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SAMPLE: Small Autonomous Monitoring Platform for Lakes and Estuaries - a Student Engineering Project

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Conference

2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Location

Indianapolis, Indiana

Publication Date

June 15, 2014

Start Date

June 15, 2014

End Date

June 18, 2014

ISSN

2153-5965

Conference Session

Ocean and Marine Division Technical Session 1

Tagged Division

Ocean and Marine

Page Count

9

Page Numbers

24.1066.1 - 24.1066.9

DOI

10.18260/1-2--22999

Permanent URL

https://peer.asee.org/22999

Download Count

366

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Paper Authors

biography

Moustapha Diab University of Maryland Eastern Shore

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Moustapha Diab is currently a mechanical engineering master’s student and a research assistant in the Fastening and Joining Research Institute (FAJRI) at Oakland University. Mr. Diab graduated from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore with a degree in Engineering with a mechanical engineering specialization. During his senior undergraduate year, Mr. Diab along with a group of undergraduates, designed and built an autonomous boat to monitor water quality variables in lakes and estuaries.

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Uche Ezechi University of Delaware

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Uche Ezechi is a Mechanical Engineering graduate student at the University of Delaware. He is pursuing a Masters of Science degree, and is expected to graduate in 2015. He is currently doing his research on Nanomaterials for Energy.

He had graduated summa cum laude from University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 2013. His interests in Mechatronics and Instrumentation led to his participation in the SAMPLE project.

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Mohamad Dyab University of Maryland Eastern Shore

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Mohamad Dyab is currently a Master student in the Mechanical Engineering program at Oakland University (OU),Michigan. Dyab is working at the fastening and joining research institute at OU. He earned his bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering at University of Maryland Eastern Shore where he worked on several academical and research projects.

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Abhijit Nagchaudhuri University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

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Abhijit Nagchaudhuri is a Professor in the Department of Engineering and Aviation Sciences at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Dr. Nagchaudhuri is a member of ASME and ASEE professional societies and is actively involved in teaching and research in the fields of engineering mechanics, robotics, and control systems; precision agriculture and remote sensing; and biofuels and renewable energy. Dr. Nagchaudhuri received his bachelors degree from Jadavpur University in Calcutta, India with a honors in Mechanical Engineering in 1983, thereafter, he worked in a multinational industry for four years before joining Tulane University as a graduate student in the fall of 1987. He received his M.S. degree from Tulane University
in 1989 and Ph.D. degree from Duke University in 1992.

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Madhumi Mitra Ph.D University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

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Dr. Madhumi Mitra is a professor of environmental and biological sciences in the department of natural sciences at University of Maryland Eastern Shore. She also coordinates the Biology and Chemistry Programs at UMES, and is a graduate faculty in the system-wide (University System of Maryland) Marine-Estuarine-Environmental Sciences program. She received her Ph.D. from North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC in Plant Biology with a major focus on stratigraphy and paleontology. Dr. Mitra has been conducting research in the areas of water quality, bioenergy from various feedstocks, biomonitoring and biosorption potential of macroalgae, and various nutraceutical studies of algae. She has published extensively and is also a recipient of a number of awards and competitive grants.

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Abstract

SAMPLE is a Small Autonomous Monitoring Platform for Lakes and Estuaries. SAMPLE was designed andbuilt using easily accessible materials and fitted with different sensors and electronics to allowautonomous navigation and data collection. It is an under-actuated (rudder) Surface AutonomousVehicle (SAV). Forward motion is provided by an air propeller. Heading control achieved by directing airwith a rudder. The rudder is partially immersed in water for better sensitivity. Proportional andProportional-Integral-Derivative (PID) control of the heading is achieved using GPS and compass sensorfeedback, which are connected to an NXT Lego brick which serves as a microcontroller. Various waterquality sensors that are incorporated in the SAMPLE platform include temperature, pH, salinity, anddissolved oxygen. SAMPLE is easy to use and transport. It offers a cost-effective way of monitoringselected geo-located water quality variables to provide insight into coastal ecosystems. It is also anexcellent platform to expose engineering students to mechanical design, instrumentation, and controlsystems. The SAMPLE platform was designed and developed by engineering students at University ofMaryland Eastern Shore. The engineering students have also demonstrated and trained Marine Botany(Biol 202) students at the university to collect and map water quality data in lakes and ponds insidecampus, as well as bays and estuaries nearby.

Diab, M., & Ezechi, U., & Dyab, M., & Nagchaudhuri, A., & Mitra, M. (2014, June), SAMPLE: Small Autonomous Monitoring Platform for Lakes and Estuaries - a Student Engineering Project Paper presented at 2014 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Indianapolis, Indiana. 10.18260/1-2--22999

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