AN engineering and environmental hydraulics organisation has developed a remote-controlled boat that can be used to measure river and estuarine data including flow, depth and suspended sediment concentrations.
The craft uses a technology called Acoustic Doppler Current Profiling which sends acoustic pulses in to the water to generate data about the speed and depth of the water it is travelling through. The ARC-Boat has been designed by naval architects and developed by HR Wallingford in collaboration with end users to give river and flood managers a reliable way of measuring flow and depth.
The ARC-Boat was developed in response to a plea from the Environment Agency to develop a vessel that would improve on the performance, reliability and ease of use of previous craft. Rigorous testing included a spell at the national centre for white water rafting in North Wales after which the Environment Agency placed an order for 17 units.
The craft has been added to Wallingford’s equipment range and is available to customers around the world.
