FLOW (Flood Forecasting and Early Warning using Low-cost In-situ GNSS) is a collaborative project between GVL and Loughborough University. It explores how accessible GNSS technology can be used to monitor atmospheric water vapour and support more accurate, localised flood forecasting and early-warning systems.
The project evaluated four low-cost GNSS receivers against geodetic-grade reference equipment before deploying a distributed network across the university campus.
Automated data-processing workflows were developed to analyse atmospheric conditions, assess receiver performance and investigate the potential for detailed three-dimensional monitoring.
The results demonstrated strong agreement between the low-cost receivers, professional GNSS stations and established atmospheric datasets. FLOW provides valuable evidence that scalable and affordable monitoring networks could reduce reliance on costly proprietary equipment while supporting future research, education and the development of improved flood-warning systems.
