With Forskningsarenan as a base, Nicole builds a boat that makes a difference under the surface

Nicole's project is part of Forskningsarenans focus area "water and sewage", which in turn is part of the larger project DIGIT. Within the research arena, researchers and students at Mid Sweden University collaborate with municipalities in Västernorrland to find innovative and data-driven solutions to specific problems. In this case, Nicole, together with Rikard Hamrin, research engineer at STC, has collaborated with Mittsverige Vatten och Avfall to develop an autonomous boat that can measure sediment levels below the water's surface.

"It feels meaningful to be able to use my technical knowledge in a project that can actually make a difference to the environment. Being able to work practically with a real challenge together with experts and municipalities has been both educational and inspiring," says Nicole Bratz.

Therefore, we have high hopes for this new technology, which will both give us better information and an easier way to investigate how our dams work.

For Mittsverige Vatten och Avfall, the project is an opportunity to streamline the work of monitoring sediment levels in stormwater ponds. By using autonomous systems, it is hoped to be able to get a clearer picture of how the sediments are distributed over time and in different places, something that is crucial for being able to evaluate the treatment effect and plan maintenance efforts in a more accurate way.

"With this technique, we will measure how much sediment lands on the bottom. This is important, because the pollutants are in the sediments - after all, this is how we clean the water. Measuring the sediments manually with a boat is quite complicated, and you also don't get a very good picture of how the sediments are distributed on the bottom. Therefore, we have high hopes for this new technology, which will both give us better information and an easier way to investigate how our dams work," says Anna-Maria Kullberg, process manager at Mittsverige Vatten och Avfall. 

The purpose of Forskningsarenan is to identify needs within specific focus areas in municipal operations through workshops. It then explores the possibilities of solving some of these challenges using IoT or AI solutions. The initiatives can take the form of, for example, a demonstrator, a feasibility study or – if the need is greater – a more extensive project initiative.

 "Right now, in addition to this, we are developing a sensor to measure the flow of individuals in the urban environment linked to the focus area of urban planning and infrastructure. That sensor is being developed as a continuation of a preliminary study that a student did in the form of a degree project," says Rikard Hamrin.

The research project DIGIT - Hållbar Digital Transformation is funded with support from Region Jämtland/Härjedalen, Region Västernorrland and the European Union. Read more about DIGIT here.