Semester and Master Projects
Sailowtech's current projects focus on prototyping oceanographic and lake measurement tools, particularly for research into plankton, microplastics and dissolved CO2.
If you are interested by a project write us at vp.science@sailowtech.ch.
Non-credited projects fall 2024-2025
Improvement and calibration of our CTD
A CTD is a sensor measuring the electrical conductivity, temperature and depth (Conductivity Temperature Depth) of the water. This tool is used as the basis of oceanographic research delivers the key metadata. Our probe has been designed in the spirit of low-tech, that is to say, for it to be open-source, sustainable, and useful.
The project involves carrying out a series of laboratory tests to calibrate the various sensors and compare their performance. The probe will then be tested on the Explore platform on the lake.ener une series of tests in the laboratory to calibrate the different sensors and compare their performance. The probe will then be tested on the platform Exploring on the lake.
This project is recommended for students with a background in electronics and code. He·she will be supervised by the student who made the probe, but a good independence is necessary.
This project has been established in partnership with the laboratory SenseLab of the Pr. Jérôme Chappellaz. Thus the student should go to Sion at least 6 times in the semester for the calibration. The other steps of the project will be realized on the campus of EPFL in Lausanne.
This project is about 4/5 credits.
Descriptive sheet of the project : here.
Characterization of the open SeaO2
The open SeaO2 is a device for the measurement of the CO2 flux between the atmosphere and the ocean. It was designed in the spirit of low-tech, that is to say, for it to be open-source, sustainable, useful and low-cost.
The aim of the project is to characterize the system in terms of the time of balance, precision and drift time. These various tests will be conducted in a laboratory.
Taking into account the different results of the tests, the sensor will need to be adapted and improved. If time permits, a second version of the device can be started in miniaturizing the current system.
An autonomous and proactive student is necessary. He·she should be interested by the work of measurement and calibration in the laboratory. A prototyping part is also possible if the student wants.
This project has been established in partnership with the laboratory SenseLab of the Pr. Jérôme Chappellaz. Thus the student should go to Sion at least 7 times in the semester for the calibration. The other steps of the project will be realized on the campus of EPFL in Lausanne.
This project corresponds to approximately 10 credits.
Descriptive sheet of the project : here.
A video of the current system is available below :
Construction of a Raman spectroscope
Raman spectroscopy, which analyses the light scattered by a laser beam on a sample, is a technique that can be used to identify plastics, as each plastic has a unique optical fingerprint. In addition, when coupled to a microscope, plastics down to < 1 μm in diameter can be studied. However, most commercial Raman microscopes are bulky, expensive pieces of equipment that are not suitable for use on a boat. The aim of this project is to build a small, low-tech Raman microscope for Sailowtech expeditions.
Descriptive sheet of the project : here.
This project has been established in partnership with the LNET of the Pr. Giulia Tagliabue and the CEL of the Pr. Florian Breider.
Improvement of our Planktoscope
The planktoscope is an open-source modular microscope designed by PlanktonPlanet. At Sailowtech, we made our own version.
This tool provides quantitative images of plankton. An open-source database, EcoTaxa, is used to list the species observed.
This project is to improve our tool and to test it on the lake.
Descriptive sheet of the project : here.
A second version of our CTD
A CTD is a sensor measuring the electrical conductivity, temperature and depth (Conductivity Temperature Depth) of the water. This tool is used as the basis of oceanographic research delivers the key metadata. Our probe has been designed in the spirit of low-tech, that is to say, for it to be open-source, sustainable, and useful.
This project is recommended for students with a background in electronics and code. He·she will be supervised by the student who made the probe, but a good independence is necessary.
The goal of this project is to improve the CTD built by Sailowtech to make a V2. Here are the different tracks of the improvements :
⁃ Improve the assembly system the CTD to facilitate its maintenance and increase its robustness.
⁃ Correct the faults of the power system changing the battery cells, by developing a battery charger for charging and adding a state feedback of the battery.
⁃ Add a wired waterproof in addition to the wireless link to retrieve the acquired data more easily.
Descriptive sheet of the project : here.