Practicalities and possibilities for including wave sensing capabilities on Great Lakes Buoys

Session: Smart Lakes: Real-Time Monitoring, Networking, and Analytics Across the Great Lakes (3)

Timothy Crandle, SeaView Systems, [email protected]
Edward Celkis, SeaView Systems Inc., [email protected]
Marla Isenstein, SeaView Systems Inc., [email protected]
Ed Verhamme, LimnoTech, [email protected]

Abstract

The increasing accuracy, power efficiency, performance, and features of Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) sensors have enabled them to be used for wave sensing applications that would have been impractical with previous electro-mechanical systems.

The small form factor and extreme low power budget offered by these sensors have made practical a new class of smaller, smarter, solar powered buoys that are broadening their potential from scientific to recreational applications which are often driven by local requirements.

The combination of these advances are embodied in the SVS-603 wave sensor from SeaView Systems, which has been used extensively in the Great Lakes and beyond. In one usage example, the South Haven Weather Buoy, maintained by Limnotech, provides wave height, wind speed, water temperature, and webcam images from April through October. Observations from the buoy were requested over 500,000 times in 2018.

This paper will present practical experiences with the use of these sensors for a range of buoy hulls (and autonomous vehicles) and explore the possibilities and implications of this technology (based on experience including Great Lakes deployments and others) as well as presenting considerations for using these sensors to retrofit existing buoy hulls that might not have been designed for wave measurements.