An Autonomous Water Monitoring and Sampling System for Small-Sized ASVs

In recent years, sensorized autonomous vehicles (either AUVs or ASVs) have been increasingly used for in situ water measurements. However, collection of water samplings at depth by small-sized ASVs and their subsequent physical/chemical analysis onboard remains difficult due to size and weight constraints. This paper addresses this issue and describes the design and testing of an autonomous water monitoring and sampling system intended for operations onboard small-sized man-portable ASVs. The system is designed to collect water samples up to 50 m in depth and to measure physical water parameters along the water column. The system is composed of a probe lowered by a winch measuring physical water parameters and able to collect water samples at different selectable depths. Once the probe is returned onboard, a water distribution system transfers the collected water samples to sensors lodged in the ASV for the monitoring of chemical parameters, or into containers to transport the samples to laboratories on the mainland. The system combines small dimensions, self-cleaning capabilities, low weight, and limited power consumption allowing it to be easily installable and used on an autonomous small-sized ASVs. The sampling system was installed and tested in a robotic small-sized catamaran belonging to the HydroNet ASV class.