Technology Description

The technology to be demonstrated includes a SSC sensor that is insensitive to water color, sediment texture, and ambient light; a flow-velocity measurement option that can be added to the sensor; a self-cleaning mechanism for sensor lenses to reduce biofouling; a solar-powered, stand-alone, wireless sensor package; and a three-layer WSN to connect distributed sensors to the Internet for web-based data accessibility and management. Design of the sensor was based on the following two assumptions: (1) SSC measurement errors caused by differences in water color may be removed using multiple light sources at different feature wavelengths and (2) SSC measurement errors caused by differences in soil texture may be reduced using light detectors at multiple angles from the light source. Individual sensors will be deployed in a stand-alone package that includes the optical sensor, data acquisition board, wireless mote with microcontroller, solar panel, a rechargeable battery, and a mounting structure. A three-layer wireless communication network, consisting of multiple local wireless sensor networks (LWSN), mid-range wireless networks (MRWN), and a long-range cellular network (LRCN) will transmit data in near real-time. Users will be able to access and download data nearly instantaneously via the Internet.