A method for measuring velocity and depth of water flowing in a channel, comprising: transmitting, using a transmitter, directed energy comprising a single energy beam slant-wise toward a surface of water in a channel producing off said surface a plurality of reflections, wherein the transmitting comprises modulating a frequency associated with the single energy beam; detecting, at a receiver, received signals from the plurality of reflections of the transmitted energy beam; characterized in that the method further comprises: operatively coupling each of transmit and receive antennas, to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) operating in both continuous wave (CW) and frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) modes; controlling the voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) by means of ramping phase locked loops (PLL) producing pulse trains comprising a set of linear FM chirps; controlling the ramping phase locked loops (PLL) to produce, alternately, frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) chirped transmit signals and continuous wave (CW) signals which are transmitted alternately on the same energy beam, whereby the continuous wave (CW) signals are used in measuring the water surface velocity and the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) signals are used in measuring the water depth. transmitting, using a transmitter, directed energy comprising a single energy beam slant-wise toward a surface of water in a channel producing off said surface a plurality of reflections, wherein the transmitting comprises modulating a frequency associated with the single energy beam; detecting, at a receiver, received signals from the plurality of reflections of the transmitted energy beam; characterized in that the method further comprises: operatively coupling each of transmit and receive antennas, to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) operating in both continuous wave (CW) and frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) modes; controlling the voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) by means of ramping phase locked loops (PLL) producing pulse trains comprising a set of linear FM chirps; controlling the ramping phase locked loops (PLL) to produce, alternately, frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) chirped transmit signals and continuous wave (CW) signals which are transmitted alternately on the same energy beam, whereby the continuous wave (CW) signals are used in measuring the water surface velocity and the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) signals are used in measuring the water depth. operatively coupling each of transmit and receive antennas, to a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) operating in both continuous wave (CW) and frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) modes; controlling the voltage controlled oscillators (VCO) by means of ramping phase locked loops (PLL) producing pulse trains comprising a set of linear FM chirps; controlling the ramping phase locked loops (PLL) to produce, alternately, frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) chirped transmit signals and continuous wave (CW) signals which are transmitted alternately on the same energy beam, whereby the continuous wave (CW) signals are used in measuring the water surface velocity and the frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) signals are used in measuring the water depth. <EOS>