Fish farmers receive the data on their phone, enabling quick decision-making This technology uses open source code, which allows development with collective participation. Aqua-On uses broad-reach radiofrequency waves and adapted the technology from a system developed by Inpe, the Sima. The system is modular and can be customised according to farmers’ needs. It is easy to operate and to interpret data, unlike others available on the market. Embrapa is looking for partners to finish the technology and make it available on the market. The System of Data Acquisition and Transmission for Fish Farming in Net Cages (Aqua-On), developed by Embrapa Environment in partnership with the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), combines the monitoring of meteorological and limnological (referring to rivers and lakes) parameters, important information for fish breeding, in a sole piece of equipment. Aqua-On operates in high frequency and uses open source technology because it is part of the Open Source Innovation initiative. This allows all the developed applications to be collaboratively rewritten or improved. The system uses data transmission through broad-reach radiofrequency, resulting from the adaptation of the Integrated Environmental Monitoring System (Sima, in Portuguese), developed by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe). "It is an innovative asset to support the monitoring and environmental management of net cages; it is easily operated and so is its data interpretation, as information is provided in an app in real time and in high frequency, allowing managers to make quick decisions”, explains the Ufscar professor Osmar Ogashawara. According to the Embrapa researcher Fernanda Sampaio, who led the research, Aqua-On is a modular system that can be adapted to the needs of the production system. The sensors that compose the system include some that monitor thermal atmospheric and water column variations. “The real-time monitoring of the temperature of the water column allows fish farmers to identify temperature variations that can be influential on the animal management in production, avoiding stress”, Sampaio states. The researcher informs that the solution awaits partnerships for technological finishing and to be made available at the market (interested companies should contact Álvaro Spinola e Castro through the e-mail cnpma.spat@embrapa.br). Important for the sustainability of the activity Limnological and meteorological monitoring are important tools to ensure the sustainability of the activity. However, such monitoring has been called into question with regard to its effectiveness in improving the sustainable management of net-cage fisheries due to the difficulty of creating a profile that represents dynamic variations in such environments. In order to create an adequate limnological profile, it is necessary to set up high-frequency equipment and real-time transmission from different points of cultivation. Currently, the available technologies are expensive and demand high knowledge and resources for their operation, making their use unviable for fish farmers. Therefore, the development of a practical instrument that is easy to use, to operate and whose data is easy to interpret, and that can support the decision-making of fish farmers and the improvement of management, is necessary to support the sustainable development of fish farming in net cages. The technology in operation In Aqua-On the transmission is made through LoRa communication, from the floating platform to a land station with access to the Internet via Wi-FI, and the data is made available in an app developed for cellphones. Its operation begins with the gathering and transmission of temperature data at different water depths and surfaces. It also collects meteorological data: air humidity and temperature, wind speed and direction, accumulated rainfall, atmospheric pressure and solar irradiation. Every five minutes, it performs sampling to gather a full set of data. The transmission is made from the floating platform to the farm office, at a distance of approximately 500 meters. The data is sent to a cloud storage site. An Android app shows the figures for the variables at the time they are received by the app. The prototype was tested in a fish farm at the Chavantes reservoir in São Paulo state, and its performance was evaluated with regard to data transmission and applicability of the tool for users. The Aqua-On allows the transmission of 100% of the data through Wi-Fi to users’ cellphone apps, which can be accessed remotely. In contrast with Sima, the new equipment innovates in the transmission process. Inpe’s technology uses satellites, while Aqua-On’s data transmission is sent through radiowaves and Wi-Fi. Besides, there is the difference of being an easy-to-use software, with easy operation and maintenance, with no similar products available on the market. It automatedly records and transmits data in real-time to fish farmers’ cellphones. This allows better monitoring of the environmental conditions of the area and informs management decisions according to real cultivation conditions. The Embrapa researcher explains that the imprecision of the temperature data can result in inefficient offers of animal feed for fish breeding, raising the nutrient load for the environment, and thus resulting in economic losses for the company. Information such as wind speed and direction, and the thermal stratification of the water column can avoid economic losses and reduce possible environmental impacts resulting from inadequate management. Integrated Environmental Monitoring System- Sima Sima (acronym for Integrated Environmental Monitoring in Portuguese) was developed by Remote