Advanced sensor-computer technology for urban runoff monitoring

The paper presents the project team's advanced sensor-computer sphere technology for real-time and continuous monitoring of wastewater runoff at the sewer discharge outfalls along the receiving water. This research significantly enhances and extends the previously proposed novel sensor-computer technology. This advanced technology offers new computation models for an innovative use of the sensor-computer sphere comprising accelerometer, programmable in-situ computer, solar power, and wireless communication for real-time and online monitoring of runoff quantity. This innovation can enable more effective planning and decision-making in civil infrastructure, natural environment protection, and water pollution related emergencies. The paper presents the following: (i) the sensor-computer sphere technology; (ii) a significant enhancement to the previously proposed discrete runoff quantity model of this technology; (iii) a new continuous runoff quantity model. Our comparative study on the two distinct models is presented. Based on this study, the paper further investigates the following: (1) energy-, memory-, and communication-efficient use of the technology for runoff monitoring; (2) possible sensor extensions for runoff quality monitoring.