【gas sensor, infrared sensors suppliers, sensors supplier,humidity sensors suppliers】River sensors to clean up waterways | en.ofweek.com

All rivers in the future may be monitored with sensor arrays like the ones recently deployed in the Hudson River at New Hamburg, N.Y. -- if Clarkson University's Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries has its way.
The institute aims to take environmental science real-time with low-cost sensor arrays to be deployed in rivers and estuaries that can be centrally monitored. Chief research officer James Bonner told us that, by measuring turbidity (particle load), salinity (conductivity), chlorophyll, and colored dissolved organic matter, river sensors can track the movement of biological and chemical contaminants, fish migration, and how river ecosystems function as a whole.

The Recon Sonde cost 20 times less than its competitors and sends its measurements of water quality wirelessly to a central location 24/7.　(Image: Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries, Clarkson University)
Systems exist for monitoring river water quality today, but they are too expensive for wide deployment, he said. The Beacon Institute has worked toward making its River and Estuary Observatory Network (REON) sensors 20 times cheaper than those systems -- cheap enough for any river monitoring system to afford. Making water monitors this inexpensive allows them to be strategically placed and monitored wirelessly 24/7 from almost anywhere.
"Electrochemistry units that measure PH, connectivity, and dissolved oxygen that are commercially available off the shelf run from $10,000 to $12,000. Optical units, which measure chlorophyll A and color dissolved organic matter, cost about the same," Bonner said. "The REON Sonde sensor array combines all the parameters of these two units into one device at a fraction of the cost, about $1,200 per Sonde. By sourcing cost-effective materials such as PVC available practically anywhere and retooling existing technology, we have blown the cost curve out of the water and opened the necessary doors to make sensor technology universal."
The REON Sonde is also made to be easier to maintain than traditional water monitors. It takes only a few minutes to change the Sonde out; traditional river sensor modules take hours.
"The simplicity and plug-and-play nature of ongoing maintenance of the REON Sonde will have a huge impact on cost savings," he said. "You could liken it to replacing an ink-jet cartridge in your printer. The switchout of the Sonde device takes all of about 10 minutes to complete -- again, a massive savings for the operation and maintenance of large-scale monitoring networks like REON."
According to Bonner, the Sonde is attached to the end of a long metal pole that is affixed to a river wall or bulkhead. The maintenance team unlocks the pole and pivots it up to maintain or replace the Sonde. About 10 minutes later, the device is rotated back into the water, the computers are reset, and the system is up and running.
In addition to taking individual measurements of river quality markers, the central monitoring system can run algorithms that infer the overall health of the river and the detailed functioning of its ecosystem. "Analyzing the data we are already collecting can lead us to ask more questions as to the movement of biological and chemical contaminants, fish migration, and how river ecosystems function as a whole."
Data is sent on an hourly basis. A small server at the deployment site packages the information and communicates with a cellular modem to send it to the central monitoring site over the Internet.
So far there are 37 REON units, including the REON II (Sonde) in New Hamburg, N.Y., deployed along the Hudson and St. Lawrence river watersheds, all being monitored in real-time. Each sensor pod reports its readings once an hour, allowing the REON network to visualize the movement of chemical or biological contaminants -- and maybe even trace them to their source -- improving public health and mitigating homeland security concerns.
The ultimate goal is to be able to monitor all major waterways. The Beacon Institute calls this "transformational to the field of environmental science."

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