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NC State Device Monitors Floods, Droughts

WUNC | By Catherine Brand

Published November 2, 2011 at 11:09 AM EDT

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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.

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Catherine Brand

Fed up with the frigid winters of her native state, Catherine was lured to North Carolina in 2006. She grew up in Wisconsin where she spent much of her time making music and telling stories. Prior to joining WUNC, Catherine hosted All Things Considered and classical music at Wisconsin Public Radio. She got her start hosting late-nights and producing current events talk shows for the station's Ideas Network. She later became a fill-in talk show host and recorded books for WPR's popular daily program, Chapter A Day.

See stories by Catherine Brand