Sensors
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Hi, I’m an electronic engineer, I enjoyed reading Eat Like a Fish and wondered how people are meeting their need to install sensors and get the data that Bren Smith mentions is needed. I’d be grateful for any pointers, and of course I’d be happy to answer questions about sensors from an engineering perspective.
@andrew_chisholm we use a combination of NOAA data and a sofar buoy that is on our farm.
We are looking at nursery instrumentation to measure temp, ph, light levels and dissolved oxygen. Is that something you have knowledge of?
@toby_sheppardbloch Hi Toby, thanks for your reply. I took a look at the buoy you mentioned. It looks like a really good start!
It wasn’t clear that all the quantities you want to measure could be accessed with that buoy, though, even with the smart mooring add-ons - there are more things you want to measure if I’m right?
Most of my work is about getting sensors into the environment, getting the data out of them and transmitting it to where it’s needed, so it seemed like there could be something I could contribute in this space.
If there’s currently a lack of the needed measuring equipment, maybe there’s an opportunity to develop something that could benefit people here? I’d be happy to have a chat about this if you have time.
@toby_sheppardbloch Toby - I have hopefully attached a paper on ADO: An open digital end-to-end tank based aquaculture platform. In short a sensor based system to measure water quality. There are a couple of points to be made:
@toby_sheppardbloch Hi Toby, thanks for your reply. I took a look at the buoy you mentioned. It looks like a really good start!
It wasn’t clear that all the quantities you want to measure could be accessed with that buoy, though, even with the smart mooring add-ons - there are more things you want to measure if I’m right?
Most of my work is about getting sensors into the environment, getting the data out of them and transmitting it to where it’s needed, so it seemed like there could be something I could contribute in this space.
If there’s currently a lack of the needed measuring equipment, maybe there’s an opportunity to develop something that could benefit people here? I’d be happy to have a chat about this if you have time.
Andrew, there seems to be three sets of sensor data needs, one related to site selection, one related to farm management, and a third related to improving our understanding of the performance of various species and strains.
In the first case information on physical and oceanographic parameters are needed related to water temps, currents, waves, water clarity, nutrients, etc. Such information is useful in deciding where to locate a farm and in engineering the farm system(s) to make sure they properly exploit the site and survive extreme weather events.
The second class of data relates to actionable information that a farm manager can use to maximize the farm’s performance. It’s a short list because most of what’s happening out there is out of their control. Most useful is the depth of growlines and sensor data that might indicate a broken line or that something is tangles in the gear. I’m unclear on what the optimal sensor suite is for such monitoring, it could be tension meters, accelerometers, pressure (depth) sensors, or video. The constraint is that it is impractical to hardwire such a system, as it would quickly get engulfed by the crop and interfere with harvest. Ideally this would be an array of stand-alone sensors attached to the farm that would communicate acoustically back to a central instrument that provides telemetry to shore. The sampling would not need to be continuous, as change is gradual out there.
The final data needs are outside my wheelhouse and better addressed by a phycologist. I think the performance of various outplanted strains is needed along with information on the things that impact growth: temps, salinity, current, turbidity, nitrogen levels, CO2, and probably more. Since such parameters are not actionable, they needn’t be telemetered. Of course they would need to be combined with crop sampling during the growing season and final harvest quantity/quality outcomes.
I’d be happy to chat with you further if there in interest within your company to develop the sensor/telemetry technologies needed.
@clifford_goudey Hi Clifford, thanks for taking the time structure such a thoughtful reply - that's a really helpful map of how to think about this. I'd love to have a chat when you have time. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week are generally good for me - please ping me an email (andrew.chisholm@elimo.io) and maybe suggest a couple of times that could work for you. I'm in London, UK, which I believe is 4 hours ahead of CT this week, 5 hours next week.
@clifford_goudey Hi Clifford, thanks for taking the time structure such a thoughtful reply - that's a really helpful map of how to think about this. I'd love to have a chat when you have time. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday this week are generally good for me - please ping me an email (andrew.chisholm@elimo.io) and maybe suggest a couple of times that could work for you. I'm in London, UK, which I believe is 4 hours ahead of CT this week, 5 hours next week.
@toby_sheppardbloch Toby - I have hopefully attached a paper on ADO: An open digital end-to-end tank based aquaculture platform. In short a sensor based system to measure water quality. There are a couple of points to be made: