The SonTek RS5, released in August 2020, is the newest member of the RiverSurveyor family of acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs). The RS5 builds upon the acoustic technology developed for the RiverSurveyor M9/S5 while adding expanded capability through its Broadband transducers, self-resolving Pulse-coherent pinging, and creative design to achieve the best data possible for discharge measurements.

This Technical Note introduces certain technical aspects of the RS5 and highlights its capabilities in the field by showing data comparisons using other ADCP systems at a wide variety of different sites.