In hot July this year, media and social networks of Togliatti, a town on the Volga river somewhere in the middle of Russia, published a disturbing information from the town authorities expressing concerns about its beach health safety. However, the data on water quality were not published.

The guys from Airalab that develop robonomics.network decided to intervene and together with the specialists of Solar Team of the local university launched a water drone powered by solar to measure water parameters.

The drone is equipped with sensors and able to collect data on the content of nutrients (nitrogen-containing substances NO3-, NO2-, NH4 +), oxygen dissolved in water, turbidity and temperature in the surface water layer. The data are stored not only on device but also transmitted in real time to a network.

The vessel is completely autonomous (on cloudy day a battery charge lasts for 4–6 hours). The body of the drone is made of fiberglass, and the control unit has two solar batteries — one for each electric motor.

What the drone got as the results were astonishing and threatening. The amount of dissolved oxygen was low and indicated a large consumption of oxygen and thus its lack for living creatures. Seasonal process of eutrophication (flowering) of water was the most likely reason for this. The pH data obtained indicated that the water in the study area had very strong acid reaction.

The further steps that are planned include measurement of the nutrients in water: if the content of biogenic nitrogen-containing elements exceeds the safe level this would indicate pollution from the nearby sources.

In the future, when the drone is fitted out with additional equipment, it would be able to determine the level of ions of heavy metals (iron, cadmium, copper, arsenic, nickel, mercury, lead, zinc and chromium).

Anybody who lives near industrial areas could find it very useful to be able to use its own autonomous water drone for measuring biogenic elements and heavy metals in the water.

In terms of further actions when water data are obtained currently in many countries, including Russia, the information collected by drones can be used by individuals and legal entities only for personal purposes. However, the results that are received in this way and published using the Robonomics network to ensure incorruptibility and trustworthiness could be used as a basis for further legal actions against public bodies that have to ensure water quality and against companies that are polluting rivers, seas, etc.

You can watch here how patrol drone was tested in the Volga river.

The additional information on a drone is given in Q&A format.

-Who do you think could order this drone that provides measurements of the water parameters?

- It could be organizations that are interested in obtaining such data. Primarily, the environment NGOs, and public bodies.

- Is this drone equipped with some standard set of equipment? Could it be equipped with any sensors on requirements?

- The drone could be equipped with the sensors necessary for the customer. There are limitations concerning the power consumption, which directly affects the autonomy — if there is more equipment, then there is more energy consumption and less time to work without recharging.

- Are there any restrictions in terms of data usage that are received from the drone? For example, a legal aspect.

- Yes, there are restrictions. The law establishes a special procedure for measurements of the water parameters that implies a certification of equipment and organizations that collect these data. Our task is to show that it is possible to collect data differently. The autonomous systems together with web3 technologies are non-corruptible and reliable in terms of data gathering and easy to use. We believe that this industry should be deregulated.

- How fast could you built a drone on demand?

- In case of a single order we could construct it in 1.5–2 months, taking into account the delivery of the necessary components. In case of multiple orders, it will take longer.

- Is the river the only place where this drone could be used or it is suitable for ponds as well?

- This drone was produced according to requirements of the customer for long-term autonomous movements and the possible wave heights in the water area of the Volga river and other inland waterways. The drone could operate in salty seawater in the close proximity to the shore. In case of other requirements, the vessel could be built differently.