Our Technology

How does it work?

The molluSCAN-eye^® solution is based on the ability of bivalve mollusks to indicate water quality

Real-time

24/7 monitoring for prompt decision-making and action

Cost-effective

Economical alternative to traditional water monitoring methods

Sustainable

Respects molluscs' natural habitat – non-invasive technology

Impact control

Helps industries assess and control their aquatic environment impact

Easy set up

Easy to set up and maintenance-free once deployed

Communication

Powerful communication tool with stakeholders and the public

Our solution

molluSCAN-eye^® is a real technological breakthrough.

A far more precise solution

High-Frequency Non-Invasive valvometry (HFNI) is a unique technology today. It is 10 to 100 times more sensitive than in situ physico-chemical sensors.

A far more cost-effective solution

Compared with a comparable service based essentially on chemical analyses.

An intuitive & educational tool to make your communication a success

The public and decision-makers struggle to make sense of a list of chemicals and its implications. Everyone understands whether the animals are healthy!

A continuous monitoring solution

24/7, 365 days a year, the data is received and analysed from anywhere in the world. It is therefore possible to act as soon as the first signs of a problem appear.

An animal-friendly, maintenance-free & eco-responsible solution

No field maintenance is required for several years, because the animals live in their natural habitat and clean themselves. No fouling issues as on other sensors.

Our molluSCAN-eye^® technology is based on the ability of bivalve mollusks (oysters, mussels, scallops, etc.) to indicate water quality as soon as it disturbs them.

Behavioral analysis is the most sensitive tool available on the market. Applied in situ, it is 10 to 100 times more sensitive than chemistry in natural waters — unbiased and general-purpose, with no preconceived idea about the nature of the pollutant, its degradation products or the unknown cocktail of molecules produced.

Thanks to tiny electromagnets glued onto the valves, and to unique electronics and software (embedded Linux), our systems monitor the valves’ opening and closing cycles, their growth, spawning, and so on. This technology — High-Frequency Non-Invasive valvometry (HFNI) — makes it possible to track more than 10 different physiological and behavioral parameters each day, and thus to produce daily health checks.

All of this 24/7 and remotely from any computer thanks to the Internet of Things: that is, the exchange of information and data from the physical world (here, the animals and an embedded system) to the Internet network.

IN THE FIELD

molluSCAN SERVER – BORDEAUX

CLIENT

As we know, bivalves ventilate throughout the day, filter suspended plankton particles to feed, and constantly “taste” the water. For example, any anomaly the animal deems dangerous translates into a change in behavior, such as closing its valves for a longer or shorter time to protect itself. Death — valves wide open and motionless — is the ultimate response.

We are not satisfied with a hypothetical rapid closure that would only signal very high pollution. We measure and quantify in real time around ten physiological parameters that allow an analysis as precise as a hospital health check:

The valve gape amplitude, an immediate indicator of the presence of pollutants and diseases
Daily growth
Spawning
Biological rhythms
Mortality
Opening duration
Maximum opening
Agitation/day
Agitation during open periods/day
Contraction speed

A micro-electromagnet is glued onto each of the animal’s valves. The measurement of the valve gap — a wholly original technique (10 to 100 times more precise than conventional methods) — is taken between two coils weighing less than 1 gram. It is insensitive to variations in water turbidity and salinity, as well as to fouling. It has been proven for maintenance-free deployment of more than 3.5 years at sea.

Measurement and signal management are handled under embedded Linux, on two boards. Board 1 is submerged in a watertight enclosure, as close as possible to the animals.

Board 1 is connected to a Board 2 at the surface via an umbilical cable (250 m max.). It manages connectivity with the server at the Arcachon Marine Station. The Board 1 – umbilical – Board 2 assembly is a genuine micro-computer whose design we own. It runs on embedded Linux. The encoded data are transmitted daily via the mobile phone network or directly through an Ethernet port.

The files are automatically decoded, processed and saved upon arrival, on a workstation at the Arcachon Marine Station. Two backup sites, located in two places different from the main server’s, ensure security through redundancy. For each animal, the data record is a series of points, each with two values:

the distance between the two electrodes (i.e. the value of the valve gap at the level of the electrodes, expressed in micrometers)
a time (expressed in hours, minutes, seconds) which is the time at which the measurement is taken.

The results, updated daily, are available via a login and password. Our team monitors them and is always on hand to analyze and discuss them. The approach is to make this information automatically readable online every morning:

by modeling behavior and around ten physiological parameters on easy-to-read graphs
by publishing, in the form of green, orange or red summary indices, integrative information on the health status of the group of animals monitored, and therefore of their environment
We thus move from monitoring sentinel animals, indicators of local biodiversity, to monitoring the quality of the environment — seen no longer through partial chemical analyses but through integrative biomonitoring.