Automatic tank gauging for Tanzanian fuel
Automatic tank gauging, or ATG, is a probe in a fuel tank that continuously measures product level, water at the bottom and temperature, and reports them to a console. Trakora is the software layer on top: it reads the gauge, holds the operating bands for each tank, and raises an alarm the moment a tank goes above, below or over its safe fill — hardware-agnostic, whichever probe you run.
Automatic tank gauging at a glance
- What it is
- Automatic tank gauging for stations & depots
- What the probe reads
- Product level · water · temperature
- Operating-band rules
- fuel_high_level · fuel_low_level · fuel_overfill
- Gauge accuracy
- —1 depends on the probe
- Reorder / ullage bands
- —1 set per tank
- Hardware
- Hardware-agnostic (gateway ingest)
- Alarm lifecycle
- Raised · acknowledged · escalated
- Reporting output
- Wet-stock & compliance reports
- Who it's for
- Fuel stations, depots and oil companies under EWURA
What automatic tank gauging measures
A tank gauge is a probe that sits inside the tank and reads three things continuously, feeding them to a console and, through Trakora's gateway, into one dashboard across all your tanks.
Product level
How much fuel is in the tank right now, converted to a volume — the number every other reading and every reconciliation is built on.
/ tank-monitoringWater at the bottom
The layer of water under the fuel, which corrodes the tank and reaches the pumps if it climbs — watched here, and the lead signal on the leak-detection page.
/ leak-alarmsProduct temperature
Used to correct volume for expansion, and a safety signal in its own right — the temperature story continues on the safety-alarms page.
/ tank-monitoringOne console, every tank
Because Trakora is hardware-agnostic, a mixed forecourt of probes and consoles reports into a single view instead of one screen per manufacturer.
/ hardware-gatewayThe operating-band alarms
A gauge is only useful if it tells you when a tank leaves its safe band. Three shipped rules cover the everyday operating range; leak, water and the safety alarms have their own pages.
A delivery is filling past safe ullage
A tanker discharge pushes the level past the safe fill for the tank — the point where the next litres risk a spill and a forecourt fire hazard.
An overfill alarm while the drop is still happening, named to the tank and the delivery, not discovered as a spill on the ground.
Stop the discharge and redirect the balance, and keep the alarm as the record of a delivery that ran past the tank's limit.
Volume above the upper operating band
The tank is fuller than its configured upper band — not necessarily a delivery, but a level that leaves too little headroom for the next drop.
A high-level alarm that lets the dispatcher plan the next delivery around real headroom rather than a guess.
Hold or resize the next order so a full tank is never met by a tanker with nowhere to put its load.
Volume below the reorder band
The level drops under the reorder point set for the tank — the dry-out and lost-sales warning, especially before a weekend.
A low-level alarm early enough to place an order and take the delivery before the tank runs dry and pumps go idle.
Reorder against the lead time for that site, so a busy forecourt is never caught selling from an empty tank.
From probe to alarm
The gauge you already have — or one we help you fit — becomes a live, alarmed dashboard.
Connect the gauge
The probe and console for each tank feed the Trakora gateway. A mixed forecourt of makes and models is fine — the platform is hardware-agnostic.
Set the bands per tank
The reorder point, the upper band and the safe fill are configured for each tank's size and product — they are not one-size defaults.
Watch level, water and temperature
Every reading is checked against the bands; high level, low level and overfill each raise their own alarm, which is acknowledged and escalated through the chain.
Report for EWURA
The gauge history feeds wet-stock and compliance reports, so the tank record is ready when a regulator or an auditor asks.
What this cannot do
What to expect
- Trakora is the software and gateway layer, not the probe manufacturer. It reads the gauge and alarms on it; it does not make the tank measure more accurately than the probe fitted in it can.
- Gauge accuracy and resolution figures are marked as figures to be confirmed here. They depend entirely on the probe hardware and the tank calibration, and are never quoted as an invented number on this page.
- The reorder, high-level and overfill bands are configured per tank and are not fixed defaults in the module — a band that is too tight cries wolf, one too loose misses the event.
- ATG is a monitoring and stock tool. It is not a legal-for-trade custody meter and does not replace the calibration or stamping a weights-and-measures authority requires for the tank.
- If the probe, console or gateway stops reporting, the fuel_device_offline rule flags it — see the device-health article. An alarm cannot fire on a gauge that has gone silent.
Values marked — are figures to be confirmed: gauge accuracy and resolution depend on the probe hardware and are not published here, and the reorder / high-level / overfill band thresholds are configured per tank rather than shipped as module defaults. No accuracy, resolution or threshold value is stated as fact on this page.
Frequently asked questions
What is automatic tank gauging?
A probe in the tank that continuously measures product level, water at the bottom and temperature, feeding a console. Trakora reads it, holds the operating bands and alarms on them.
Does Trakora make the probe?
No. Trakora is hardware-agnostic and ingests the gauge through a gateway, so a mixed forecourt of probes and consoles reports into one dashboard.
How accurate is the gauge?
Accuracy depends on the probe hardware and the tank calibration, so it is shown as a figure to be confirmed here rather than an invented number. Ask us to scope it against the gauge you run.
What alarms does the probe raise?
On the operating range: high level, low level and overfill. Leak and water are on the leak-detection page; vapour, temperature and grounding are on the safety-alarms page.
When do I reorder?
At the low-level band, set per tank against your lead time. The alarm fires early enough to place an order and take a delivery before the tank runs dry.
Is this a custody meter for trade?
No. ATG is a monitoring and stock tool; it is not a legal-for-trade meter and does not replace the calibration or stamping a weights-and-measures authority requires.
More in fuel management
fuel_leak and fuel_high_water shell-integrity cluster.
fuel_variance spine — where did the litres go.
Gauge your tanks with Trakora
Tell us how many tanks and sites you run and we will scope automatic tank gauging in TZS, with a TRA-EFD VAT invoice and Swahili support.