Riverine Drifter
2007
Earle, Marshall D.
The original long-term goal of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program Phase II project was to develop a Surf Zone (SZ) bottom drifter measurement system that would be relatively invulnerable to effects of breaking waves and that would utilize near bottom currents to provide drifter locomotion without using its own power. Pressure sensor data would be processed with spectral filters to provide bathymetry and wave data. Using acoustic positioning, locations of bathymetric measurements would be known so that bathymetric data could be gridded for numerical modeling and military applications. Developing a riverine drifter variant had been proposed as an option. This variant would drift with currents at the surface and either profile up and down to measure depth and other parameters, or measure depths from the surface with a low-cost commercial "fisherman type" fish finder or depth sounder. Increased naval interest in the riverine variant developed. Considering the high cost of the SZ variant, the low cost of the riverine variant and the interest in the riverine variant, goals were shifted to developing a riverine drifter that initially would measure currents, water depths and water temperatures. The objective is to develop a low cost, optionally expendable, riverine drifter to measure currents, bathymetry, and other data as it is transported by currents.
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