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Senior design project

Reef Monitoring Communication System

Getting data from an underwater reef sensor network onto a live web page by chaining serial, acoustic, and cellular links together.

My role
Led the software and data pipeline
Built with
RS-485 and RS-232 serial, Feather Adalogger M0, Succorfish Delphis acoustic modems, Particle Boron 4G LTE
Code
github.com/colinfriedel/IRIS-Senior-Design

Highlights

  • Led the software and data pipeline, covering the whole path from underwater sensor to the cloud
  • Connected three different kinds of links: wired serial (RS-485 and RS-232), acoustic signals through water, and 4G LTE cellular
  • Built for the Palos Verdes artificial reef, with the data feeding a public Google Site for live monitoring

How the data travels

  1. Underwater sensor networkCollects the reef data
  2. RS-485Feather Adalogger M0Pulls the data in and buffers it locally
  3. RS-232Acoustic modemSuccorfish Delphis, driven by the converted signal
  4. Acoustic signals through the water columnSecond acoustic modemReceives the transmission
  5. RS-232 and RS-485Feather Adalogger M0An identical chain on the receiving side
  6. Particle Boron 4G LTEProgrammed to publish the data to the cloud
  7. 4G LTE cellularCloud and Google SheetThe published data feeds a Google Sheet
  8. Public Google SiteEmbeds the sheet for live monitoring
Technical deep dive
  • Wired and programmed an RS-485 interface to pull data from the underwater sensor network into a Feather Adalogger M0 for local buffering
  • Converted the signal to RS-232 to drive a Succorfish Delphis acoustic modem, transmitting it through the water column to a second acoustic modem and back through an identical RS-232/RS-485/Feather Adalogger M0 chain
  • Programmed a Particle Boron 4G LTE module (404X) to publish the received data to the cloud, feeding a Google Sheet embedded in a public Google Site for live monitoring

What I learned

  • Designing, implementing, and debugging different data transmission protocols (serial, acoustic, and cellular)
  • Working with an interdisciplinary team on a common goal with differing deadlines and progress checkpoints
  • Waterproofing microcontrollers, electrical connections, and data cables
  • Managing a materials budget across multiple funding sources