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Purpose:

The purpose of this project is to create an autonomous boat that can navigate around Lake Monroe collecting water quality data.

Background

Lake Monroe is the largest lake (reservoir) in Indiana, covering 10,750 acres. The lake was built in 1965 by damming Salt Creek, and provides flood control and drinking water for the city of Bloomington, Indiana. While there was a watershed study of the lake in the 1997, there is no public bathymetry data since the lake was filled, and little data on the water quality.

Log

Gallery

Running the Boat

The project is divided up into the following sub-projects.

Boat

• Hull
• Power System (motors and propulsion)
• Autonomous Control
• Manual Control
• Sensor Package (see Data Collection below)

Data

Existing Data Sources

Data Collection

• Software
• Sensors
• Data Collection
• Data Analysis
• Best Practices

Resources and Similar Projects

• INCATCH 2020
• INCATCH website
• Lake mapping with Ardupilot
• Chart Plotter and Navigation not directly related, but has info on open-source yacht electronics (sonar and GPS issues)
• NEON National Ecological Observatory Network
• GLEON Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network
• David White Hancock Biological Station, Murray State University

Autonomous boat projects (design and technical considerations)

Commercial ASV

Organization

This project is under the direction of Dr. Gregor von Laszewshy; School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering; Indiana University and in support of Friends of Lake Monroe.

Project Plans