SBIR Phase I: Novel Suction Tip for Marine Life Avoidance During Robotic Sediment Removal

该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力将通过将航道维护的范例转变为更常规的发生，让位于降低航道中的污染物水平，因为它们将被迅速清除，而不是允许它们积累毒素，并增加码头行业的财产价值、利用率和收入。此外，嵌入式传感器智能和持续的航道监测将使社区和疏浚监管机构更多地了解航道中海洋生物的健康状况，并使他们能够更密切地监测违反环境的行为。随着广泛采用和进一步发展，这项创新可能会通过保持构成我们社会的进水渠和水库的清洁和以最高效率运行，在帮助水和能源安全方面产生深远的好处-S基础设施。这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第一阶段项目旨在设计、开发和测试一种智能吸嘴，用于全年清除水道中的泥沙。目前的底泥清除技术对海洋生态系统具有破坏性，而且使用成本高昂。因此，该项目旨在开发一种智能吸力提示，用于在机器人清除水道沉积物的过程中避免海洋生物。项目活动包括设计和快速制作防止鱼类夹带的吸嘴过滤器的原型，设计和实施用于环境生态位建模的水质传感器，内部咸水测试，以及具有海洋代表性的淡水测试。

The broader impact/commercial potential of this project will be achieved through shifting the paradigm of waterway maintenance into a more regular occurrence, giving way to reduced pollutant levels in waterways, since they will be promptly removed instead of allowing them to accumulate toxins, and increase property values, utilization, and income within the marina industry. Additionally, embedded sensor intelligence and continuous waterway monitoring will grant the community and dredging regulatory agencies increased visibility and understanding of the health of the marine life in the waterway and allow them to more closely monitor environmental violations. With widespread adoption and further development, the innovation could potentially have far-reaching benefits in assisting with water and energy security by keeping inlet canals and reservoirs that comprise our society?s infrastructure clean and running at peak efficiency.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will aim to design, develop, and test an intelligent suction tip for use in year-round sediment removal in waterways. Current sediment removal technologies are destructive to marine ecosystems and costly to employ. As such, this project aims to develop an intelligent suction tip for marine life avoidance during robotic sediment removal in waterways. The project activities include the design and rapid prototyping of a suction tip filter that prevents fish entrainment, design and implementation of water quality sensors for environmental niche modeling, in-house saltwater testing, and marine representative freshwater testing.