Task Description
A drifting sensor platform for ocean research is a small and cheap device which is able to measure water temperature and salinity on the waters surface. Oceanographers need these information to build models to investigate on water densities and ocean currents. Since the properties of the water strongly change in the upper water layer, not only surface information but also measurements in the first meter depths are of great interest. So far those kind of measurements bring a simple and cheap drifter to its limitations and much larger and more expensive tools have to be used.
With the availability of a smaller and cheaper device to measure water density and temperature also below the waters surface, an acquisition of much higher quantity and therefore a much higher data resolution would be possible. The institute for mechatronics in mechanics therefore would like to extend the cheap and simple surface drifter with a device, which allows to dive horizontally and acquire measurement data with the drifters existing sensors. The extension needs to be adaptable to the existing drifter construction and should allow a diving depths of two meters. The diving device shall be designed as an extension and therefore should function independently of the drifter. The interface to the drifter is implemented by a I2C communication to trigger a diving procedure a power connection to the energy supply of the drifter.
CONCEPT IMAGE
Requirement Specification
| ID | Title | Rationale | Values | Module | Importance | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Diving Depth | The diver should be able to pull the drifter with an upwards buoyant force of 10N down to a maximum depths of 2 meters. | 10N | |||
| 02 | Vertical diving accuracy | The diver should be able to dive to specific water depths and hold this position with an vertical accuracy of +/-0.1m | +/- 0.1m | |||
| 03 | Horizontal diving accuracy | In calm waters, during a diving process, the diver should only move vertical and should have a horizontal positioning error of less then 0.2m for a vertical movement of 1m | 0.2m horizontal/1 vertical m | |||
| 04 | Mass limit | The mass of the diver is limited by the maximum buoyant force of 10N. The drifter should still float, when the diver is attached and turned off. | 10N upwards buoyant force | |||
| 05 | Geometrical limits | The diver should be attached to the drifter and should not increase the outer dimensions of the drifter by more than 10%. | 10% of outer dimensions of drifter | |||
| 06 | Costs | The costs of the components should be kept to less than 75€ | 75€ | |||
| 07 | Computing hardware | The diver should have its own computing unit which controls the diving process. | ||||
| 08 | Power limitation | |||||
| 09 |
Implementation guidelines
- Signals (target to go to, e.g. LED to return to)
- Controller is given / Simulation framework
- Simulation
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