Levee and Embankment Monitoring with Novel Embeddable Passive RF Sensing System

Levees and embankments are important infrastructure for protecting industrial, commercial, residential, and agricultural regions from flooding. As global temperatures increase due to climate change, flooding is expected to become more severe in the future. As flooding occurs more often with higher levels and streamflow, levee structures face a greater risk from events exceeding prior design expectations. Existing monitoring technologies either focus on discrete or continuous measurements with complicated installation, which is a challenge in large-scale implementation. Therefore, it is of interest to develop a levee monitoring system to effectively implement on a large scale for assessing and maintaining the levee condition under extreme events. This presentation includes preliminary research on a novel embeddable passive radio frequency (RF) sensing system and its applicability in levee monitoring applications. Previous studies have demonstrated the sensing system’s ability to detect changes in displacement and water content. This study focuses on implementation challenges, particularly the use of a distant exciter to power passive RF sensors. The exciter is expected to be carried by unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), positioned a few meters from the levee surface. Controlled laboratory experiments are conducted to analyze the exciter’s effects. The main challenge of this research includes replicating the potential trajectory of the exciter and identifying the influence of the exciter’s position on the system performance. The results demonstrate the impact of the exciter’s position on the collected data. These findings demonstrate the feasibility of the RF sensing system for levee monitoring while addressing the challenges associated with UAV-mounted exciters. By further investigating and addressing these challenges, the system can be made a step closer to real-world implementations.