The 'Divers' team comprises six students from various nations with diverse academic backgrounds. Brought together at ISEP to participate in the EPS, our objective is to leverage our collective skills to develop a sustainable solution for a real-world challenge.

The motivation for this project is based on the growing concern about the degradation of marine ecosystems and the decline of natural reef habitats. Coral reefs and other complex seabed structures provide important habitats for many marine species, including fish, invertebrates, and algae. However, many of these ecosystems are currently under pressure due to factors such as climate change, pollution, overfishing, and habitat destruction.

Artificial reefs have been proposed as one possible approach to support marine biodiversity and help restore degraded habitats. By creating structures that mimic the complexity of natural reef environments, artificial reefs may provide shelter, feeding areas, and breeding grounds for marine organisms. Understanding how different materials and structural designs influence these habitats is therefore an important topic in marine environmental research.

The idea of this project is to create a marine habitat for underwater enviroments, in order to promote the live of the diferent species that habit the the seabed of the coastal plate. Since this is the environment of many endangered species and its a global problem, our goal is to improve this situation while monitoring the characteristics that may affect this danger that threat the sea life.

For this project, we have thought of an structure made to sit in the sea floor, with the purpose of being colonized by many aquatic species to use it as a shelter where to follow their natural way of living. This intends to recreate a natural environment, and ir order to get that we need to review the most suitable material, as well as the best designs for the viability of the project.

To fulfill the task of monitoring the conditions, we have to research about the sensors that can take that job properly, and an organizational model that allow as to get information we need, without disturbing the environment and complying with all regulations.

Finally, our final target it is to create social awareness, the amount of trouble is going under the sea it is a big problem, and most of the people doesn't even know about it. With all the information we can recolect, the best chance is not only with the science or research, it is to concern people about the biggest resource on earth, the sea.

The basis for develop this idea starts on a global view of a huge environmental problem, the sea is dying. The causes of this problem are multiple; the global warming is raising not only the level of the oceans but the temperature of them. This is alterating the conditions of most of the underwater eco-systems, and this evolves in multiple species having to migrate from their original enviroments to new ones.

Another big problem is the massive fishing made by human hands. All around the wolrd, fishing is a daily practice, and even it is strongly regulated by governments and various institutions, it has affected the natural cycle of the sea-life. Now it has become a huge problem, since a lot of fish species are being depleted and others are being affected by the food chain, every creature in the sea is in danger.

The third big issue going on, concerns the levels of oxygen in the sea. With most of the fauna being altered, the flora is also damaged, the Great Barrier Reef and other coral reefs responsible of producing between 60 % and 80 % of the oxygen we breath, are rapidly dying, already more than 50 % of it has died in the last decades, so a global problem is incoming, and it is our job to do the possible to solve it.

This project focuses on developing a sustainable and technically feasible solution to remediate the loss of seafloor habitats. Our goal is to counteract current environmental decline by providing artificial structures that serve as refugia for marine life, thereby enhancing biodiversity and population recovery.

More specifically, the objectives are:

1. Create an appropiate structure for life to happen: This is one of the most challenging objectives, as creating a marine habitat that marine life accepts and colonizes appropriately will undoubtedly be a lengthy process. Understanding how life underwater functions—which shapes, textures, materials, and processes are best accepted by different species—is as complex as life itself. Therefore, constant adaptation will be the core mindset throughout the entire process.
2. Ensure the sustainability without life disturbance: Accomplishing everything mentioned above sounds great, but the critical factor for life to thrive in a way that mimics natural flow is to minimize human or robotic interactions and disturbances in the environment. Therefore, ensuring total naturalness will also be of vital importance.
3. Recolect information from this habitats to improve them: Although the project generates a clear positive impact on society, it must provide a way to measure that benefit. This will be achieved through data collected by sensors that we will implement according to specific needs. This information will also be used to improve and pave the way for better models of our project.
4. Create social awareness about the situation and the urge for a solution: Making people realize the scale of the problem we face is a major step forward; in this way, we will no longer be fighting a constant uphill battle. The goal is to encourage everyone to do their part in improving the state of the sea so that, in the future, these artificial habitats are no longer necessary. However, all of this begins by alerting the public and making them aware of the severe risks involved.

The system must collect and transmit real-time environmental data (e.g., water temperature, pH levels, turbidity) using sensors at pre-defined intervals.

A reliable wireless communication protocol must be established to send data to a cloud-based dashboard for real-time analysis.

The solution must incorporate energy-harvesting mechanisms (such as solar or wave energy) and utilize Deep Sleep modes to ensure continuous operation without external power.

The structure must provide complex cavities and textured surfaces, specifically designed to encourage the settlement of local marine species [1], [2].

To avoid failures observed in projects such as Osborne Reef, the structure must be composed of pH-neutral, non-toxic, and eco-friendly materials that do not release harmful substances into the marine environment [3], [4].

The habitat must be designed to withstand high currents and storm surges without displacement or structural failure.

All electronic components, including sensors and batteries, must be enclosed in IP68-rated waterproof housing to resist saltwater corrosion [5], [6].

The design should allow for modular expansion and easy access for sensor or battery replacement if necessary.