MrChotiwat Jantarakasem
Honorary Research Associate
Institute for Security Science & Technology - Faculty of Engineering
Orcid identifier0000-0003-1718-8866 (opens in a new tab)
- Honorary Research AssociateInstitute for Security Science & Technology - Faculty of Engineering
RESEARCH
Estimating drinking water turbidity using a smartphone camera-based application.
Water quality monitoring is an indispensable tool toward achieving clean water and sanitation (SDG 6). This kind of monitoring safeguards the hygiene quality of water, especially drinking water. However, the scarcity of water quality data remains a major challenge in many developing countries. This study aims to develop a custom-smartphone application and voluntary participation program for turbidity measurement in remote settings. This crowdsourcing platform would be beneficial to enhance data collection. It would also serve to raise the public’s awareness about the importance of water quality and empower them to demand better water quality from their suppliers. The approach began by designing a mobile application that uses a built-in camera to recognise turbid water images. The application was then trained using an algorithm which learns from synthetic turbid water sample images. Results were validated by conventional turbidimeter readings. The first participant program was launched to measure water turbidity using smartphone-based application. The results from the participant program will be analysed. The protocol for the remote monitoring program will be redeveloped.The image cropper and turbidity measuring algorithm will be refined for better accuracy.
Water quality monitoring is an indispensable tool toward achieving clean water and sanitation (SDG 6). This kind of monitoring safeguards the hygiene quality of water, especially drinking water. However, the scarcity of water quality data remains a major challenge in many developing countries. This study aims to develop a custom-smartphone application and voluntary participation program for turbidity measurement in remote settings. This crowdsourcing platform would be beneficial to enhance data collection. It would also serve to raise the public’s awareness about the importance of water quality and empower them to demand better water quality from their suppliers. The approach began by designing a mobile application that uses a built-in camera to recognise turbid water images. The application was then trained using an algorithm which learns from synthetic turbid water sample images. Results were validated by conventional turbidimeter readings. The first participant program was launched to measure water turbidity using smartphone-based application. The results from the participant program will be analysed. The protocol for the remote monitoring program will be redeveloped.The image cropper and turbidity measuring algorithm will be refined for better accuracy.