The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) spends millions of dollars each winter assessing and monitoring the chances of hazardous roadside snow avalanches in Washington’s mountains. For that assessment, dedicated staff hand-dig snow pits, visually evaluate snow conditions, and directly assess avalanche risks to support difficult decisions to open or close roads. The objective of this project is to develop an avalanche sensor for deployment by drone on inaccessible slopes above state roadways that will provide indirect, remote, and real-time information about snow conditions more safely and cost effectively. The research team has already proved the viability of using such sensors to gather temperature, movement, and location data, with a communication range of up to 1,600 feet between them and a base station. In this project, the University of Washington’s STAR Lab will manufacture six to ten sensors for field testing and will place them on a known avalanche path in Snoqualmie Pass. The research team will test the ability of drones to accurately drop and retrieve the sensors. In addition, they will test the communication between the sensors and base station, and they will evaluate the accuracy of the collected snowpack and avalanche information and its value to WSDOT’s avalanche staff.
Principal Investigators:
Yinhai Wang, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Edward McCormack, Civil and Environmental Engineering, UW
Sponsor: WSDOT
WSDOT Technical Monitor: James Morin
WSDOT Project Manager: Doug Brodin
Scheduled completion: February 2025