Terrestrial and Underwater Pollution-source Detection Using Electromagnetic Multisensory Robotic System

• Published in: Chemical engineering transactions 2013-01, Vol.34
• Main Authors: A. Abina, U. Puc, P. Cevc, A. Jeglic, A. Zidanšek
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 2283-9216
• DOI: 10.3303/CET1334011

Terrestrial and underwater pollution sources present a serious problem affecting human health, biodiversity, tourism, fishery, and other environmental issues. There is often little consistent information of wastes available particularly due to lack of efficient technical tools. The main objective of this paper is to study the potential use of high-resolution electromagnetic (EM) sensors to detect waste that can pollute the environment ashore and underwater. Since different environmental conditions demand different sensor types, we propose a multisensory system composed of various non-destructive EM sensors at different frequencies. Low frequency sensors in the kHz region are based on electromagnetic induction (EMI) approach, whereas high frequency sensors in the MHz and GHz regions are based on ground penetrating radar (GPR). We tested components of the designed multisensory system on remotely operated vehicle and found that it has the capacity to discover, map and interpret waste from various materials in different environmental conditions with the option of the objects’ size and shape reconstruction as well as waste classification. The results of this study offer new possibilities to improve the understanding of the current status of the terrestrial and underwater waste pollution problem.