Sensing researchers at Inpe. It is based on a floating platform with a set of hardware and software designed for near real-time automatic collection and satellite link transmission of meteorological and limnological data from inner water bodies and oceans. To collect data, it uses an anchored autonomous system in which sensors, electronic storage, battery and transmission antenna are installed. According to José Luiz Stech, Inpe Researcher, one of Sima’s developers, its use for aquacultural monitoring has proved efficient as it enabled the creation of a water quality profile in real-time; however, they realised the need to modernise the process of direct transmission to fish farmers. Its differential is that it can be anchored in water bodies of difficult access, such as lakes located in the Amazon region. The collected data can be transmitted in timetable intervals. One Sima was anchored in the big lake of Curuai, located at the dale of the Amazon river in Pará state, and another in Mamirauá reserve, in the outskirts of Tefé, Amazon state. Importance The world population lacks a lot in the ingestion of animal protein. A possible solution to this problem is aquaculture for fish breeding. For this activity to be profitable, it takes a lot of work on animal feed control. Studies indicate that fish feeding is related to thermal structure variation. As an example, with weather changes, the thermal structure can vary quickly both on the surface and underwater, and the fish metabolisms quickly respond to such variations, since there are even species that cannot endure such temperature changes. Another environmental important variable for this activity is dissolved oxygen. When the surface temperature and oxygen decrease, the fish tend to feed less. Therefore, there is no need to provide a large quantity of food when the temperature is high. With adequate provision of food, farmers can increase revenue and avoid pollution of the aquatic environment with animal feed, as the surplus is deposited at the banks of the reservoir. For that reason, the adequate and continuous monitoring of the atmospheric and limnological variables of the water body is important for the environmental and economic sustainability. The research Aqua-On is an asset developed in the scope of the BRS Aqua Project, PC05 Management Component Project and Aquaculture Environmental Management, PA07 Advanced Methodology and Integrated Management for the Aquacultural Zoning of Tropical Reserves with the Use of Data Collecting Platform. Besides the aforementioned researchers, the development counted on the collaboration of José Stech, Inpe’s retired researcher, from Cristalina Fish Farm where the prototype was tested, and also of scholarship holders Marcos Vinícius Fier Girotto, Consuelo Marques da Silva, Augusto Almeida de Jesus, and Leonardo Gabriel da Costa Conceição.
The System of Data Acquisition and Transmission for Fish Farming in Net Cages (Aqua-On), developed by Embrapa Environment in partnership with the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCar), combines the monitoring of meteorological and limnological (referring to rivers and lakes) parameters, important information for fish breeding, in a sole piece of equipment.
Aqua-On operates in high frequency and uses open source technology because it is part of the Open Source Innovation initiative. This allows all the developed applications to be collaboratively rewritten or improved. The system uses data transmission through broad-reach radiofrequency, resulting from the adaptation of the Integrated Environmental Monitoring System (Sima, in Portuguese), developed by the National Institute for Space Research (Inpe).
"It is an innovative asset to support the monitoring and environmental management of net cages; it is easily operated and so is its data interpretation, as information is provided in an app in real time and in high frequency, allowing managers to make quick decisions”, explains the Ufscar professor Osmar Ogashawara.
According to the Embrapa researcher Fernanda Sampaio, who led the research, Aqua-On is a modular system that can be adapted to the needs of the production system. The sensors that compose the system include some that monitor thermal atmospheric and water column variations.
“The real-time monitoring of the temperature of the water column allows fish farmers to identify temperature variations that can be influential on the animal management in production, avoiding stress”, Sampaio states. The researcher informs that the solution awaits partnerships for technological finishing and to be made available at the market (interested companies should contact Álvaro Spinola e Castro through the e-mail cnpma.spat@embrapa.br).
Important for the sustainability of the activity
Limnological and meteorological monitoring are important tools to ensure the sustainability of the activity. However, such monitoring has been called into question with regard to its effectiveness in improving the sustainable management of net-cage fisheries due to the difficulty of creating a profile that represents dynamic variations in such environments.
In order to create an adequate limnological profile, it is necessary to set up high-frequency equipment and real-time transmission from different points of cultivation. Currently, the available technologies are expensive and demand high knowledge and resources for their operation, making their use unviable for fish farmers. Therefore, the development of a practical instrument that is easy to use, to operate and whose data is easy to interpret, and that can support the decision-making of fish farmers and the improvement of management, is necessary to support the sustainable development of fish farming in net cages.
