Slope Stability Monitoring – Technology Selection
Guide
Step 1 – Define Scale of Monitoring
- ■ Large regional area (10–100s km²)? → Satellite InSAR
- ■ Single slope, mine, dam, road cutting? → Go to Step 2
Step 2 – Assess Urgency of Risk
- ■■ Immediate risk of collapse / fast failures (seconds–minutes)? → Doppler Radar (e.g.,
GroundProbe RGR-Velox)
- ■ Progressive deformation (hours–days)? → GB-InSAR for real-time, mm-level monitoring
Step 3 – Consider Terrain & Vegetation
- ■ Rocky, bare slopes / man-made structures (mines, cuttings, urban slopes): Radar or PS-InSAR
work well
- ■ Forested / vegetated terrain: Use IoT subsurface sensors (tilt, moisture, piezometers) +
SBAS-InSAR if coherence allows
Step 4 – Evaluate Accessibility & Power
- ■ Remote, hard-to-access sites: Satellite InSAR + IoT low-power wireless sensors
- ■ Accessible with infrastructure (mines, highways): GB-InSAR or Doppler radar + IoT
Step 5 – Define Monitoring Objective
- ■ Mapping and identifying creeping slopes (baseline studies): InSAR
- ■ Engineering control & construction safety (tunnels, highways): Radar + IoT
- ■ Hydrological influence (rainfall, pore pressure): IoT sensors (piezometers, rain gauges,
tiltmeters)
- ■ Emergency response (landslide-prone zones): Portable radar + IoT + satellite alerts
Simplified Decision Path:
- Need wide-area mapping? → InSAR
- Need real-time local early warning? → GB-InSAR
- Need fast-collapse detection? → Doppler Radar
- Need subsurface data (water/strain)? → IoT sensors
- Best reliability? → Hybrid: InSAR (regional) + Radar (local) + IoT (ground truthing)
