Beidou-powered monitors shield Hubei reservoirs as flood season peaks
2025-07-17 20:07:40
By Zhou Ziheng.
As the Yangtze River basin enters its plum-rain flood peak, a network of Beidou-guided sensors developed by Hubei Yilineng Technology Co., Ltd. are watching over dozens of reservoirs in the region, alerting engineers of water level shifts undetectable by the human eye.
Founded in 2002, Yilineng has grown into a national high-tech firm that now supplies 80 percent of Hubei’s small reservoirs with its water-level gauges and deformation monitors.
Each unit is crowned by a Beidou receiver the size of a coffee-cup lid. By comparing real-time satellite fixes against benchmark coordinates, it detects dam deformation down to one millimeter.
Tanping Reservoir in Xingshan County, an aging dam built in 1987, received digital upgrades in 2022 when Yilineng installed a Beidou receiver and bubble-type water-level gauges.
Zheng Huixiang, director of the integration department at Hubei Yilineng Technology, said, “Changes invisible to inspectors show up instantly on our dashboard.”
Jia Daibin, an inspector for the Tanping Reservoir in Xingshan County, once checked the reservoir on foot, but now his phone shows results if the Beidou sensor spots any anomaly. He said, “Through a combination of online and offline methods, we now have dynamic monitoring of the reservoir’s water levels and scientific dispatching.”
Inside Yilineng’s intelligent workshop, technicians are testing a new batch of intelligent bubble water-level gauges and telemetry terminals bound for reservoirs nationwide. The company expects to extend its network to major flood-control sites across the country.
Fu Wei and Liu Hui contributed to this story.
As the Yangtze River basin enters its plum-rain flood peak, a network of Beidou-guided sensors developed by Hubei Yilineng Technology Co., Ltd. are watching over dozens of reservoirs in the region, alerting engineers of water level shifts undetectable by the human eye.
Founded in 2002, Yilineng has grown into a national high-tech firm that now supplies 80 percent of Hubei’s small reservoirs with its water-level gauges and deformation monitors.
Each unit is crowned by a Beidou receiver the size of a coffee-cup lid. By comparing real-time satellite fixes against benchmark coordinates, it detects dam deformation down to one millimeter.
Tanping Reservoir in Xingshan County, an aging dam built in 1987, received digital upgrades in 2022 when Yilineng installed a Beidou receiver and bubble-type water-level gauges.
Zheng Huixiang, director of the integration department at Hubei Yilineng Technology, said, “Changes invisible to inspectors show up instantly on our dashboard.”
Jia Daibin, an inspector for the Tanping Reservoir in Xingshan County, once checked the reservoir on foot, but now his phone shows results if the Beidou sensor spots any anomaly. He said, “Through a combination of online and offline methods, we now have dynamic monitoring of the reservoir’s water levels and scientific dispatching.”
Inside Yilineng’s intelligent workshop, technicians are testing a new batch of intelligent bubble water-level gauges and telemetry terminals bound for reservoirs nationwide. The company expects to extend its network to major flood-control sites across the country.
Fu Wei and Liu Hui contributed to this story.
