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Canadian Centre For Marine Communications (CCMC) Smart Bay 3M Buoy

The Canadian Centre for Marine Communications (CCMC) received funding to start Smart Bay, a Demonstration Project in Placentia Bay located along Canada’s most eastern province of Newfoundland. The objective of the Smart Bay Project is to strengthen the technology and information base on which maritime decisions are being made by providing "Simple access by all stakeholders to information … and the safety and security of life at sea".  Located on the south coast of Newfoundland, Placentia Bay is fringed by a host of small communities, all of which rely to some extent on the adjoining waters for their livelihood. The bay is considered an environmentally sensitive area, hosting an abundant and diverse marine ecosystem.

CCMC needed an ocean monitoring platform that could reliably measure meteorological and oceanographic data parameters year round while surviving the icy waters of Placentia Bay.  In addition the system required sensors and a telemetry system robust enough to withstand freezing rain and snow yet capable of recording and sending data back to shore on regular intervals to allow fishermen, oceanographers, researchers and other mariners to make timely and important decisions at sea.

As part of the requirements for this project, CCMC specified that the monitoring platform be outfitted with a series of meteorological sensors. These included wind speed and direction, air temperature, barometric pressure, and relative humidity.  The oceanographic requirements include wave height, period and direction, current speed and direction, and a future expansion requirement for conductivity & temperature data. In addition the system needed to have an AIS (Automatic Identification System) transponder installed.  This transponder would help to improve the safety at sea by allowing vessels in or around Placentia Bay to receive a message marking the buoys’ position within the Bay. A two-way secondary telemetry system (Iridium) was also required in the event that the AIS was unavailable.  Finally, the buoy needed to be securely anchored to the bottom of the bay and withstand extreme weather, currents and waves in approximately 200 metres of water. 

View complete paper: Smart Bay Case Study ( PDF 51 KB)