Dr. Taylor receives a grant to develop a radar for studying riverbeds

The Remote Sensing Center is developing and testing an advanced ultra-wideband radar system operating over the HF and VHF bands to monitor river depth and bed topography. The system will operate a few meters over the water on small UAS platforms and use advanced signal processing methods to precisely map these characteristics from the air.

The goal of this project is to design, develop, and field-test an advanced ultra-wideband (UWB) radar system operating within the HF-VHF frequency band (40-600 MHz) to precisely monitor river depth and bed topography. The system will operate at high altitudes above the water (5-10 m) on small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) by incorporating a tightly coupled dipole antenna array with advanced signal processing methods, including synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and cross-track array processing.

This project addresses the shortcomings of existing low-altitude techniques, mitigating risks and widening scope, while delivering high-resolution bathymetric data critical for advanced hydrologic modeling, flood prediction, and water resource management. The project leverages a previously funded CIROH project and moves CIROH toward significant progress in hydroinformatics, interdisciplinary education, and stakeholder engagement.