Compliant Lightweight Non-Invasive Standalone “Marine Skin” Tagging System

by Joanna M. Nassar, Sherjeel M. Khan, Seneca J. Velling, Andrea Diaz-Gaxiola, Sohail F. Shaikh, Nathan R. Geraldi, Galo A. Torres Sevilla, Carlos M. Duarte, Muhammad M. Hussain
Research article Year: 2018 ISSN: 2397-4621 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41528-018-0025-1

Bibliography

Nassar, J. M., Khan, S. M., Velling, S. J., Diaz-Gaxiola, A., Shaikh, S. F., Geraldi, N. R., Duarte, C.M., & Hussain, M. M. (2018). Compliant lightweight non-invasive standalone “Marine Skin” tagging system. npj Flexible Electronics2(1), 1-9.

Abstract

Current marine research primarily depends on weighty and invasive sensory equipment and telemetric network to understand the marine environment, including the diverse fauna it contains, as a function of animal behavior and size, as well as equipment longevity. To match animal morphology and activity within the surrounding marine environment, here we show a physically flexible and stretchable skin-like and waterproof autonomous multifunctional system, integrating Bluetooth, memory chip, and high performance physical sensors. The sensory tag is mounted on a swimming crab (Portunus pelagicus) and is capable of continuous logging of depth, temperature, and salinity within the harsh ocean environment. The fully packaged, ultra-lightweight (<2.4 g in water), and compliant “Marine Skin” system does not have any wired connection enabling safe and weightless cutting-edge approach to monitor and assess marine life and the ecosystem’s health to support conservation and management of marine ecosystems.