Comparative Evaluation of Low-Cost LiDAR and Ultrasonic Sensors for River Level Monitoring

• Klaus Dieter Kupper UNIVALI https://orcid.org/0009-0005-3927-1670
• Jordan Passinato Sausen UNIVALI https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6847-4697
• Mauricio de Campos UNIVALI https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8691-2913

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/wcama.2026.21975

Resumo

Flood monitoring in data-scarce tributaries remains limited by the high cost of conventional hydrometric infrastructure. This paper presents a comparative evaluation of three low-cost non-contact sensors, two LiDAR and one ultrasonic, for river level measurement, validated through controlled laboratory tests and real-world bridge deployments under contrasting weather conditions. Results reveal three key findings: (1) direct solar radiation reduces LiDAR availability by up to 67%, with severity depending on sensor design; (2) wide-angle line-beam optics provide up to 8× improvement in measurement stability over dynamic water surfaces compared to narrow spot-beam configurations; and (3) water turbidity confirms improved LiDAR accuracy. ISO 4373:2022 benchmarking shows that the ultrasonic sensor achieves consistent availability across conditions, while LiDAR sensors require careful design-level selection based on deployment environment.

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