Water QualitySensor Integration

Ambient Control Systems develops hardware and software products that are designed to provide catastrophic event management and mitigation capabilities to Police, Fire and Emergency Services Departments; and their emergency managers and field responders. These products offer improved real-time situational awareness and provide enhanced event response capabilities. This leads to reduced mitigation response times and improved responder safety.

Ambient also has a suite of community notification products aimed at communicating timely critical event information to promote personal safety for residents. Another facet of Ambient is their energy harvesting platform designed to sustain the long-term deployment of various ground sensors. The new direction is to incorporate the energy harvesting technology into remote water quality sensors and merge the sensors into a web platform for real-time monitoring.

FireALERT A self contained detection sensor that detects wildfires in remote areas. When an outbreak or approach of a fire is detected, it will geo-spatially map and track the event in real time. Using dual band IR detectors that rotate 360° in less than 4 minutes, FireALERT is able to detect wildfires, and has a range of over 6 miles.

Introduction Conclusion

Acknowledgements

Gabriel Duran - Electrical Engineering - gmduran91@aol.com Jason Schiedermayer – Electrical Engineering – jason.schiedermayer@inbox.com

We would like to thank the National Science Foundation, STEP Partnership of San Diego, San Diego MESA Alliance, and Ambient Control Systems for this incredible internship.

Special thanks to Jonathan Luck, Jaime Garcia, Dr. Matt Rahn, and Phil Elder for the amazing opportunity to develop new skills and help foster innovation.

Big thanks to the SDSU MESA EngineeringProgram staff and all our family and friends for their continued support in our endeavors.

To take a body of water and determine its state of health by means of integrating water quality sensor technology into Ambient Control System’s Vigilys network for 24/7 monitoring in a real-time environment.

Research remote water quality sensors for long-term deployment that can transmit real-time data through telemetry. 

Integrate water quality sensor technology into a map platform containing a suite of sensors and be able to alert the proper authorities when a threat exists.

Conduct water quality field testing at one of the San Diego River Watershed sensor site locations.

Analyze field test data and ensure safe water quality levels for surrounding environment.

Equipment

Methods This internship gave us invaluable experience to include:

Researching water quality, water sensor technology, and creating a portfolio for product development.

Understanding the various parameters of water quality and how to test them while adhering to EPA standards.

Performing water quality field tests with an expert scientist to distinguishunique parameters and identifying how they affect an ecosystem.

Establishing a professional relationship with an employer and gaining exposure to the company’s systematic operation.

Providing a base for a company to expand its services in the near future.

CommanderALERT A web browser based application, built on the Vigilys framework, which provides real-time information to authorized users. Using a Google Maps-like interface, users can zoom in on a specific area and follow the event. All installed sensors and IP cameras are visible and provide GPS coordinates. Since it is browser based, a license can be accessed through any web enabled device, even mobile. Vigilys integrates several data feeds including fire, seismic, air quality, and most recently water quality through which CommanderAlert displays the data.

Water Quality Sensors The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has developed a series of regulations to protect water quality. There are a number of companies that develop sensors designed to monitor water quality parameters such as pH, turbidity, and dissolved oxygen. While they have a lifespan approaching 10 years, many such sensors require calibration every few months. The sensors we investigated provide readings at 15 minute intervals, a rate determined primarily by the energy limitations of the  system’s solar panel and battery. Positioned in water, these sensors transmit data to remote servers via a cellular link. Our goal was to incorporate the data into Vigilys.

NSF Grant# DUE0653277

FireAlert Sensor

Screenshot of CommanderALERT

RemoteWater QualitySensor

Telemetry Process

Visibly clean water does not guarantee good water quality

Dr. Rahn, Jason, and Gabriel inspecting a water sensorlocated in Mission Trails Regional Park

Real-time data feed from Qualcomm Road sensor site