Design and Development of a Wireless Robotic Networked Aquatic Microbial Observing System

Abstract

This paper describes the design, development, and initial application of a sensor-actuated network for sensing and sampling microbial communities in aquatic ecosystems. The network consists of ten stationary buoys and one mobile robotic boat for real-time, in situ measurements and analysis of chemical and physical factors governing the abundance and dynamics of microorganisms at biologically relevant spatiotemporal scales. The goal of the network is to obtain high-resolution information on the spatial and temporal distributions of plankton assemblages and concomitant environmental parameters in aquatic environments using the in situ presence afforded by the network and to make possible network-enabled robotic sampling of hydrographic features of interest. This work constitutes advances in (1) real-time observing in aquatic ecosystems and (2) sensor actuated sampling for biological analysis.

Underwater sensor networks: applications, advances and challenges

“…Inexpensive sensors include pressure sensing, which can give approximate depth, and photo-diodes and thermistors that measure ambient light and temperature [45]. More specialized sensors include flourometers that estimate concentrations of chlorophyll [46], and devices to measure water CO 2 concentrations or turbidity, and sonar to detect objects underwater. Such specialized sensors can be much more expensive than more basic sensors.…”

Development of a Low Cost Multi-Robot Autonomous Marine Surface Platform

“…Tele-supervised Adaptive Ocean Sensor Fleet [4] is a deep sea multi-robot science exploration system that combines a group of robotic boats to enable in situ study of phenomena in the ocean-atmosphere interface, on the ocean surface as well as the sub-surface beneath it. The NAMOS project [5] developed an airboat which works in conjunction with static nodes that are to be deployed prior to sampling. The static nodes provide temporal coverage while the airboat samples a good spatial resolution of data.…”

A Robotic Sensor Network for monitoring carp in Minnesota lakes

“…The system described in [12] is closest to our system in design. It consists of a number of stationary buoys deployed in a lake along with a robotic boat capable of autonomous navigation.…”