Research on optical sensor technology and design and development of automatic, remote monitoring system applied in monitoring Vietnam's marine environment

On November 10, 2025, the Ministry of Science and Technology held a meeting of the Council for Evaluation and Acceptance of the national science and technology task "Research on optical sensor technology and design and development of an automatic, remote monitoring system applied in monitoring the marine environment of Vietnam", code DTĐL.CN-92/21.

Dr. Le Duy Tien, on behalf of the research team, presented a summary of the research content and results of the task.

Vietnam is a coastal country with a coastline of over 3,260 km and a large exclusive economic zone, bringing great potential for socio-economic development but also posing significant challenges in environmental management and protection.

Current marine environmental monitoring in Vietnam still has many limitations. Traditional methods based on manual sampling and laboratory analysis have low frequency, high latency, high operating costs and are unable to provide real-time data. This leads to missing sudden pollution incidents and cannot provide early warnings to management agencies and the community. Developing an automatic, remote monitoring system based on optical sensor technology will overcome the disadvantages of traditional methods, providing continuous, accurate data chains, helping to detect abnormalities early and effectively supporting the management, research and protection of the marine environment.

The Ministry of Science and Technology issued Decision No. 476/QD-BKHCN dated March 15, 2021 approving the task "Research on optical sensor technology and design and development of automatic, remote monitoring systems applied in monitoring the marine environment in Vietnam" chaired by Dr. Le Duy Tien, the International School, Vietnam National University, Hanoi is the host unit from October 2021 to September 2025. The objectives of the Project include:

Research, design and manufacture optical sensors to continuously measure a number of marine environmental parameters and a multi-hop wireless connection system to automatically transmit monitoring data that meets quality standards;

Assess the impact of the marine environment on wireless transmission capabilities and design and build transmission standards for data transmission networks serving marine environmental monitoring in Vietnam;

Pilot implementation of an automatic, remote monitoring system applied in marine environmental monitoring in a representative coastal province; and a database system, management software, and data processing.

After a period of focused implementation, the project has achieved remarkable results:

Successfully manufactured 01 automatic environmental monitoring system (parameters of temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH, turbidity, pressure);

01 new optical sensor (test production to measure NaCl);

Successfully registered 01 patent with valid application accepted;

The new optical sensor design continuously measures a number of seawater environmental parameters with high sensitivity, wide measuring range, and resistance to water pressure;

Design of a multi-hop wireless remote data transmission system for automatic monitoring;

Design process of automatic environmental monitoring system, transmitting measurement data by multi-hop wireless connection suitable for Vietnam's marine environmental conditions;

Marine environmental assessment report from the results of the monitoring system in the pilot area

Report assessing the impact of marine environment on wireless transmission capacity in some sea areas of Vietnam;

Instruction manual, database system, management software, automatic and remote marine environmental monitoring data processing;

Published 04 works in prestigious domestic and foreign journals.

Figure 1. Sensor device measuring seawater parameters.	Figure 2. Image of the group implementing the project of installing a pilot automatic monitoring system on Hon Dau Island
Figure 3. Detailed information of seawater environmental sensor parameters.

The mission has promoted research from the laboratory, towards testing products for industrial applications, in which scientific results are published in prestigious international journals. The results of the project show the technological mastery of Vietnamese scientists in the field of design and manufacture of monitoring systems. This will be the premise for scientists to continue to promote and promote new research directions, contributing to the development of Vietnam's science and technology sector, contributing to the economic development of the country.

Leaders of the Department of Social Sciences, Humanities and Natural Sciences, Ministry of Science and Technology discussed content and requirements with the National Acceptance Evaluation Council.

The members of the Acceptance Council highly appreciated the contributions of the Chairman and the Presiding Agency; the summary report and summary report had a reasonable structure, in accordance with the requirements of a scientific report; the quantity, volume, progress and quality of the products all met the requirements of the task. With the results achieved, the Council unanimously accepted the topic as "Passed". At the same time, the research team was required to absorb the contents and make appropriate edits, complete the dossier to submit to the Ministry of Science and Technology to issue a decision to recognize the results of the task.

Department of Social Sciences, Humanities and Natural Sciences

Source: https://mst.gov.vn/nghien-cuu-cong-nghe-cam-bien-quang-va-thiet-ke-phat-trien-he-thong-quan-trac-tu-dong-tu-xa-ung-dung-trong-quan-trac-moi-truong-bien-viet-nam-19725111114312206.htm