Project 08: Nautiloid: Submersible Sensor System

Project Background and Need:

The goal is to build the electronics for a low cost sensor system that can be tossed out of a boat, submerge to 100 M and return to the surface. As it travels through the ocean water the sensor system will collect information about the water quality, detect when it needs to release its weight to become positively buoyant and return to the surface and transmit the collected data to the user. The system needs to be reusable.

Problem Description/requirements (List of high-level functionality you expect to see in the end product):

• Withstand 100 M (depth ~ 160 PSI) of pressure

  • Note: support on the hull design will be provided by Dr. Muth, and may design a hull that can go deeper

• Integrate the following sensors: Salinity, temperature, accelerometer, gyro,

• Design LED based water quality measurement system:

• Pulsed LED circuit, Photodetectors, optical filters, grating and possibly a camera.

• Antenna to transmit data, and help with recovery of the device.

• Bluetooth is likely the choice for the radio, although other approaches like LoRa can be considered.

This is a systems level project, there are size constraints, power constraints, that are similar to those found when designing drones, spacecraft or underwater vehicles. This project will need to have PCB boards built and data sent to an from an app. The radio and sensor data transfer are similar to Internet of things projects.

Required Skills / Desired Competencies (in order of importance):

• Power systems and power electronics

• Analog circuit design

• Robotics/mechatronics

• Embedded hardware and programming

• Sensor interface and programming

• Mobile app development

• PCB design and layout

• Programming experience

How often and how would you be available to meet/chat with the team (Zoom, Hangout, Skype, Phone)?

Will meet once a week. Will also be available via email.

Will the students be required to sign any of the following before they start with the project? NDA / CDA / IP assignment / IP protection form

Optical system depending on how it is implemented could generate IP, but I don't see any need for forms at this point.