Robotic Monitoring of Lake Coeur d'Alene
Additional Funding Sources
The project described was supported by a student grant from the UI Office of Undergraduate Research, Idaho Water Resources Research Institute, the United States Geological Survey, Susan Rumble (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho), and the University of Idaho Computer Science Department.
Presentation Date
7-2019
Abstract
The health of lakes reaches beyond just an environmental concern. Poor lake health has negative repercussions on both human health and surrounding economies built upon them. It is important to be monitoring and managing lakes. Lake Coeur d’Alene is of interest because there are seventy five million tons of heavy metal polluted sediments that have accumulated. We are employing an underwater drone to monitor the health of the lake and will be providing the data collected to the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute. The various sensors are put into waterproof tubes that can easily be added to or removed from the drone. This summer we are using a sensor pod that is testing for dissolved oxygen levels, temperature and depth. Dissolved oxygen acts as a cap keeping the heavy metals contained within the sediments as opposed to being suspended in the lake. Temperature matters because it directly affects dissolved oxygen levels. The challenge is getting geolocated samples underwater. Conventional tools, such as GPS, do not work underwater so other methods of determining sample locations must be used. We will be combining input from several sensor sources to determine the location of the drone and the samples.
Robotic Monitoring of Lake Coeur d'Alene
The health of lakes reaches beyond just an environmental concern. Poor lake health has negative repercussions on both human health and surrounding economies built upon them. It is important to be monitoring and managing lakes. Lake Coeur d’Alene is of interest because there are seventy five million tons of heavy metal polluted sediments that have accumulated. We are employing an underwater drone to monitor the health of the lake and will be providing the data collected to the Idaho Water Resources Research Institute. The various sensors are put into waterproof tubes that can easily be added to or removed from the drone. This summer we are using a sensor pod that is testing for dissolved oxygen levels, temperature and depth. Dissolved oxygen acts as a cap keeping the heavy metals contained within the sediments as opposed to being suspended in the lake. Temperature matters because it directly affects dissolved oxygen levels. The challenge is getting geolocated samples underwater. Conventional tools, such as GPS, do not work underwater so other methods of determining sample locations must be used. We will be combining input from several sensor sources to determine the location of the drone and the samples.
Comments
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