Water turbidity measurement using fibre optic and neural network / Ruhizan Liza Ahmad Shauri, Rozita Jailani and Mahanijah Md Kamal

Turbidity of water is a measurement of water clarity to show how clear the water appears. The amount of total suspended solids (TSS) in water contributes proportionally to the value of turbidity. Insoluble particles impede the passage of light through water by scattering and absorbing the rays. Thus, the interference to the passage of light could be used for turbidity measurement using a turbidity index. The current existing method of measuring turbidity of water could come in bulky size or small portable turbidity meter. The ability to handle many samples and implementation of on-line monitoring is limited for such devices while some do not support this feature. Taking measurements would be laborious and time consuming especially when the sources of samples are located in remote places which are difficult to be accessed by human. In this research, an alternative turbidity measurement system called the "Fibre Optic Turbidity Measurement System" is designed and its performance is analysed and compared to the measurement from a standard turbidity meter. The concept of the proposed measurement system is to make the turbidity measurement remote, easy to handle and more flexible. Furthermore, the application of fibre optic enables measurement taken at the source of sample but could be remotely controlled from other place by the user.