Emperor is a quad-copter drone-based oceanographic instrument used to measure conductivity, temperature, and depth in the upper coastal ocean (CTD). These measurements are essential for oceanographic research, where the current measurement methods such as the shipboard sampling method produces accurate and reliable results, at the cost of being very expensive and time-consuming. A newer method proposed by the Washburn lab is to develop a CTD tailored for attachment to commercially available drones, which would substantially lower the time it takes for the measurements to be collected and greatly lower the cost for deployment and fabrication. The CTD envisioned is taken out via drone to desired locations along the coastal ocean where the CTD is lowered, profiling down a water column up to 30 meters in depth. The instrument is self-contained such that all sensors and electronics are encased and protected in a small, water-proof, and corrosion-resistant housing rated for seawater environments. The current version of Emperor may act as a testbed for testing feasibility of drone-based oceanographic instruments, in which progress from this project may propel the instrumentation industry forward, making oceanographic instrumentation and research more widely available.