NC State Device Monitors Floods, Droughts

North Carolina has seen its fair share of both flooding and drought over the past several years. One of the problems has been getting accurate information, especially in rural areas. Francios Birgand is a biological engineering researcher at N.C. State. He led the development of the 'Gauge-Cam'. He says he and his team wanted to explore the possibility of using wireless imaging technologies to help track water flows in streams and rivers.

Francios Birgand: "It actually has an embedded cell phone and takes a picture every 5 minutes or however you want it sends it through a cell network to a server and the server automatically takes a picture and analyzes it and sends it and posts the image and the number."
Birgand says the next step is to develop an app for smartphones.