A preliminary assessment of an innovative air-launched wave measurement buoy

Abstract

In this study, an air-launched buoy is designed for wave measurement. It has the advantages of both ordinary spherical wave measurement buoys and cylindrical air-launched buoys. Instead of a parachute, the buoy uses an air-brake flap that can expand to help it drop into the water safely. This also improves its wave-following characteristics compared with a simple cylindrical buoy. The buoy can also maintain the shape of a cylinder when stored and transported. In addition, an integration algorithm for wave measurement is proposed based on a micro-electro mechanical system accelerometer. Owing to the interference caused by the accelerometer, the proposed wave measurement algorithm aims to decrease the errors of existing quadratic integration, thereby controlling low-frequency noise components. The velocity of the buoy is obtained by low-frequency attenuation integration, while the displacement is obtained by polynomial fitting integration. The experimental results show that the measured wave data is similar to those measured by a wave height gauge in a multifunction wave basin. The accuracy is within the allowable error range compared with the data obtained by ordinary wave measurement buoys in the ocean.