Budget analysis for water reservoirs using an autonomous sensor-equipped mini boat

Abstract

Water is an inescapable necessity for all forms of life on Earth. Therefore, both man-made reservoirs and natural reservoirs play critical roles for several purposes. Evaporation is an important factor that should be taken into account in the case of surface water reservoirs in hot and dry environments, since it can cause significant water loss. In order to estimate the water budgets of reservoirs, the hydrologists are typically using specifically developed computer models which take into account the effects of evaporation. An important step in this repetitive process is to provide an as accurate as possible calculation of the current water budget of reservoir under study. A novel system for the required water budget calculation is proposed in this paper, providing an automated, fast and accurate solution, requiring no human effort as it is based on an autonomous sensor-equipped mini-boat. First, the autonomous mini boat follows predefined trajectories at a reservoir and builds a bathymetric map (depth map) of it. Then, an onboard computer calculates the water budget of the reservoir. The proposed system is portable; as a result, a single system can periodically serve at several water reservoirs. Following the description of the main components of the proposed system, that is the autonomous navigation system and water budget calculation application, the performance of the navigation subsystem and the system as a whole is evaluated based on simulation studies. Copyright © 2015 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.