Instrumentation and Data acquisition system of wave powered navigational buoy

Wave powered navigational buoy is an ocean renewable energy based off-grid device developed by National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), India which can be used in ports/harbours as a navigational aid as well as can provide local oceanographic data in real time and has been demonstrated successfully in open sea off Chennai. The buoy houses wind, water current, location and temperature sensors for oceanographic measurements and also other instruments for monitoring power performance of the navigational buoy. The offshore instrumentation, data acquisition and communication is a challenge and a state of art system was developed for this purpose. This paper presents the configuration of instrumentation system of the buoy, embedded controller architecture and GSM based data transmission system for oceanographic data collection and data assessment carried out during the open sea trials. During the open sea trial, measured oceanographic data were transmitted to port authorities on hourly basis. Data were found to be useful for local assessment of the environment besides serving as guidance for vessel entry and exit to port. These smart features coupled with its all weather operation capability of the wave powered navigational buoy provide an excellent alternative to conventional solar powered navigational buoy.