Coarse woody debris as a structural element in rivers is controversial. The positive aspects from an ecological point of view are in contrast to the negative aspects from the point of view of the transport infrastructure, flood protection systems and land use. Coarse woody debris brought in as part of renaturation projects is therefore particularly in the public eye. However, there are no reliable data collections on this. Therefore, in a first step, a prototypical infrastructure for recording the mobility of coarse woody debris should be designed and developed. This article presents the initial situation and the chosen approach. Based on a requirements analysis, the conception, development and testing of a prototypical sensor platform took place.