Zechariah B. Kitzhaber
Papers
2
Total Citations
15
H-Index
2
About
Zechariah B. Kitzhaber is a researcher at the forefront of environmental sensing and unmanned systems integration, with a primary focus on developing low-cost, field-deployable instrumentation for aquatic monitoring. His work centers on the intersection of embedded systems, optical sensor design, and small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUAS) for intelligent environmental sampling. Kitzhaber’s major contributions include the development of a waterproof, lightweight (1.3 kg) chlorophyll fluorometer that operates on just 5 V DC and consumes approximately 1.1 W of power, enabling real-time chlorophyll measurement and automated water sampling from sUAS platforms. This innovation, detailed in his 2022 paper (8 citations), represents a significant advance in autonomous environmental monitoring. He also pioneered the use of an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense board for fluorometer control and readout, demonstrating that a 64 MHz microcontroller with built-in sensors can provide sufficient ADC resolution and speed for reliable fluorescence measurements while communicating via the Robot Operating System (ROS). His work has garnered attention for its practical, open-source approach to democratizing environmental sensing technology, making sophisticated water quality monitoring accessible to a broader research community.
Research Focus
Key Achievements
Top Papers
- 1
- 2Fluorometer Control and Readout Using an Arduino Nano 33 BLE Sense Board7 citations · 2022