Canal inspectionBeginner
Non-Invasive Inspection of Water Canals Using Dronar
This arXiv preprint presents dronar, a custom unmanned surface vehicle that carries a consumer Lowrance sonar unit to inspect concrete water canals without draining them. In Arizona Canal field tests, the system detected sediment accumulation as depth offsets up to 15 cm versus a cleaned segment, with repeated clean runs agreeing within 7 cm. It offers utilities a lower-cost way to prioritize canal maintenance between the current four-year dry-up cycles.