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Development of a Solar-Powered IoT-Based Instrument for Automatic Measurement of Water Clarity
Tuan Ngoc Pham1,2, Anh Pham Huy Ho3, Tuong Van Nguyen4
1National Key Laboratory of Digital Control and System Engineering, Ho Chi Minh University of Technology, VNU-HCM, Ho Chi Minh City 700000, Vietnam.
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 10, 2020
Summary
A new solar-powered instrument automatically measures water clarity, offering a reliable alternative to manual Secchi disk measurements. This innovation provides stable, accessible water quality data for improved environmental monitoring.
Area of Science:
- Environmental Science
- Water Quality Monitoring
- Instrumentation Engineering
Background:
- Water clarity is a primary indicator of overall water quality.
- Manual Secchi disk measurements are subjective and weather-dependent.
- Automated, objective water quality assessment tools are needed.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop an automated instrument for measuring water clarity.
- To replace traditional, manual Secchi disk measurements.
- To enable remote, real-time water quality data access.
Main Methods:
- An instrument using solar energy and LED light intensity was designed.
- The instrument measures light attenuation through a water column.
- Data are converted to Secchi depth using a regression function and stored on a cloud server.
Main Results:
- The instrument demonstrated stable light intensity measurements with an average coefficient of variation (CV) of 5.25%.
- Regression analysis established a relationship between light intensity and Secchi depth.
- Instrument measurements showed slight differences but effectively replaced Secchi disk readings.
Conclusions:
- The developed instrument provides a stable and efficient method for water clarity assessment.
- Automated measurements overcome limitations of manual Secchi disk methods, including subjectivity and weather influence.
- The instrument facilitates accessible, objective water quality monitoring via cloud data storage and mobile access.