The technology in operation
In Aqua-On the transmission is made through LoRa communication, from the floating platform to a land station with access to the Internet via Wi-FI, and the data is made available in an app developed for cellphones.
Its operation begins with the gathering and transmission of temperature data at different water depths and surfaces. It also collects meteorological data: air humidity and temperature, wind speed and direction, accumulated rainfall, atmospheric pressure and solar irradiation.
Every five minutes, it performs sampling to gather a full set of data. The transmission is made from the floating platform to the farm office, at a distance of approximately 500 meters. The data is sent to a cloud storage site. An Android app shows the figures for the variables at the time they are received by the app.
The prototype was tested in a fish farm at the Chavantes reservoir in São Paulo state, and its performance was evaluated with regard to data transmission and applicability of the tool for users. The Aqua-On allows the transmission of 100% of the data through Wi-Fi to users’ cellphone apps, which can be accessed remotely.
In contrast with Sima, the new equipment innovates in the transmission process. Inpe’s technology uses satellites, while Aqua-On’s data transmission is sent through radiowaves and Wi-Fi. Besides, there is the difference of being an easy-to-use software, with easy operation and maintenance, with no similar products available on the market.
It automatedly records and transmits data in real-time to fish farmers’ cellphones. This allows better monitoring of the environmental conditions of the area and informs management decisions according to real cultivation conditions.
The Embrapa researcher explains that the imprecision of the temperature data can result in inefficient offers of animal feed for fish breeding, raising the nutrient load for the environment, and thus resulting in economic losses for the company. Information such as wind speed and direction, and the thermal stratification of the water column can avoid economic losses and reduce possible environmental impacts resulting from inadequate management.
 Integrated Environmental Monitoring System- Sima
Sima (acronym for Integrated Environmental Monitoring in Portuguese) was developed by Remote Sensing researchers at Inpe. It is based on a floating platform with a set of hardware and software designed for near real-time automatic collection and satellite link transmission of meteorological and limnological data from inner water bodies and oceans. To collect data, it uses an anchored autonomous system in which sensors, electronic storage, battery and transmission antenna are installed. According to José Luiz Stech, Inpe Researcher, one of Sima’s developers, its use for aquacultural monitoring has proved efficient as it enabled the creation of a water quality profile in real-time; however, they realised the need to modernise the process of direct transmission to fish farmers. Its differential is that it can be anchored in water bodies of difficult access, such as lakes located in the Amazon region. The collected data can be transmitted in timetable intervals. One Sima was anchored in the big lake of Curuai, located at the dale of the Amazon river in Pará state, and another in Mamirauá reserve, in the outskirts of Tefé, Amazon state. |
Importance
The world population lacks a lot in the ingestion of animal protein. A possible solution to this problem is aquaculture for fish breeding. For this activity to be profitable, it takes a lot of work on animal feed control.
Studies indicate that fish feeding is related to thermal structure variation. As an example, with weather changes, the thermal structure can vary quickly both on the surface and underwater, and the fish metabolisms quickly respond to such variations, since there are even species that cannot endure such temperature changes.
Another environmental important variable for this activity is dissolved oxygen. When the surface temperature and oxygen decrease, the fish tend to feed less. Therefore, there is no need to provide a large quantity of food when the temperature is high.
With adequate provision of food, farmers can increase revenue and avoid pollution of the aquatic environment with animal feed, as the surplus is deposited at the banks of the reservoir.
For that reason, the adequate and continuous monitoring of the atmospheric and limnological variables of the water body is important for the environmental and economic sustainability.
The research Aqua-On is an asset developed in the scope of the BRS Aqua Project, PC05 Management Component Project and Aquaculture Environmental Management, PA07 Advanced Methodology and Integrated Management for the Aquacultural Zoning of Tropical Reserves with the Use of Data Collecting Platform. Besides the aforementioned researchers, the development counted on the collaboration of José Stech, Inpe’s retired researcher, from Cristalina Fish Farm where the prototype was tested, and also of scholarship holders Marcos Vinícius Fier Girotto, Consuelo Marques da Silva, Augusto Almeida de Jesus, and Leonardo Gabriel da Costa Conceição. |
