Project

# Title Team Members TA Documents Sponsor
63 Water Quality Monitoring System
 Haokai Liu
Harry Griggs
Jackie Fang
 Rui Gong proposal1.pdf
Water Quality Monitoring System

Team members:

Haokai Liu haokail2

Jackie Fang jackief3@illinois.edu

Harrison Griggs hgriggs2

Problem:

Access to clean water is critical for human health, agriculture, and ecosystems. However, water pollution due to industrial waste, agricultural runoff, and inadequate infrastructure poses a global threat. Current methods for monitoring water quality often involve manual sampling and lab testing which is time-consuming, expensive, and lacks real-time data. Our project addresses these issues by designing a low-cost, scalable IoT system to monitor water quality parameters in real time.

Solution

We propose an IoT-based water quality monitoring system designed to provide real-time, actionable insights into water safety. Our solution features a custom PCB that integrates the ESP32 microcontroller , sensors for pH, turbidity, temperature, and conductivity, and power/communication circuits, ensuring a compact and reliable design. The system measures critical water parameters in real time and transmits data wirelessly to a cloud dashboard for remote monitoring. Powered by solar energy, it is ideal for remote deployment and operates sustainably in off-grid environments. Additionally, the system will be low-cost, portable, and scalable, making it suitable for diverse applications such as households, farms, and public water sources. By combining affordability, real-time data, and ease of use, our solution empowers communities to monitor water quality proactively and prevent contamination risks

Solution Components(subsystems)

Core Requirements:
Microcontroller: ESP32 (QFN package, pre-soldered by lab or ordered from E-Shop).
The Microcontroller Subsystem is the core processing unit of the water quality monitoring system, responsible for acquiring, processing, and transmitting sensor data.
It collects analog and digital signals from the pH, turbidity, temperature (Digikey 480-2016-ND), and TDS sensors, converting them into digital values using its ADC. It also optimizes power usage for the battery, ensuring efficient operation with the power subsystem.
Sensor Array
The Sensor Array Subsystem is responsible for collecting real-time water quality data by measuring key parameters such as pH, turbidity, temperature, and total dissolved solids (TDS).
pH Sensor: 5016-SRV-PH-ND
Turbidity Sensor: 1738-1185-ND
Liquid Temp Sensor: Digikey 480-2016-ND (ECE 445 Parts Inventory)
TDS Sensor: DigiKey 1738-1368-ND

Communication:

The Communication Subsystem enables data transmission, remote access, and cloud integration for the water quality monitoring system. This ensures real-time monitoring and data storage for further analysis.
ESP32 Built-in Wi-Fi (QFN package).
UART Header for Programming (Through-hole pins).
IoT Connectivity: ESP32/ESP8266 for Wi-Fi or LoRa module for long-range communication.
Cloud Integration: Data sent to AWS IoT/ThingSpeak for storage and analysis.
Power System
The Power Subsystem ensures a stable and reliable energy supply for the water quality monitoring system, supporting both solar and battery-powered operation for increased efficiency and sustainability.
Solar Panel: external to PCB, connected via through-hole terminal block, Wide traces for high-current paths.
Battery Management: TP4056 Charging Module (through-hole).
Voltage Regulator (Through-hole for easy soldering).

Criterion for Success:

Our project will be considered successful if its sensors are accurate within 5% error of the calibrated lab equipment, real-time data transmission updates to the cloud every 30 minutes with less than 5% packet loss, the cost is under $150, and if it can last 24 hours on battery/solar panel,

S.I.P. (Smart Irrigation Project)

Jackson Lenz, James McMahon

S.I.P. (Smart Irrigation Project)

Featured Project

Jackson Lenz

James McMahon

Our project is to be a reliable, robust, and intelligent irrigation controller for use in areas where reliable weather prediction, water supply, and power supply are not found.

Upon completion of the project, our device will be able to determine the moisture level of the soil, the water level in a water tank, and the temperature, humidity, insolation, and barometric pressure of the environment. It will perform some processing on the observed environmental factors to determine if rain can be expected soon, Comparing this knowledge to the dampness of the soil and the amount of water in reserves will either trigger a command to begin irrigation or maintain a command to not irrigate the fields. This device will allow farmers to make much more efficient use of precious water and also avoid dehydrating crops to death.

In developing nations, power is also of concern because it is not as readily available as power here in the United States. For that reason, our device will incorporate several amp-hours of energy storage in the form of rechargeable, maintenance-free, lead acid batteries. These batteries will charge while power is available from the grid and discharge when power is no longer available. This will allow for uninterrupted control of irrigation. When power is available from the grid, our device will be powered by the grid. At other times, the batteries will supply the required power.

The project is titled S.I.P. because it will reduce water wasted and will be very power efficient (by extremely conservative estimates, able to run for 70 hours without input from the grid), thus sipping on both power and water.

We welcome all questions and comments regarding our project in its current form.

Thank you all very much for you time and consideration!