SeaView Systems’ SVS-603 Wave Sensor Aids Great Lakes Buoy System

SeaView Systems, Inc., a leading provider of custom ROVs, underwater survey services and marine technologies, and LimnoTech, a leading environmental and water resource company, announce the large-scale deployment of SeaView’s SVS-603 wave sensor to aid enhanced wave monitoring in a network of Great Lakes buoys supporting real-time marine data collection.

A Tidas buoy typical of those used by LimnoTech in Lake Erie near Cleveland

LimnoTech owns, services, and deploys a network of seven nearshore buoys in Lake Michigan and Lake Erie in cooperation with the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS), NOAA National Weather Service, American Electric Power and local communities including South Haven (MI), Holland (MI), Toledo (OH) and Cleveland (OH). “This buoy network is extremely popular with both recreational and commercial users in the Great Lakes and generates millions of data requests each year for up-to-date, accurate observations of marine conditions,” said LimnoTech’s Ed Verhamme. “These observations support the supply of clean drinking water for nearly three million residents in Ohio by closely monitoring lake conditions for water treatment plant managers.”

Comparison data produced by the SVS-603 and a bottom-mounted AWAC sensor

The SVS-603 enables a new range of wave sensing applications through its compact footprint, low power consumption and high accuracy MEMS-based design. The sensor can be mounted on a variety of platforms that include a range of buoy hull designs/size and autonomous vehicles (AVs).

The unpackaged SVS-603 wave sensor board

“After careful comparison with a bottom mounted AWAC sensor, SeaView’s SVS-603 has been shown to be accurate, reliable and economical and has motivated us to upgrade the wave sensors in all of our buoys for the 2018 season,” said Verhamme. “Our clients and customers have high expectations for accuracy and reliability and the SVS-603 allows us to provide accurate, up-to-date measurements of wave conditions.”

“SeaView Systems continues to push forward the capabilities of wave sensing using the latest electronic sensor capabilities as well as our own algorithmic advances" said Dr. Timothy Crandle of SeaView. “We are excited by the broad range of applications that can be supported with the SVS-603 with its state-of-the-art MEMS sensors, low power consumption, and highly configurable outputs and models.”