Development of High-performance Microwave Water Surface Current Meter for General Use to Extend the Applicable Velocity Range of Microwave Water Surface Current Meter on River Discharge Measurements

Abstract

To overcome the difficulties of discharge measurements during flood season, MWSCM (micowave water surface current meter) which measures river surface velocities without contacting water has been applied in field work since its development. The existing version of MWSCM is for floods so that its applicability is low due to the short periods of floods. Therefore the renovative redesign of MWSCM to increase the applicability was conducted so that it can be applied to the discharge measurements during normal flows as well as flood ones by extending the measurable range of velocity. A newly developed high-performance MWSCM for general use can measure the velocity range of 0.03-20.0 m/s from flood flows to normal flows, whereas MWSCM for floods can measure the velocity range of 0.5-10.0 m/s. The improvement of antenna isolation between transmitter and receiver to block the inflow of transmitted singals to receiver and the improvement of phase noise of oscillator are necessary for detecting low velocity with MWSCM technology. Separate type antenna of transmitting and receiving signals is developed for isolation enhancement and phase locked loop synthesizer as an oscillator is applied to high-performance MWSCM for general use. Microwave frequency of 24 GHz is applied to the new MWSCM rather than 10 GHz to make the new MWSCM small and light for convenient use of it at fields. Improvement requests on MWSCM for floods-stable velocity measurement, self test, low power consumtion, and waterproof and dampproof-from the users of it has been reflected on the development of the new version of MWSCM.