Rainfall measurement using radio links from cellular communication networks

Abstract

[1] We investigate the potential of radio links such as employed by commercial cellular communication companies to monitor path-averaged rainfall. We present an analysis of data collected using two 38-GHz links during eight rainfall events over a 2-month period (October-November 2003) during mostly stratiform rainfall in the Netherlands. Comparisons between the time series of rainfall intensities estimated using the radio links and those measured by a nearby rain gauge and a composite of two C band weather radars show that the dynamics of the rain events is generally well captured by the radio links. This shows that such links are potentially a valuable addition to existing methods of rainfall estimation, provided the uncertainties related to the reference signal level, signal level resolution, wet antenna attenuation, and temporal sampling can be resolved.

Country-wide rainfall maps from cellular communication networks

“…Attenuation along the link path is computed from the difference between the corrected signal level and the reference level (6,8,14), which is assumed representative of dry weather during the previous 24 h. Mean 15-min path-averaged rainfall intensities are computed from the minimum and maximum attenuation. Part of the decrease in microwave signal power is caused by water films on the antennas, which causes an overestimation of the attenuation, and hence an overestimation of the path-averaged rainfall intensity if not properly accounted for.…”

“…(4), calls for alternative sources of near-surface rainfall information. Microwave links from operational cellular telecommunication networks may be used for rainfall monitoring (5,6), potentially over large parts of the land surface of the earth. Along such links, radio signals propagate from a transmitting antenna at one base station to a receiving antenna at another base station (Fig.…”

Flood fatalities in Africa: From diagnosis to mitigation

“…Yet, in Czech Republic, as a result of the increased flood awareness and preparedness, the 2002 flood, although significantly larger than the previous one occurred in 1997, led to a much smaller number (one third) of flood-related fatalities [Marešová and Mareš, 2003]. To support these sustainable actions a great opportunity is offered nowadays by low-cost technologies, already available in many African countries, such as radio links from cellular communication networks, which, in addition to facilitating transmission of point measurements of rainfall and river flow, can be used to monitor path-averaged rainfall [Leijnse et al, 2007], as well as emerging low-cost space-borne data that enable both rainfall measurement [Li et al, 2009] and near real time flood monitoring [Schumann et al, 2010].…”

Scaling, similarity, and the fourth paradigm for hydrology

“…In particular, there are exciting developments in mesoscale (i.e., hillslope to catchment) observations, which are critical for testing hypotheses about scaling (REA, RH, REW) by connecting point measurements, hydrological models, and remote sensing observations. Examples include recent advances in cosmic ray neutron sensors (Franz et al, 2015;Köhli et al, 2016;Zreda et al, 2008), distributed temperature sensing (DTS; Steele-Dunne et al, 2010;Bense et al, 2016;Dong et al, 2016), soil moisture observations, the use of crowdsourcing (de Vos et al, 2016) and microwave signal propagation from telecommunications towers for precipitation (Leijnse et al, 2007), to the rise in the use of unmanned autonomous vehicles to characterize the landscape on centimeter scale (Vivoni et al, 2014). These alternative data sources enhance our ability to observe, understand, and simulate the hydrological cycle.…”