The wave-powered adaptable monitoring package : hardware design , installation , and deployment

In October, 2018 the BOLT Lifesaver, a BOLT-class wave energy converter developed by Fred. Olsen Ltd., was deployed at the US Navy’s Wave Energy Test Site in Kane’ohe, Hawaii. The Lifesaver is an autonomous system, with no cable to shore. For a full year prior to the deployment, researchers and industry partners at the University of Washington, University of Hawaii, Fred. Olsen Ltd., Sea Engineering, and WiBotic Inc. collaborated on the development of an autonomous wave-powered environmental monitoring system. The Lifesaver was instrumented with an Adaptable Monitoring Package (AMP), as well as an on board control computer and power handling system. The AMP instrumentation suite included stereo-optical cameras, an acoustic camera, a multibeam sonar, two hydrophones, and a demonstration unit from WiBotic that could allow for wireless recharging of an underwater vehicle. At full power, the instrumentation and recharge system draws 600 W of power, which is relatively high in oceanographic terms. As a first of its kind deployment, this system demonstrates the transformative potential of wave energy to power oceanographic instrumentation and extend the endurance of autonomous underwater vehicles.