<p>Rapid global industrialization and increase in human population over the last century has exponentially increased the demand of fossil fuels for energy, (generation of electricity, fuel for transportation, etc), and an ever expanding list of fossil fuel derived chemicals, (synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, polymers, etc), are being used in all aspects of daily life. All of this has inevitably introduced large amounts of nitrogen to earth's Nitrogen Cycle. Thus, one of the challenges put forth by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) has been the management of the Nitrogen Cycle. (NAE, 2008). It's anticipated that the effects of human-induced changes to the global Nitrogen Cycle will be profound, and needs to be better studied and understood. Previous investigations on mussels were conducted in artificial conditions, mostly in a small scale where the mussels were restricted and tethered. These studies were conducted to mature and test technologies for the possibility of developing systems to monitor mussel un-tethered/wirelessly. The wireless communication between mussels introduces electronics that needs to be mounted external to the shell of these animals. The big picture goal of the entire study is to enable scientist to monitor mussels un-tethered in their natural environment. To achieve this goal we must first verify the following assumption: ><strong>"The attachment of sensors and a small "backpack" containing wireless communicators and sensing electronics will have little or no impact on mussel mobility and survival."</strong> In this paper we explore multiple methods and devise a well functioning system that can autonomously identify, track and log the movement of mussels in a mesohabitat to be able to verify our assumption above. References: NAE. (2008). Grand Challenges for Engineering: Managing the Nitrogen Cycle. Retrieved from National Academy of Engineering: www.engineeringchallenges.org/cms/8996/9132.aspx</p>
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Details
Title: Subtitle
Autonomous tracking of mussels in a lab environment
Creators
Mehmed Bilal Diken - University of Iowa
Contributors
Anton Kruger (Advisor)
Craig Just (Committee Member)
Guadalupe M. Canahuate (Committee Member)
Resource Type
Thesis
Degree Awarded
Master of Science (MS), University of Iowa
Degree in
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Date degree season
Spring 2012
Publisher
University of Iowa
DOI
10.17077/etd.bm08liin
Number of pages
iv, 89 pages
Copyright
Copyright 2012 Mehmed Bilal Diken
Language
English
Description bibliographic
Includes bibliographical references (pages 86-89).
Academic Unit
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Record Identifier
9983776772202771
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Autonomous tracking of mussels in a lab environment