Design Considerations for River Floating Sensors

Abstract

In order to utilize the flow of a river to generate power, it is crucial to develop a system that is able to obtain and record the river’s characteristics in various aspects. A simple but effective method has to be created to allow researchers to collect and study the parameters of a river in order to predetermine the final build of the power generation model. A floating sensor that is able to collect and give a real-time data has been developed using readily available hardware as well as custom made parts. This paper describes a design methodology for river floating sensors and results from a case study performed in the actual controlled channel are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the design decisions.