Development of drifting buoy inspired by water strider for shallow water environment

Abstract

Ecosystem of a freshwater from river or lake can be extremely fragile. Assessment on flows and quality in water system is critical as fresh water mostly come from rivers and lakes. The used of river drifting buoy is new to estuarial and riverine studies compared to the oceanography. The collected river parameters from the drifters benefits the community in term assessment of water quality, usage and storm water control planning. In this work, the river drifting buoy developed were inspired by water-walking arthropods which is water strider. The design drifting buoy were able to control their heading and have the ability to withstand the impact from a deployment at the river banks under several obstacles. The design introduce power efficiency and agile movements on the water surface for deep or very shallow water surfaces. The performance of the buoy were recorded with real data collected at several local area near Batu Pahat.