32nd IEEE Conference on Local Computer Networks

SmartCoast
A Wireless Sensor Network for Water Quality Monitoring

B O’Flynn, Rafael Martínez- John Cleary, C. Slater, F. Regan, Heather Murphy,

Català, S. Harte, C. O’Mathuna D. Diamond Marine Technologies Division
Tyndall National Institute, National Centre for Sensor Research, Marine Institute,
University College Cork. Dublin City University, Rinville, Oranmore,
Cork, Ireland Dublin, Ireland Co. Galway,Ireland.
brendan.oflynn@tyndall.ie dermot.diamond@dcu.ie heather.murphy@marine.ie

Abstract— The implementation of the Water Framework
Directive (WFD) across the EU, and the growing international
emphasis on the management of water quality is giving rise to an
expanding market for novel, miniaturized, intelligent monitoring
systems for freshwater catchments, transitional and coastal
waters. This paper describes the “SmartCoast” Multi Sensor
System for water quality monitoring. This system is aimed at
providing a platform capable of meeting the monitoring
requirements of the Water Framework Directive. The key
parameters under investigation include temperature, phosphate,
dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH, turbidity and water level. The
“Plug and Play” capabilities enabled by the Wireless Sensor
Network (WSN) platform developed at Tyndall allow for
integration of sensors as required are described, as well as the
custom sensors under development within the project.
Keywords-component; Wireless Sensor networks, Water Quality
Monitorin, Phosphate Sensing, Dissolved Oxygen Sensing
I. INTRODUCTION
required granularity of data to meet the requirements of the
WFD. Another key component of the wireless sensor system is
the implementation of “intelligent” sensors incorporating
Transducer Electronic datasheet (TEDS) [4], which allows a
sensor to identify and describe itself to the control unit within
the transceiver system. TEDS enabled sensors can be interfaced
with the system in a “Plug and Play” fashion. This TEDS
implementation is based on the IEEE 1451 standard and allows
for: sensor modularity, aggregation, inter-operability, fault
tolerance & dynamic calibration. The initial manifestation of
the system uses off the shelf (COTS) sensors to meet the water
quality monitoring requirements; these are temperature, pH,
conductivity, depth and turbidity. The system has generic
interfaces for such sensors, as well as for customized sensors
(Phosphate & Dissolved Oxygen) being developed in the
project. The final enclosure is IP68 waterproof case and
connectors as shown below.
6 “Plu g and Play” Senso r In terfaces

The importance of maintaining good water quality

highlights the increasing need for advanced technologies to
help monitor water and manage water quality. In particular the
implementation of the WFD [1] poses new challenges for water
Serial
managers who have traditionally monitored water quality by Com m s

taking samples and analysing them in the laboratory. NCSR DO

Interfa ce

SmartCoast is an applied R&D Project, co-funded by the

Irish Marine Institute and EPA which aims to develop a WSN
featuring plug and play sensor platforms, novel sensors and low
power consumption communications. The WSN deployment
will enable in-situ chemical and physical measurements and NCSR
Pho sph ate Cu stom ised
Po wer Supp ly
Pro cessing and
allow data to be viewed in real time via the internet by remote Interfa ce po wer su pplies Z ig Bee Platform s

users. This will also help with mapping the spatial and
temporal distribution of pollutants and may be of particular
importance in identifying sources of pollution. Trials of the
sensors and platforms are underway at two fresh water sites to
validate the sensor platforms and examine the effects of
biofouling.

II. MULTI SENSOR SYSTEM

To meet the low power consumption requirements of the
deployment scenario envisaged the communication standard in
the WSN is Zigbee [2] implemented on the Tyndall mote [3].
This enables networks of sensors to be realized which give the Figure 1. Multisensor System.

We would like to acknowledge the support of the Irish Marine Institute

and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for funding the Strategic
Marine RTDI Project AT/04/01/06 - Smart Water Quality Monitoring System
(SmartCoast)

0742-1303/07 $25.00 © 2007 IEEE 815

DOI 10.1109/LCN.2007.34
 III. PHOSPHATE SENSOR
A portable, field deployable sensor for long-term
monitoring of phosphate levels in natural waters has been
developed within the SmartCoast project. Subsequent to
autonomous field trials and sensor validation, this sensor will
be integrated with Tyndall’s “smart” multi-sensor system. The
phosphate sensor system has a linear dynamic range between 0
and 20 mg/L and a limit of detection of 0.3 mg/L. Microfluidic
technology is used to minimize the volumes of reagents and
sample required, in turn leading to low reagent/waste storage
requirements and low power requirements for fluid handling.
The sensor is based on the yellow method for phosphate
detection. The resulting solution absorbs strongly below 400
nm. The amount of phosphate in the original sample is
determined from the measured absorbance of the yellow Figure 3. Results from field trial of the SmartCoast phosphate sensor.
solution. It has been demonstrated that this method can be
successfully implemented in a microfluidic system [5] with the 25
Temperature (Celsius)
reagent demonstrating excellent long-term stability. Depth (feet)
pH
20 Conductivity (mS)

15

10

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Time/days

Figure 4. Results from field trial of the Multisensor SmartCoast System.

Figure 2. Phosphate Measurement System

The sensor has undergone extensive laboratory and field-
testing in order to assess and optimize its performance. A field
trial carried out in October 2006 demonstrated that the sensor
operated successfully over an extended period of time (21
days) in wastewater treatment plant effluent and yielded data in
good correlation with those obtained in parallel from a
commercially available, online phosphate monitor.
IV. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS
Preliminary deployment and characterization of the sensors
and sensor systems under development in the project have been
carried out. Figure 3, gives a snapshot of the phosphate
measurements taken over a 3-week deployment period. Figure
4 shows the results of a deployment of the multi-sensor system
for a period of 2 weeks in the river Lee in Cork.
The results indicate that a low power wireless sensor
network multi sensor implementation is viable. Further
characterization of the system will be undertaken over the
coming weeks to fully evaluate the system.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors would like to thank all the members of the
SmartCoast project team who have contributed to the project.
REFERENCES
[1] Directive 2000/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of
Europe of 23 October 2000 establishing a framework for Community
action in the Field of water quality [2000] O.J. L327/1.
[2] ZigBee Alliance, ZigBee Specification, 2006, http://www.zigbee.org,
last accessed, 10th-July-07
[3] O’Flynn, B.; Bellis, S.; Mahmood, K.; Morris, M.; Duffy, G.; Delaney,
K.; O’Mathuna, C.; “A 3-D Miniaturised Programmable Transceiver “
Microelectronics International, Volume 22, No. 2, pp. 8-12, 2005.
[4] NIST, National Institute of Standards and Technlology, IEEE 1451
Website: http://ieee1451.nist.gov/ last accessed 10th-July-07.
[5] McGraw, C.M.; Stitzel, S.E.; Cleary, J.; Slater, C.; Diamond, D.;
“Autonomous microfluidic system for phosphate detection” Talanta 71,
(2007) 1180-1185.

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