US 2026/0063419 A1 · WATER BODY MONITORING AND/OR AUTOMATIC CONTROL THROUGH A HIGH-PRECISION SENSOR BUOY

Abstract

A water level monitoring system includes a sensor buoy with a GPS unit and RTK correction system for high-precision elevation measurements in bodies of water. The sensor buoy is easily deployable in existing facilities and can be used to survey bodies of water during site setup. The sensor buoy includes a float, geospatial positioning unit, wireless network interface, and/or power source such as a solar array. A coordination server may receive geospatial coordinates from the sensor buoy including elevation data and use site-specific depth and volume functions to calculate water levels. Automated alerts may be generated when water levels exceed thresholds and/or control infrastructure devices such as valves and pumps to prevent overflow conditions and improve operational efficiency. The sensor buoy may operates autonomously with adaptive data resolution, accuracy, and/or precision adjustment based on water level conditions and power management needs. Applications include monitoring and controlling wastewater lagoons, reservoirs, and/or agricultural operations.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A sensor buoy for monitoring water level of a body of water, the sensor buoy comprising:

a float for floating the sensor buoy on a surface of the body of water,
an elevation rod coupled to the float,
a geospatial positioning unit coupled to the elevation rod and electrically coupled to a power source,
wherein the power source comprising a battery coupled to the sensor buoy, and
wherein the geospatial positioning unit comprises a GPS unit and a spatial correction chip comprising an RTK unit;
an energy generator coupled to the sensor buoy,
wherein the energy generator comprising a solar panel,
a wireless network interface controller configured to communicatively couple to a server through a wireless network,
a processor,
a computer readable media that is non-transitory comprising computer readable instructions that when executed:
determine a first geospatial coordinate and a first precision value from the geospatial positioning unit;
receive a correction data from the spatial correction chip;
generate a corrected geospatial coordinate;
and
transmit the corrected geospatial coordinate to the server over the wireless network;
a tether coupled to the float, and
an anchor coupled to the tether for anchoring the sensor buoy to an anchor point on a floor of the body of water.

14 more elements

A system for monitoring water level in a body of water, the system comprising:

a network;
a sensor buoy communicatively coupled to the network, comprising:
a geospatial positioning unit coupled to the elevation rod and electrically coupled to a power source,
a wireless network interface controller configured to communicatively couple to a server through a wireless network,
a processor of the sensor buoy
a computer readable media of the sensor buoy that is non-transitory comprising computer readable instructions that when executed:
determine a first geospatial coordinate comprising an elevation coordinate and a first precision value from the geospatial positioning unit;
receive a correction data from the spatial correction chip;
generate a corrected geospatial coordinate;
and
transmit the corrected geospatial coordinate;
a server computer comprising:
a process of the server computer;
and
a computer readable media of the server computer that is non-transitory comprising computer readable instructions that when executed:
receive at least one of (i) the first geospatial coordinate and the correction data and (ii) the corrected geospatial coordinate from the sensor buoy;
query a site profile of the body of water;
determine a level of the body of water comprising at least one of:
(i) inputting the elevation coordinate into a depth function for the wastewater lagoon and determining a depth of wastewater in the wastewater lagoon, and
(ii) inputting the depth of the wastewater into a volume function of the wastewater lagoon generated based on a contour map of the wastewater lagoon and determining a volume of the wastewater in the wastewater lagoon;
determine at least one of (i) the depth of wastewater lagoon exceeds a threshold depth, and (ii) the volume of the wastewater lagoon exceeds a threshold volume;
and
generate a potential overflow alert that the wastewater lagoon exceeds at least one of the threshold depth and the volume threshold.

20 more elements

A method for monitoring water level in a wastewater lagoon, the method comprising:

generating a first geospatial coordinate at a sensor buoy comprising a geospatial positioning unit,
wherein the first geospatial coordinate comprises an elevation coordinate;
receiving a correction data at the sensor buoy and correcting the first geospatial coordinate with the correction data to generate a corrected geospatial coordinate,
wherein the corrected geospatial coordinate comprising a precision value following correction by the correction data;
querying a site profile of the wastewater lagoon;
inputting the elevation coordinate into a depth function for the wastewater lagoon;
determining a depth of wastewater in the wastewater lagoon;
inputting the depth of the wastewater into a volume function of the wastewater lagoon generated based on a contour map of the wastewater lagoon;
determining a volume of the wastewater in the wastewater lagoon;
determining at least one of (i) the depth of wastewater lagoon exceeds a threshold depth, and (ii) the volume of the wastewater lagoon exceeds a threshold volume;
generating a potential overflow alert that the wastewater lagoon exceeds at least one of the threshold depth and the volume threshold;
and
transmitting the potential overflow alert to a device comprising a monitoring application.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Water body monitoring and/or automatic control through a high-precision sensor buoy

Life of this patent

Water body monitoring and/or automatic control through a high-precision sensor buoy

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20