Rising sea levels and increased storm events leave many areas around the country more vulnerable to accelerating rates of coastal erosion and land loss, resulting in the need for nation-wide coastal…

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded a $300,000 Small Business Innovation Research Program project grant to Adaptive Management and Engineering, LLC on September 1, 2022 to develop an Instrumented Grade Stake system. The system will utilize supervisory control and data acquisition technology to provide real-time data on the type and rate of dredge material flow into disposal sites, as well as calculate field measurements from multiple points. This will help bridge gaps between dredging project designs and construction by accounting for variability in dredge fill. By improving dredging management with more accurate real-time data, the goal is to reduce costs by as much as 10%, which could result in savings of over $2.2 billion according to estimates from The Water Institute. The NOAA SBIR program aims to stimulate technological innovation to meet federal research needs and increase private sector commercialization of innovations.

Rising sea levels and increased storm events leave many areas around the country more vulnerable to accelerating rates of coastal erosion and land loss, resulting in the need for nation-wide coastal restoration initiatives to protect our infrastructure. Dredging and beneficial use of dredge material is a major component that helps maintain and protect the coast. However, there are numerous sites where excess dredge fill (DF) is placed due to lack of real-time data accounting for DF variation. To bridge the GAP between design and construction, adaptive management and engineering (AME) is developing the instrumented grade stake (IGS). Theis a supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) system that addresses (a) the type and rate of flow of material into DF sites in real time, and (b) calculation of field values at the site from multiple points of measurement. According to the water institute, just a 10% reduction in the cost of dredging would result in $2.2 billion dollars save