Wireless Sensor for Continuous Real-Time Oil Spill Thickness and Location Measurement

Marine pollution by oil spills is a devastating environmental hazard, requiring a low-cost efficient system for continuous and real-time thickness measurement and localization of oil. Knowing that none of the previous detection methods has managed to fully meet these requirements, it is necessary to devise a new technique for guiding and speeding up the clean-up process of oil spills. This paper presents a sensor device that is capable of sensing, processing, and transmitting information about an oil spill (location and thickness). This paper discusses two new methodologies of detection based on the difference in the absorbance spectral signatures and electric conductivity properties of oil and water. This paper also discusses the mechanical design of the device, the hardware implementation of its components, and the integration and evaluation of the whole system. The experimental results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method under different lighting, salinity, temperature, and sea conditions.