Turning Industrial Past into Smart Futures: Cypernex’s Innovation at the Coal Loader
At North Sydney’s historic Coal Loader, Cypernex helped redefine what’s possible when engineering meets environmental sustainability.
Faced with the challenge of managing over 60 sensors across 11 Aquaponics beds — in a wet, public, heritage-listed environment — Cypernex developed a custom multi-sensor control system, robust enough for outdoor conditions and smart enough to handle cloud-based monitoring, analytics, and automation.
This wasn’t just about data collection. Each Cyperbox unit is a powerful dual-processor hub, enabling AI-driven insight, remote control, and real-time alerts, while also packaging data into Smart Data models (FIWARE-compatible) for use in research, education, and public awareness.
From tracking fish behaviour with infrared cameras to measuring water levels with lasers and sonar, every sensor was chosen and integrated with purpose — creating a digital twin of the landscape and its ecosystems.
This innovative setup has already attracted international collaboration, including with UK universities, and stands as a model for turning heritage sites into living labs for sustainability.
See how Cypernex overcame complex challenges with smart design and powerful tech.
Download the full case study PDF: [Download the Case Study]
Stage 2 Begins
Ushering in the era of : CxPonix "THE APPLICATION"
With ample data and some understanding of the science behind Aquaponics, Cypernex developed desktop and mobile versions of a productivity application that converted data points into actions, scheduled events and annual timetables for volunteers to use for obtaining the best yields from the crops chosen.
These activities and procedures could then be refined over time, new crop cycles added, tested, simulated under different weather and seasonal conditions.
Results would be measured, and machine learning used to identify problems and opportunities.
Conclusion
The project eventually unfolded in the same way as many do, in that after the technology (in this case IOT Sensors/Actuators) is installed there is a period of discovery before the project comes to a point, where if the results are to be instutionalized and used repeatly, a software application that encapsultes this new idea or procedure, is the best way to maximize a projects ROI.
