Monitoring multiple parameters in complex water scenarios using a low-cost open-source data acquisition platform

Steven Martinez Vargas; Alejandro J Vitale; Sibila A Genchi; Simón F Nogueira; Andrés H Arias; Gerardo M E Perillo; Agustín Siben; Claudio A Delrieux

doi:10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00492

Monitoring multiple parameters in complex water scenarios using a low-cost open-source data acquisition platform

HardwareX. 2023 Nov 28:16:e00492. doi: 10.1016/j.ohx.2023.e00492. eCollection 2023 Dec.

Authors

Steven Martinez Vargas^{1

2}, Alejandro J Vitale^{1

2

3}, Sibila A Genchi^{1

3}, Simón F Nogueira^{1

4}, Andrés H Arias^{1

5}, Gerardo M E Perillo^{1

6}, Agustín Siben^{1

2}, Claudio A Delrieux^{2

7}

Affiliations

¹ Instituto Argentino de Oceanografía (IADO), CONICET-Universidad Nacional del Sur (UNS), B8000FWB, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
² Departamento de Ingeniería Eléctrica y de Computadoras, UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
³ Departamento de Geografía y Turismo, UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
⁴ Departamento de Ingeniería, UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
⁵ Departamento de Química, UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
⁶ Departamento de Geología, UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.
⁷ Instituto de Ciencias e Ingeniería de la Computación, CONICET-UNS, Bahía Blanca, Argentina.

Abstract

Water monitoring faces challenges that are driven by the infrastructure, protection, financial resources, science and innovation policies, among others. A modular, low-cost, fully open-source and small-sized Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) called EMAC-USV (EMAC: Estación de Monitoreo Ambiental Costero), is proposed for monitoring bathymetry and water quality parameters (i.e. temperature, suspended solids concentration and hydrocarbon concentration) in complex water scenarios. A detailed description of each part of the platform as well as all electronic connections and functioning is presented.The field works were carried out in two small waste stabilization ponds and in a portion of the main tidal channel of the Bahía Blanca port. The EMAC-USV is the result of a cautious design, regarding the balancing performance, communications, payload capacity, among others.

Keywords: Bathymetry; Data Acquisition Platform; EMAC-USV; Low-Cost; Open-Source; Water Quality Parameters.