Telemetric network in Thermaikos Gulf
Intro
This project was part of an EC-funded action within the LIFE framework. The official title of the project was "Actions for the conservation of coastal habitats and significant avifauna species in NATURA 2000 network sites of Epanomi and Aggelochori Lagoons". To quote from the project paper: Increasing urbanisation and industrialisation have altered or destroyed many coastal habitats. The main threats to coastal lagoons, dunes and seagrass beds are eutrophication, disruption of the sedimentation/erosion balance along the coast, direct destruction through human modification of the coastline, boat trawling and anchoring. The degradation and disappearance of habitats affects associated flora and fauna, such as birds, fish, amphibians, mammals, reptiles and invertebrates. "
The Task
Based on the above mentioned objective a network of special monitoring equipment ("digital infrastructure") for the collection, processing and evaluation of pollution data in the study area needed to be supplied and properly installed. The network should continuously monitor water quality of the seawater. In case of contamination events in key regions (salt marshes, mussels) the system needs to issue warnings to the observer crew.
The Solution
To collect and transmit the data the project partner ScientAct selected the ADCON A753 addWAVE GPRS RTU, thanks to its many interfaces and low power consumption. Mobile phone coverage within the lagoons allowed the deployment of GPRS equipment. To monitor all the desired water quality parameters an optical multi-parameter water quality probe by Austrian manufacturer S::Can was installed. All devices are powered by solar panels, mounted on the outside of the buoys, charging additional lead-acid batteries mounted on the inside.
4 identical setups were installed in the areas Epanomi, Angelochorio and Michaniona, which are performing perfectly as per the customer's expectations.
ADCON devices deployed in the project