WSP06522

• File Number: 5000.125
• Description: Flood Protection Section - Pikes Peak Early Flood Warning System
• State: CO
• Basin: Arkansas
• Water Division: 2
• Date: 3/12/1986
• Author: George K Cotton
• Title: Overview of Flood Warning Systems
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Report/Study

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The hardware for remote automated data collection units (often referred
to as either data collection platforms, DCPs or remote terminal units, RTUs)
consists of a sophisticated electronic package. The basic parts in this
package include a small computer that is programmed to carry out all data
collection task, a sensor interface that converts electrical readings from the
sensors into digital signals that are manipulated by the computer, a power
supply, and stage and/or precipitation sensors themselves, A communication
link is also provided with options including telephone, line-of-site radio, and
satell ite. Typical sensors for river stage include shaft encoder or capac-
itance strip gage. Rainfall is most often measured using a tipping bucket
rain gage, The remote computer stores and on a limited basis, processes data
from the sensor, then initiates transmission of the data along with other
relevant information such as the station identification, battery level, and
communication protocols for checking transmission errors, Power requirements
for these remote units are extremely low, The transmission unit has modest
power consumption the units may be able to run on a battery with no external
source of power for six to nine months. Sites that need high power
transmissions or conduct frequent transmissions may need a secondary source of
power, in this case a small solar panel is provided.
Layout of a network of reporting data collection platforms depends on
numerous factors, The objective is to achieve a reliable network that accura-
tely samples the precipitation. A NWS method for estimating the network den-
sity is included with this paper.(8l A discussion of the sampling errors
associated with a fixed network of is given by Lindsey (9).

The Total System and Cost
The design and implementation of a complete flood-warning system consists
of a number of tasks. Early design tasks include evaluation of dominant
meteorologic and hydrologic processes, along with a concurrent evaluation of
flood response times. The completion of these tasks results in selection of
flood forecasting models and warning strategies. In general there is often a
wealth of information upon which to draw for these evaluations and the cost of
these studies should be modest. The result of these studies should be a set
of performance requirements for the flood-warning system and a basic design
layout of the system.
The cost of the actual hardware and software for the flood-warning system