Autonomous river drifting buoys — Applications and improvements

Determination of existing river conditions poses a challenge due to constantly changing current speeds, water level, presence of vegetation, precipitation, as well as other environmental factors. QinetiQ North America (QNA) Technology Solutions group has developed a Lagrangian river drifter for the remote collection and transmission of real-time surface velocities, water depth and temperature as a function of position. A discussion of the design improvements and results achieved during deployment of the QNA Riverine Drifter are provided in this paper.