Underwater data collection using an autonomous float-back sub

Abstract

The more water bodies are monitored, the more efficient that watershed management system is. However, it is not always possible to manually collect water quality data to monitor water bodies. Students all over the world also needs water quality data for research purpose. Remotely operated vehicle also known as ROV and autonomous underwater vehicle also known as AUV are are often used by offshore industries to do different task underwater. Additionally they are also used to collect underwater data. Moreover there are other tethered solutions to collect data from water bodies. However, using a tethered data collection device has some limitations, specially when working with more depth. In this research a new innovative water data logging device and subsea survey device has been developed that can go deeper than current ROV/AUV systems and collect data. Initially we developed a module on which a number of sensors are embedded to collect entire parametric data. The size of the device makes it extremely portable. There is a suspended weight attached to the device. Deployed from the water surface, it will reach the water bed while collecting various data from the integrated sensors and once it reaches the bottom (or a certain depth), the weight is detached and the main body floats back to the surface and as soon as it reaches the surface it will offload all its data including GPS coordinates to the cloud data center. The user can see its exact location with an app in his/her smartphone and can retrieve the device easily. In this way, the device can be dropped multiple times in multiple locations easily.