Digital Environmental Monitoring - Collection and Analysis of Water Quality Data with Floating Drones

Efforts to improve water quality have been too slow to achieve good ecological status in accordance with adopted environmental quality standards. A recurring obstacle for action coordinators and water councils to create local commitment is the lack of measurement data and the resolution of measurement data describing water quality in a lake, watercourse or coastal water. Water sampling is expensive to carry out and in many cases is not continuous, so there can be many miles between sampling points. This is unrelatable for individual property owners who are asked to take expensive and extensive measures to improve water quality.

To contribute to the work of improving water quality, Halmstad University has since the spring of 2021 worked together with Halmstad municipality to develop, build and test a prototype system (CATFISH) for water sampling and water quality analysis in real time using a floating drone (CAT) and a drone that can be lowered 10 meters underwater (FISH). The project has developed both technology (hardware and software) for sensor-based drone use to create an instantaneous water quality monitoring system, and in parallel developed methods and tools for real-time and constant monitoring of several water quality parameters such as pH, temperature, flow, alkalinity, turbidity, oxygen saturation level, P and N concentrations.

The purpose of the project is to streamline, digitize and make available the environmental monitoring of watercourses and lakes and obtain data from places where it was previously not possible, in order to provide authorities with a better basis for decision-making to implement measures in the work to ensure that Sweden's water will have achieved at least good status by 2027. During the initial three years, a knowledge platform has been built up that has so far involved a large number of students at Halmstad University (approx. 70) from several different programs and scientific disciplines, who have contributed to the development and design of the system, while the students have also been given the opportunity to apply their theoretical knowledge in practice.

So far, in addition to developing a working prototype, where we can collect water quality data autonomously and in real time, we have also developed software so that data can be sent wirelessly to a website.