity from systems such as GPS, Galileo or GLONASS. These can be utilized to ensure the accurate positioning of tanks so users can find them and also to communicate tank status.

The market has now matured to the extent that hardware in the form of sensors and the gateway is now available for less than US$100 per unit with costs for integration and software running at under US$1 per month, per unit. This makes remote tank monitoring increasingly viable for even lower value use cases. If you consider the average cost of a cargo drop is around US$65, having risen substantially due to increased fuel costs, it is clear to see how rapidly remote tank monitoring solutions can generate a return on investment.

To learn more about how to harness the power of wireless connectivity to take full advantage of remote tank monitoring data, read our new white paper ‘How wireless connectivity is driving new efficiencies in remote tank monitoring‘.

You can also watch an in-depth Masterclass webinar ‘Advanced remote tank monitoring‘, led by our subject-matter experts.