Telit Technology Enables the MolluSCAN Eye Project
Bold Green-earth project applies cellular M2M technology to monitor water quality using behavior of oysters as “cleanliness biosensors”
London – Telit Wireless Solutions, a global provider of high-quality machine-to-machine (M2M) solutions, products and services, today announced contribution of the company’s cellular M2M technology to the MolluSCAN Eye Project. The France-based environmental science project is an international effort run by a multidisciplinary group of basic researchers and university professors – biologists, electronics specialist, mathematicians, and webmasters. The project which started in 2006 in Arcachon Bay, France seeks to detect changes and status in pollution levels of water in earth’s oceans by reading and interpreting electronically monitored movement and behavior of bivalves such as oysters, giant clams, and Icelandic scallops.
Dr. Jean-Charles Massabuau, PhD, Research Director CNRS, Physiological Ecology & Ecotoxicology, Aquatic Systems, Université de Bordeaux & CNRS, and leader of the MolluSCAN Eye project explains that a few years ago the primary idea was simply that, when exposed to pollution or poor quality water, a bivalve closes its shell, or in extreme situations, dies and the shell gapes with the valves completely open. But he adds that today there is much more than that being observed and researched because bivalve behavior is in fact rather complex. It can change dramatically after exposure to even very low levels of pollution.
The project uses very light electromagnets weighing less than one gram attached to each of two valves in bivalves. The animals are continuously monitored to measure the valve’s opening movements. The remote electronic monitoring system is composed of two parts. A waterproof encased unit which is submersed next to the animals acquires data and sends it to an above-water, dry unit which transmits the data via cellular network to the master server at the project’s lab using a Telit UC864-G GSM/GPRS module.
The remote device is a rugged, full-blown microcomputer system running the Linux operating system. The two parts of the device collectively draw a low one Watt of power which can be supplied by battery or solar. The waterproof unit consumes one third Watt and can run standalone as a data logger. And due to amplification processes which have been significantly improved with technology and experience gained from the intense research over the years, the precision of the critical distance measured between electrodes is reliably very high.
Data collected from the monitored mollusks is analyzed by programs at the project’s server which have evolved significantly with the hastened pace of research. New theories in applied mathematics used to process the collected data have resulted in a PhD thesis in chronobiology, granted in 2011. Two other PhD grants are planned for 2013. Mathematicians have developed a keen interest in the project not only because they are helping protect the planet, but also because each remote monitoring unit produces a robust 864,000 triplets of data points per day every day.
“The MolluSCAN Eye project represents real evolution in environmental sciences”, said Dominikus Hierl, chief marketing officer at Telit Wireless Solutions. “It is easy to envision a new growing field of applied science emerging from the success of this project. A broad array of types of connected biosensors deployed everywhere helping people and governments clean up our planet and keep an eye on our environment as the world’s population grows. Telit is proud to be a part of this experiment and this new science.”
Ten years on, leveraging the industry’s broadest portfolio of hardware in cellular, short range and positioning technologies, artfully complemented by services and connectivity from m2mAIR, Telit is M2M’s One Stop Shop for system integrators. By applying products and services in synergizing bundles, delivered with global support and logistics matching each individual need or want, Telit minimizes technical risk shortening time to market to the Internet of Things. Now, innovate!
About Telit
Telit Wireless Solutions (AIM: TCM listed under Telit Communications PLC), a global enabler of machine-to-machine (M2M) communications providing cellular, short range and positioning module products; and through its business unit m2mAIR, M2M managed and value added services, including connectivity. Telit is M2M’s top one-stop-shop offering synergistic hardware and value added services bundles. With over 12 years exclusively in M2M, the company constantly advances technology through six R&D centers around the globe; and markets products and services in over 80 countries.
By supplying scalable products interchangeable across families, technologies and generations, Telit is able to curb development costs, protect design investments and reduce technical risk. The company provides customer support and design-in assistance through 27 sales and support offices, a global distributor network of experts with over 30 competence centers, and the Telit Technical Support Forum.
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