Unmanned Surface Vehicle

Smart Pleco

Smart Pleco - A Multi-Functional Eco-friendly USV for Waterbodies Protection

Project abstract

Given the threat water pollution poses to ecosystems, Smart Pleco was designed as an unmanned surface vehicle for tracking pollution sources in relatively small water bodies. The system supports automated data collection along generated paths based on waterbody outlines, while also allowing fixed-point sampling for custom coordinates.

The vehicle collects four main types of data: pH, conductivity, dissolved oxygen, and temperature. Those signals can be compared with the water pollution index from the WHO Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality to help identify possible pollution sources such as inorganic pollution or plant nutrient pollution.

Data visualization came in the form of environmental color maps. Sequential analysis was used to visualize one data type in a dataset, panoramic views summarized all measurements in one dataset, and overtime analysis compared a single data type across multiple datasets to highlight changes over time. Multiple sampling tests were conducted in a 22,000 m2 lake, where results showed no abnormal indication of pollution sources.

Awards and honours obtained