Christian Behr, CEO of Sita, shows a customer the Varuna product

Sita: Digital flat roof monitoring with NB-IoT

Sita Bauelemente GmbH is bringing flat roof monitoring into the digital age, opening up new possibilities for maintenance, operation and long-term building protection. Its IoT-based Regenwächter continuously monitors water levels on flat roofs and transmits the data in near real time. This allows ponding water and critical drainage situations to be detected early, helping to reduce risks to the building fabric.

“Our goal was to make it possible to monitor flat roofs remotely at any time – without relying solely on on-site inspections or drone surveys.”

Christian Behr, Sita Bauelemente GmbH

3 steps to a successful IoT Use Case

Challenge

In practice, conventional maintenance intervals are often not enough to reliably detect ponding water, blocked outlets or other critical conditions on flat roofs at an early stage. Manual inspections are labour-intensive, time-consuming and only provide a snapshot of the roof’s condition at a particular point in time. In addition, weather conditions, large roof areas and sections that are difficult to access make continuous monitoring a challenge. Sita therefore wanted a solution that would provide ongoing visibility of roof conditions, reduce the need for frequent on-site checks and complement existing maintenance processes with digital monitoring.

Solution

Working together with Deutsche Telekom IoT, Sita developed the Regenwächter – an IoT solution for continuously monitoring water levels on flat roofs. The devices use capacitive sensors to measure water levels accurately up to 120 mm and are designed to withstand demanding outdoor conditions. The data is transmitted via NB-IoT, an energy-efficient mobile communications standard developed for connected devices. Each device operates autonomously with an integrated SIM card and requires no additional on-site infrastructure such as Wi-Fi or an external power supply. The measured data is sent to the Telekom Cloud of Things and displayed in a central dashboard. Deutsche Telekom provided the end-to-end setup, including connectivity, the IoT platform and the integration of a hardware partner. This enabled Sita to implement the solution quickly and create a scalable system from a single source.

Customer benefits

The Regenwächter gives building owners and operators continuous visibility of flat roof conditions. Ponding water can be detected at an early stage, helping to reduce unplanned maintenance, repair work and potential damage to the building fabric. At the same time, the solution can reduce the need for additional manual inspections or drone surveys. It also lays the foundation for new digital services and business models. With the launch of the Varuna brand, Sita is systematically expanding its portfolio with IoT-based solutions and embedding digitalisation into product development from the outset. The result is greater efficiency, improved planning reliability and added value for customers involved in building operation, maintenance and facility management.

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