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Development of drone-type float for surface-velocity measurement in rivers

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Abstract

The present study develops a safety survey system for measuring natural river discharge. Monitoring of rivers is very important for river environment conservation and flood prevention. The new system is a drone-type float with a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, which can safely and quickly monitor a river. This float flies to the target point on a free surface according to the operator’s control. After which, it runs freely downstream, detecting the time-series of self-position with a centimeter-order accuracy using the real-time kinetic GPS method. It also measures the local water depth using an ultrasonic sensor during the drifting downstream. The same works are repeatedly conducted on all survey lines to evaluate the discharge through a target cross-section. The data correction formula considering the wind effects is introduced to improve the measurement accuracy. We performed field tests in natural rivers and obtained reliable results for practical application. The present system can evaluate the discharge in a 250 m width large-scale river without using an observation bridge or a rubber boat.

Highlights

  1. 1.

    Safe and quick measurements of surface velocity and discharge in rivers becomes possible using a drone-type float.

  2. 2.

    Reliable river surface survey can be performed by consideration of wind effects on float velocity.

  3. 3.

    The present portable instrumentation has a practical advantage in safe and remote river survey.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the financial supports of the Research Project Grant-In-Aid for Scientific Research (C) of Japanese Government (No. 20K04704, Principle Investigator= M. Sanjou) and the Research Project Grant-In-Aid for Scientific Research (B) of Japanese Government (No.19H02249, Principle Investigator= Y. Sugihara). We appreciate English editing by Enago, and thank Mr. Kouki Yoshinaga for the great support in the field survey.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Civil and Earth Resources Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto-daigaku-katsura, Nishikyo-ku, Kyoto, 615-8640, Japan

    Michio Sanjou, Wataru Aizawa & Takaaki Okamoto

  2. Kato Construction Co., Ltd., 19-1, Kanieshinden, Amagun Kaniecho, Aichi, 497-8501, Japan

    Kyohei Kato

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  1. Michio Sanjou
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  2. Kyohei Kato
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  3. Wataru Aizawa
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  4. Takaaki Okamoto
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Correspondence to Michio Sanjou.

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Sanjou, M., Kato, K., Aizawa, W. et al. Development of drone-type float for surface-velocity measurement in rivers. Environ Fluid Mech 22, 955–969 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-022-09874-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10652-022-09874-1

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