| Harmful algal blooms such as the brown tide algae are considered to be a national concern on both scientific and economic level. This report addresses a solution to acquire a better understanding of these toxic algae. To prevent these harmful algal blooms, researchers need better information about the environment and the concentration of the algae. The solution is to deploy a sensor network that has both static and dynamic components. The dynamic aspect of the sensor network comes from a robotic airboat which is able to autonomously navigate through the marine environment and sample various areas of interest. The static aspect comes from a networked buoy system that is able to wirelessly communicate among the buoys and the airboat. Both of these components of the sensor network are explained in detail in the thesis. |
