UAV-Deployable Open-Source Sensor Nodes for Spatial and Temporal In Situ Water Quality Monitoring and Mapping
Matthew Burnett, Mohamed Abdelwahab, Joud N. Satme, Austin R. J. Downey, Gabriel Barahona Smith, Antonio Fonce, Jasim Imran
TL;DR
This paper introduces a low-cost, open-source sensor system that can be deployed via drones to monitor and map water quality in real time.
Contribution
The novel contribution is a UAV-deployable, open-source sensor node with validated accuracy for water quality monitoring.
Findings
The sensor node achieved mean absolute percentage errors of 1.34% for pH, 5.23% for TDS, and 0.81% for temperature.
Field deployment showed spatial gradients in pH (6.0–6.7), turbidity (11–18 NTU), TDS (44–51 ppm), and temperature (22.8–24.6 °C).
Ordinary Kriging was successfully used to interpolate measurements and create continuous spatial maps.
Abstract
Cost efficient, spatially resolved water quality monitoring is essential for managing pollution and protecting aquatic ecosystems. This study presents a low-cost (approximately USD 200), open-source, unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV)-deployable in situ sensor node for real-time assessment of surface-water conditions. The system integrates sensors for pH, turbidity, temperature, and total dissolved solids (TDSs), with onboard data logging and real-time clock (RTC) synchronization. Bench validation of the sensor package yielded mean absolute percentage errors of 1.34% for pH, 5.23% for TDS, and 0.81% for temperature, and the device operated continuously for 42 h. Field deployment demonstrated its ability to resolve spatial gradients, with observed ranges in the tested water body of pH 6.0–6.7, turbidity 11–18 NTU, TDS 44–51 ppm, and temperature 22.8–24.6 °C. Ordinary Kriging was used to…
Genes, proteins, chemicals, diseases, species, mutations and cell lines named across the full text — each resolved to its canonical identifier and authoritative record.
Click any figure to enlarge with its caption.
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7
Figure 8
Figure 9
Figure 10
Figure 11
Figure 12Peer Reviews
No public reviews on file for this paper yet. If you reviewed it on a platform where reviews are public (OpenReview, ICLR, NeurIPS, ICML), you can paste yours below so the community can read it here.
Videos
No videos yet. Explain this paper in a talk, walkthrough, or lecture? Add one.
Taxonomy
TopicsWater Quality Monitoring Technologies · Environmental Monitoring and Data Management · Marine and coastal ecosystems