Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals
The amount of water contained in a snowpack, known as snow water equivalent (SWE), is used to anticipate the amount of snowmelt that could supply hydroelectric power plants, fill water reservoirs, or sometimes cause flooding. This work introduces a wireless, non-destructive method for monitoring the...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:25d42fc5938d4bf5b8c90cbd625ad0e5 2023-08-27T04:12:20+02:00 Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals M. Le Breton É. Larose L. Baillet Y. Lejeune A. van Herwijnen 2023-08-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 https://doaj.org/article/25d42fc5938d4bf5b8c90cbd625ad0e5 EN eng Copernicus Publications https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3137/2023/tc-17-3137-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/25d42fc5938d4bf5b8c90cbd625ad0e5 The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3137-3156 (2023) Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 article 2023 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 2023-08-06T00:34:49Z The amount of water contained in a snowpack, known as snow water equivalent (SWE), is used to anticipate the amount of snowmelt that could supply hydroelectric power plants, fill water reservoirs, or sometimes cause flooding. This work introduces a wireless, non-destructive method for monitoring the SWE of a dry snowpack. The system is based on an array of low-cost passive radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, placed under the snow and read at 865–868 MHz by a reader located above the snow. The SWE was deduced from the phase delay of the tag's backscattered response, which increases with the amount of snow traversed by the radiofrequency wave. Measurements taken in the laboratory, during snowfall events and over 4.5 months at the Col de Porte test field, were consistent with reference measurements of cosmic rays, precipitation and snow pits. SWE accuracy was ±18 kg m −2 throughout the season (averaged over three tags) and ±3 kg m −2 during dry snowfall events (averaged over data from two antennas and four or five tags). The overall uncertainty compared to snow weighing was ±10 % for snow density in the range 61–390 kg m −3 . The main limitations observed were measurement bias caused by wet snow (biased data were discarded) and the need for phase unwrapping. The method has a number of advantages: it allows for continuous measurement (1 min sampling rate in dry snow), it can provide complementary measurement of tag temperature, it does not require the reception of external data, and it opens the way towards spatialized measurements. The results presented also demonstrate that RFID propagation-based sensing can remotely monitor the permittivity of a low-loss dielectric material with scientific-level accuracy. Article in Journal/Newspaper The Cryosphere Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles The Cryosphere 17 8 3137 3156 |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
spellingShingle |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 M. Le Breton É. Larose L. Baillet Y. Lejeune A. van Herwijnen Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
topic_facet |
Environmental sciences GE1-350 Geology QE1-996.5 |
description |
The amount of water contained in a snowpack, known as snow water equivalent (SWE), is used to anticipate the amount of snowmelt that could supply hydroelectric power plants, fill water reservoirs, or sometimes cause flooding. This work introduces a wireless, non-destructive method for monitoring the SWE of a dry snowpack. The system is based on an array of low-cost passive radiofrequency identification (RFID) tags, placed under the snow and read at 865–868 MHz by a reader located above the snow. The SWE was deduced from the phase delay of the tag's backscattered response, which increases with the amount of snow traversed by the radiofrequency wave. Measurements taken in the laboratory, during snowfall events and over 4.5 months at the Col de Porte test field, were consistent with reference measurements of cosmic rays, precipitation and snow pits. SWE accuracy was ±18 kg m −2 throughout the season (averaged over three tags) and ±3 kg m −2 during dry snowfall events (averaged over data from two antennas and four or five tags). The overall uncertainty compared to snow weighing was ±10 % for snow density in the range 61–390 kg m −3 . The main limitations observed were measurement bias caused by wet snow (biased data were discarded) and the need for phase unwrapping. The method has a number of advantages: it allows for continuous measurement (1 min sampling rate in dry snow), it can provide complementary measurement of tag temperature, it does not require the reception of external data, and it opens the way towards spatialized measurements. The results presented also demonstrate that RFID propagation-based sensing can remotely monitor the permittivity of a low-loss dielectric material with scientific-level accuracy. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
M. Le Breton É. Larose L. Baillet Y. Lejeune A. van Herwijnen |
author_facet |
M. Le Breton É. Larose L. Baillet Y. Lejeune A. van Herwijnen |
author_sort |
M. Le Breton |
title |
Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
title_short |
Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
title_full |
Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
title_fullStr |
Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
title_full_unstemmed |
Monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of RFID signals |
title_sort |
monitoring snow water equivalent using the phase of rfid signals |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2023 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 https://doaj.org/article/25d42fc5938d4bf5b8c90cbd625ad0e5 |
genre |
The Cryosphere |
genre_facet |
The Cryosphere |
op_source |
The Cryosphere, Vol 17, Pp 3137-3156 (2023) |
op_relation |
https://tc.copernicus.org/articles/17/3137/2023/tc-17-3137-2023.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0416 https://doaj.org/toc/1994-0424 doi:10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 1994-0416 1994-0424 https://doaj.org/article/25d42fc5938d4bf5b8c90cbd625ad0e5 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-17-3137-2023 |
container_title |
The Cryosphere |
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17 |
container_issue |
8 |
container_start_page |
3137 |
op_container_end_page |
3156 |
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