Accumulated rainfall estimation using maximum attenuation of microwave radio signal

Jonatan Ostrometzky, Hagit Messer

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

Abstract

The use of special-purpose wireless microwave links (MLs) in order to monitor rainfall is well understood. However, the use of existing MLs, which are part of the cellular communication networks backhaul, presents new signal processing challenges. Together with the exciting monitoring opportunities that lie in the large number and ubiquitousness of such MLs, the opportunistic use of the measurements is determined by the protocols used by the cellular providers, whose purpose is reliable communication rather than environmental monitoring. To minimize the bandwidth and storage resources, typical commercial transmission protocols log the Received Signal Level (RSL) measurements of a microwave signal at 15 minute intervals, where only the maximum and the minimum values of the RSL for every 15 minute period are logged. While past studies dealt with this non-linear pre-processing of the RSL measurements in an ad-hoc manner, we present a systematic approach for estimating the accumulated rainfall during moderate-to-heavy storms from the actual RSL measurements, that is -from the sequence of the minimal values of the RSL (which correspond to the maximal attenuation levels) in 15 minute intervals. Using the extreme value theory we find an approximated Maximum Likelihood estimate of the accumulated rainfall. We apply the suggested technique to actual data and we show that it provides more accurate results than the alternatives.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publication2014 IEEE 8th Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop, SAM 2014
PublisherIEEE Computer Society
Pages193-196
Number of pages4
ISBN (Print)9781479914814
DOIs
StatePublished - 2014
Externally publishedYes
Event2014 IEEE 8th Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop, SAM 2014 - A Coruna, Spain
Duration: 22 Jun 201425 Jun 2014

Publication series

NameProceedings of the IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop
ISSN (Electronic)2151-870X

Conference

Conference2014 IEEE 8th Sensor Array and Multichannel Signal Processing Workshop, SAM 2014
Country/TerritorySpain
CityA Coruna
Period22/06/1425/06/14

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