New plug and play smart buoy system from Hydrosphere and Rock Seven

Hydrosphere will show its latest Buoy Sentinel at this year’s Seawork exhibition. Developed in conjunction with iridium partner Rock Seven, the Buoy Sentinel tracks and monitors moored or free bloating buoys or any outdoor asset which needs to be tracked.

It has a built-in GPS receiver which will derive the position of the buoy, course and speed with actual position checked against a pre-stored position and permissible offset distance.

The system uses the RockFleet vessel tracking and satellite data system and can be configured to trigger automatic alerts to the shore if set parameters such as a buoy moving too far off-station or the onboard light failing.

Up-to-date position and battery voltage status is provided at user-defined intervals to ensure optimal operation, reducing time and money spent on buoy maintenance.

The RockFleet system attaches to the optional expansion port on a Vega VLB-67 light unit, upgrading the buoys to ‘smart buoys’.

Power is taken from the buoy’s internal battery and external solar cells. There is also a built-in battery backup unit which will allow it to operate for up to two months autonomously even if the buoy power completely fails - depending on transmission rate and settings.

“The system is designed to quickly integrate new time and cost saving capabilities to data and navigation buoys,” explained John Caskey, Hydrosphere MD. “Considering the low initial investment and operational costs, buoy owners will quickly experience savings simply by being able to reduce the management and number of maintenance visits a buoy needs.”

The RockFleet based smart-buoy solution uses the Iridium satellite network, specifically the low-cost Short Burst Data service, to provide to provide the bi-directional communication with the shore with global coverage.

Data is sent back to be reviewed using a web-based mapping and management system or on a user’s own internal systems via the open application programme interface developed by Hydrosphere and Rock Seven.

The Buoy Sentinel is available in two versions – BS3-1 and BS3-2.

BS3-1 has with a cable to an external power supply and input from an external alarm such as a navigation light failure.

BS3-2 is similar to BS3-1 but also has an external interface allowing monitoring of the external power supply and connection to external devices such as a compact Meteorological Station.

In addition the system allows remote monitoring of parameters such as wind speed and direction, air pressure, air temperature and relative humidity.

Communication to the end user can be by email and or SMS. A more advanced control and display system can be used from a PC or smart phone.