WATERBOI

PRODUCT DESCRIPTION

An IoT controlled Unmanned Surface Vessel (USV) that automates the process of water sample collection in open water bodies.

DESIGN MOTIVATION

Fresh water is a critical resource for survival. These sources of water are continuously being monitored to ensure cleanliness and suitability for cleaning. Current water sampling methods require personnel to travel to the sampling points individually. Often, it is done in groups of at least three persons in frequency ranging from monthly to even weekly. With 10.83 million square kilometres of fresh water on Earth, tremendous amount of human effort would be needed to cover the vast area. These efforts are often carried out by government agencies for research and water quality monitoring. With an autonomous sampling device, government agencies would be empowered to monitor the water quality better. Firstly, automation of sampling reduces human error introduced in collection of samples. This reduces variance in the samples, increasing accuracy of research and monitoring. The automation reduces the running cost of hiring the personnel. Government agencies are now able to collect samples more frequently, even daily. The frequent sampling allows agencies to pick up on the changes of water quality in a short time. Phenomenon such as rapid soil erosion can cause short term changes to the water quality. With an affordable frequent sampling system, such situations can be detected and mitigated.

PROJECT INVOLVEMENT

Power Delivery System Design Lead

• Designed a power delivery system of the USV that can handle high current draws of up to 30A

• Consolidated electronics from 4 different project modules into a compact and modular system

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Web User Interface Design Lead

• Created a simple web based user interface that allows users to control USV either manually or inputting commands for automatic operation using HTML

• Used ESP32 Microcontroller to host server on USV and established communication protocol between microcontroller and on-board computer

TECHNICAL SKILLS

SOLIDWORKS
KiCAD
Arduino
HTML