Coral Consortium working on a water drone to regularly monitor water quality in the basins of the Port of Gdańsk
An air quality monitoring system based on permanent sensors located at 7 points is already in place in the Port of Gdańsk. Soon water drones will be tested to monitor the water basins, says Port of Gdańsk Authority.
As part of collaboration with the Port of Gdańsk Authority SA concerning air quality monitoring, representatives of SeaData from Gdynia and the Western companies forming with it the Coral consortium, that is BGEO and Water Robotics, visited the port areas.
They had the opportunity to see the port from the water during a boat cruise and from the top floor of the North Harbour Master’s Office. During the meeting, the YetiAir device (drone) for monitoring PM10 and PM2.5 dust concentrations was tested and issues related to testing and implementing new environmental solutions in the port were discussed.
“We are very pleased that the Port of Gdańsk will have the opportunity to regularly monitor the quality of port water. The partnership between SeaData and ZMPG S.A. began in late 2017 during the Space3ac accelerator programme for start-ups.
The Port of Gdańsk Authority SA took part in it as a “large entrepreneur”, which presented a list of problems to be solved for start-ups. SeaData has committed to providing an air quality monitoring system for the port. This task was successfully completed and I am enthusiastic that the new project will be the same,” explains Agnieszka Roszkowska, Environmental Protection Specialist at ZMPG S.A.
The Port of Gdańsk participates in the CORAL project as a “demonstration site”, that is a place where the consortium can test and demonstrate the operation of the environmental monitoring system, which is part of the CORAL platform. The companies involved in the project are: SeaData from Gdynia, BGEO from Spain and Water Robotics from France. Together they created the comprehensive Coral platform, consisting of an interactive database, an environmental monitoring system and a port/marina vessel traffic management application.
“As part of the Coral project, by the end of 2021 it is planned to create and deliver to the Port of Gdańsk a water drone, built by Water Robotics, which will be used for regular monitoring of water quality and bathymetric measurements along with a system for analysing the collected data. The device will measure the properties of the water in the port basins, including the presence of contaminants. The port will also install a buoy equipped with sensors that will continuously measure the most important – in terms of environmental monitoring – water parameters,” explains Dr Marta Wenta of SeaData from Gdynia.
Data from the drone and the buoy will be uploaded to an online system where it will then be visualised and made available for analysis in the form of maps, graphs and reports.
In the first half of 2022, several test flights of a drone equipped with air quality sensors will also be performed at the Port of Gdańsk. From this, an air quality map of the port and detection of potential sources of PM10/PM2.5 will be developed. As with the in-water measurements, data from the flights will also be available as part of the online system.
Completion of the project along with the presentation of the results and a fully functional system will take place in June 2022.
The CORAL project is implemented under the GALATEA program, Blue Growth Accelerator, operated in Poland by the Baltic Sea and Space Cluster. The project is funded by the European Union through Horizon 2020.