The aim of the MOVE project is to automate the environmental monitoring of water bodies, especially lakes, with the help of modern digital technology and thus make the monitoring of water quality more efficient. The autonomous swarm-capable underwater robot MONSUN, which was developed by the Institute of Technical Informatics (ITI) of the University of Lübeck (coordinator), is to be used for the comprehensive survey and mapping of lakes. To this end, the robots are equipped with sensors, cameras and sonar, which enable simultaneous detection of environmental parameters and a visual analysis of underwater plants. This allows aquatic plants to be identified and documented and selected chemical and physical parameters that are important for macrophyte growth to be measured.
Sea & Sun Technology GmbH (SST) is equipping the sensor carrier for MONSUN, which has already emerged from a previous project, with up to six different smart-sensors. Since the light climate is one of the most important parameters for the lake ecosystem, SST plans to develop a light sensor suitable for MONSUN that can capture the entire light spectrum. This new combination of light spectrum, sensor data and macrophyte analysis can contribute to a more detailed understanding of the causes of damage to the lake ecosystem so that specific measures can be taken.
The video below shows the goals of the project and gives an insight into the technology used. It can also be found here or here.
