Design, construction and evaluation of a drone-tethered river survey vessel

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cg.contributor.affiliationGroundTruth, Hilton, South Africaen_US
cg.contributor.donorCGIAR Trust Funden_US
cg.contributor.initiativeDigital Innovationen_US
cg.coverage.countrySouth Africaen_US
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2ZAen_US
cg.coverage.subregionKwaZulu-Natalen_US
cg.coverage.subregionLimpopo Riveren_US
cg.coverage.subregionLions Riveren_US
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH053142en_US
cg.identifier.projectIWMI - C-0016en_US
cg.placeColombo, Sri Lankaen_US
cg.river.basinLIMPOPOen_US
dc.contributor.authorMaharaj, U.en_US
dc.contributor.authorSingh, K.en_US
dc.contributor.authorPike, T.en_US
dc.contributor.authorPike, C.en_US
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-16T15:19:06Zen_US
dc.date.available2024-10-16T15:19:06Zen_US
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/155372en_US
dc.titleDesign, construction and evaluation of a drone-tethered river survey vesselen_US
dcterms.abstractAs part of the CGIAR Initiative on Digital Innovation, GroundTruth, in partnership with the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), investigated the use of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to aid in performing bathymetric and water quality surveys. A key outcome of the research and development within this collaboration has been the design and construction of a low-cost survey system comprising a survey vessel equipped with multiple sensors that collect water quality and bathymetric data and can be connected to a UAV. Traditional point-sampling methods limit comprehensive assessments of river health over large spatial areas. This challenge was addressed by developing a drone-towed survey vessel for spatially extensive water quality and depth data collection. The aim of developing the survey vessel was to improve the data collection process which could be useful to further develop the linkages between river flow regimes and water quality parameters. The vessel that was built was equipped with temperature sensors to capture thermal variations across a section of the river, a Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) sensor to monitor total dissolved solids, a Sound Navigation and Ranging (SoNAR) device to map variations in the riverbed profile, a turbidity sensor to provide a measure of water clarity and a Global Positioning System (GPS) module for precise geotagging of all sensor readings. The system was tested at the Lions River in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and the drone-tethered data collection vessel enabled a safe and efficient survey of a river segment. The system was used to collect high-resolution data related to water quality along a reach of the river. The depth data acquired from the vessel was integrated with Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data to generate detailed bathymetric maps for the site. This highlights the potential for expansion in terms of data collection capabilities compared to traditional point sampling methods.en_US
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Accessen_US
dcterms.bibliographicCitationMaharaj, U.; Singh, K.; Pike, T.; Pike, C. 2024. Design, construction and evaluation of a drone-tethered river survey vessel. Colombo, Sri Lanka: International Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Initiative on Digital Innovation. 17p.en_US
dcterms.extent17p.en_US
dcterms.issued2024-10-15en_US
dcterms.languageenen_US
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0en_US
dcterms.publisherInternational Water Management Institute (IWMI). CGIAR Initiative on Digital Innovationen_US
dcterms.subjectriver basin managementen_US
dcterms.subjectunmanned aerial vehiclesen_US
dcterms.subjectwater qualityen_US
dcterms.subjectmonitoringen_US
dcterms.subjectdigital innovationen_US
dcterms.subjecttotal dissolved solidsen_US
dcterms.subjectturbidityen_US
dcterms.subjectsensorsen_US
dcterms.subjectbathymetric dataen_US
dcterms.subjectglobal positioning systemsen_US
dcterms.typeReporten_US

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