Flood monitoring unit and system
OwnerMark J. Avery, Stephen R. Tennis, II +1inventors
InventorsMark J. Avery, Stephen R. Tennis, II, Michael M. Reese
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An integrated flood monitoring unit comprises a sensor capable of at least detecting one or more floodwater levels or measuring water levels and assembly of a data acquisition module, and a wireless transmitter that is specially adapted to be mounted one top and at least partially inside of a hollow pole secured in a vertical orientation at a fixed geographical location to monitor water levels, with the sensor being located nearer the bottom of the pole.
Claims26
A remote flood monitoring unit, comprising:
- a sensor having a size and shape adapted for fitting within a hollow center of a pole to measure water levels within the pole, the sensor being adapted for measuring one or more floodwater levels;
- a data acquisition module coupled with the sensor, the data acquisition module adapted for reading and storing readings from the sensor and sending messages indicative of the readings to a remote server of a flood monitoring system;
- a wireless transmitter configured for transmitting messages from the data acquisition module and receiving messages sent to the data acquisition module over a wireless network;
- and
- a housing assembly comprising at least one enclosure for the data acquisition module, the housing having a size and shape for mounting at least partially within or on top of the pole;
- wherein the housing encloses an assembly comprised of the sensor, the data acquisition module, and the wireless transmitter form an assembly, the housing being specially configured for mounting at least partially inside of the hollow pole and extending partially through an opening in the top of the pole.
A method of installing a remote flood monitoring unit at a location for measuring flood waters, the remote flood monitoring unit comprising sensor adapted for measuring one or more floodwater levels, a data acquisition module coupled with the sensor for reading and storing readings from the sensor and communicating with a flood monitoring system over a wireless network using a radio coupled with the data acquisition module, the method comprising:
- inserting the sensor through an open top end of a vertical pole with a hollow center mounted at the location in a fixed relationship to ground around the pole;
- mounting near the top of the pole a housing assembly comprising one or more enclosures enclosing the data acquisition module and the radio, the sensor being coupled with the housing assembly;
- activating the remote flood monitoring unit, the flood monitoring unit automatically performing a programmed registration process comprising turning on the radio and connecting it to the wireless network and sending one or more messages over the wireless network to a flooding monitoring system to register the flood monitoring unit with the flood monitoring system.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.