Develop & manufacture
We develop and manufacture our Aquatos data loggers and monitoring systems in Bochum. The application determines the sensors and equipment needed.
Explore our equipmentTerraTransfer · BochumEngineered in Bochum.
Engineered in Bochum.
Built for the field.
We are TerraTransfer: an owner-operated manufacturer of environmental monitoring equipment. Since 2007, we have brought engineering, manufacturing, software and service together for people who monitor water and the environment.
Since 2007Based in Bochum
20,000+Aquatos loggers in use
One partnerEquipment, software and service
Our approachWe know both sides:
We know both sides:
engineering and fieldwork.
A monitoring station needs more than a data logger. Sensors, power supply, data transmission and analysis must work together. We support the journey from the device to day-to-day operation.
Make data useful
Our software turns measurements into clear time series. For us, hardware and access to data belong together.
Explore our softwareSupport ongoing operation
We provide on-site installation and maintenance, plus in-house repair and calibration. We remain available after commissioning.
Installation & maintenanceOur team
Working together, from concept to fieldwork.
At TerraTransfer, management, engineering, the workshop, manufacturing, IT and field service work together. We support your monitoring task from the technical solution to ongoing operation.
Contact the teamDevelopment & engineering
Electronics, sensors and the right technical solution for your monitoring task.
Workshop & manufacturing
Assembly and testing of our equipment, as well as repair and calibration.
Software & IT
Data transmission, Sensormanager and access to your measurements.
Installation & field service
Installation, commissioning and maintenance at your monitoring sites.
Our roots are in geography.
The idea grew out of practical environmental fieldwork: collecting and transmitting measurements automatically. It became TerraTransfer in 2007.
Read our founding story at Deutscher GründerpreisResearch & development
New questions call for new monitoring solutions.
In collaborative research projects, we bring our equipment together with the work of researchers and water management organisations.
RIVERCAST
AI-based real-time flood forecasting. TerraTransfer provides water level and rainfall measurements for the observation network.
Explore the project: RIVERCASTIoT4SRGK Gütersloh
Real-time data to improve heavy-rain hazard maps. Our Aquatos loggers collect environmental data in the monitoring network.
Explore the project: IoT4SRGK GüterslohCompleted research projects
AHEM
An automatic hydrological real-time model with monitoring networks in Bochum, the Lower Rhine region and at the Bigge reservoir.
TaMIS
Connected monitoring systems for reservoir management and natural hazards.
INTENT
Research into electrical conductivity as a proxy for discharge and dissolved major ions.
Our historyStarted in Bochum.
Started in Bochum.
Grown through real applications.
Six milestones from our beginnings to environmental monitoring equipment used internationally.
- 2007 / 2008
Our beginnings in Bochum
Founded as a GbR, then incorporated as a GmbH. The first Aquatos generation enters the market.
- 2010 / 2011
Monitoring networks and recognition
Gauge networks at LINEG, customers in Switzerland and a nomination for Deutscher Gründerpreis.
- 2015 / 2017
New applications
Water-quality monitoring in the Netherlands; sensor strings and climate stations in the Swiss High Alps.
- 2021
International partnerships
OEM cooperation with Kisters and distribution through HyQuest Solutions for Australia, New Zealand and Asia-Pacific.
- 2022
The next logger generation
Aquatos Web LTX uses LTE-M and NB-IoT for mobile data transmission.
- 2025 / 2026
Keep researching. Keep measuring.
New consortium projects with RIVERCAST and IoT4SRGK. Aquatos loggers operate around the world.
Open the full timeline
- 2007
Founded as a GbR in Bochum
TerraTransfer is founded in 2007, initially as a GbR, a specialised manufacturer of environmental monitoring technology focused on the water sector.
- 2008
Conversion to TerraTransfer GmbH & first Aquatos generation
The GbR becomes TerraTransfer GmbH. The Aquatos product family enters the market. The first loggers operate on 433 MHz radio and dial-up modems.
- 2010
First gauge networks in the Ruhr region
Build-out of a fleet of several hundred loggers at LINEG. The AHEM research project starts with measurement points at the Bigge reservoir (Ruhrverband), the Bochum tip and the LINEG measurement network on the Lower Rhine.
- 2011
Swiss authority & German Founders’ Prize
The Department of the Environment of Canton Thurgau becomes a customer, and remains one to this day. The same year sees the start of deliveries to Ruhrverband, a board partnership still actively maintained today. TerraTransfer is nominated for the German Founders’ Prize (Deutscher Gründerpreis) in the StartUp category, on a proposal from Sparkasse Bochum.
- 2012
Own radio platform
Transition to in-house radio hardware and a proprietary stack for gauge networks. GSM/GPRS becomes the standard for the remote-transmission generation.
- 2014
International expansion
First gauge station at the Rhine Falls in Schaffhausen, still one of the iconic TerraTransfer sites. Carl Hamm GmbH joins as an industrial customer. First devices are delivered to the Federal Waterways Authority Wilhelmshaven and to Inter Act / WIONIQ as a Dutch distribution partner.
- 2015
The Netherlands
Hoogheemraadschap van Delfland begins effluent monitoring at greenhouse operations in and around Delft, continuously extended ever since.
- 2017
Aquatos in the High Alps
First sensor strings and climate stations on the Wildstrubel massif in the Bernese Alps. Helicopter logistics with Swisshelicopter become a standing element of service deployments in Switzerland.
- 2018
Bluetooth commissioning and long-term service contracts
Release of the open-source SDI-12 commissioning platform with Bluetooth 5, browser-based setup, no app required. The same year sees the start of long-term maintenance contracts with Emschergenossenschaft / Lippeverband and the Bislich-Landesgrenze dike association.
- 2021
Kisters OEM partnership and HyQuest distribution
Kisters AG sources TerraTransfer hardware for its own solutions. Distribution with HyQuest Solutions begins for Australia, New Zealand and the Asia-Pacific.
- 2022
LTE-M / NB-IoT generation
The Aquatos Web LTX (Type 1500) replaces the GSM generation. LTE-M with NB-IoT fallback instead of 2G. TLS end-to-end. Long battery life from a single pack.
- 2024
New markets
First deliveries to the Geological Survey of Sweden (SGU) and to the Berlin Senate Department for the Environment.
- 2025
New consortium projects
Start of the consortial projects IoT4SRGK Gütersloh (January, heavy-rain hazard maps) and RIVERCAST (October, AI-based flood forecasting with Erftverband, BO-I-T and FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg).
- 2026
Aquatos around the globe
Active devices around the world, from Scotland, Wales and England across France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Sweden to Oman, Uzbekistan, Australia and New Zealand. The footprint keeps growing.
Recognition
Entrepreneurship and research.
Senkrechtstarter Bochum
Recognised in the first year of the start-up competition run by Bochum Wirtschaftsentwicklung.
About the competitionDeutscher Gründerpreis
Nominated in the StartUp category, proposed by Sparkasse Bochum.
View the company profile
2026BSFZ seal
Certification of in-house research and development activities.
About the BSFZ sealBased in BochumDeveloped here.
Developed here.
Deployed in the field.
Engineering and manufacturing, service, repair and calibration: our Bochum base connects product development with field experience.
What would you like to measure?
Tell us about your application. We will discuss the monitoring equipment and support that fit your needs.