Page 37: of Marine Technology Magazine (November 2015)

breaking data of speeds up to 200 kbps between nodes in a mesh network 200 metres apart below the water.

The ranch uses a variety of remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) to help in underwater inspections throughout the site. A larger ROV inspects infrastructure integrity and col- lects scienti? c data, while a mini ROV is used for the in- spection of the cultivation gear and anchors for maintenance, as well as mussel crops for growth and marine biofouling characteristics.

Above the water, Catalina Sea Ranch is developing its NO-

MAD buoy as a distinctive, one of its kind, IoT platform. The

NOMAD is ? tted with an array of sensors to collect bathy- metric environmental data including temperature, salinity, pH, dissolved oxygen and phytoplankton density. The raw data is transmitted to computers on-board the buoy, allow- ing researchers and operation staff to quickly process and sort the data, before sending the valuable information back to Verizon’s cellular tower.

Cruver and the team work closely with research institutions by providing platforms, such as the NOMAD, with the capa- bility to transmit real-time automated data into the Internet cloud. By leveraging Verizon’s network, the Catalina Sea

Ranch intends to develop a proprietary automated offshore aquaculture monitoring system, for producing real-time data available for collaborative and transparent web-based scien- ti? c analysis.

“No one has ever used a cellular network to transmit that kind of signal from six-miles offshore. We started working with the CEO of Verizon as he is an advocate of sustain- ability, which resonates with our project.” Explains Cruver, “Not only are today’s sensors changing but the networks are changing. There is no one in the marine sector exploiting

IoT technologies. We want to provide the platform for devel- oping the latest innovative solutions for offshore monitoring and become leaders in ‘Marine Big Data’.” www.marinetechnologynews.com

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