Development of a low cost remotely operated vehicle for monitoring underwater marine environment

The unprecedented increase in commercial, agricultural, and industrial activities has led to pollution of surface as well as groundwater sources, which includes oceans, rivers, lakes, ponds, and wells. The first step in tackling the problem involves the identification of the sources of pollution. The measurement of the water parameters is an indicator of the health of the marine ecosystem. Even though there are a number of underwater platforms to measure and monitor the water parameters, they are characterized by high cost and limited access. Motivated by the necessity of developing a low cost, easily accessible solution to measure as well as monitor the underwater ecosystem, this paper describes the development of a proof-of-concept, low cost remotely operated vehicle (ROV). The ROV is a platform to measure the water parameters, monitor the pollution and the consequent changes in the underwater environment. The ROV is controlled by National Instrument's myRIO, a versatile embedded system platform. The ROV contains sensors capable of measuring turbidity, temperature and potential of hyrogen (pH) of the water body under investigation. The prototype developed can be used as a measurement tool to monitor the marine ecosystem off the coast of the state of Goa as well as water bodies in its hinterland. The results obtained can be analyzed to provide an insight into the causes of pollution and specify the measures to be taken to reverse the effects of pollution.