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Developing a Water Temperature Observation Network based on a Ubiquitous Buoy System to Support Aquacultures

Masaaki Wada1, Katsumori Hatanaka2, and Masashi Toda2
1. Future University-Hakodate/School of Systems Information Science, Hakodate, Japan
2. Tokyo University of Agriculture/Department of International Bio-Business Studies, Tokyo, Japan
2. Future University-Hakodate/School of Systems Information Science, Hakodate, Japan

Abstract—The authors have been working on the support ofthe fishery industry using the information andcommunication technology. A water temperatureobservation network is proposed for supportingaquacultures, and a ubiquitous buoy system developed forthis purpose is described. The ubiquitous buoy system wascreated by leveraging ubiquitous sensing technology withwater temperature observation buoys that can be executedfor $1,000, a figure designed to meet the demands of scallopcultivation fishermen. Since there are no base stations andgateways in marine environments, we selected mobilephones for the Internet connection to send the watertemperature data by email. The ubiquitous buoys developedare light weight and of a compact design, and can be easilyinstalled in marine fishery environments. Furthermore, theeconomic cost allows the buoys to be used in multiple pointobservation systems. Consequently, not only does the systemallow water temperature observations in real time, but itcan also be used in future applications to build watertemperature observation networks using multipleubiquitous buoys that share water temperature data andallow analysis of multipoint, multi-layer water temperaturedata, and thus facilitate efforts to visualize the makeup ofwater temperature distributions below the surface. Fortyubiquitous buoys have been placed in scallop cultivationregions along the coast of Hokkaido, and the watertemperature data is starting to be used.

Index Terms—Sensor Network System, Buoy, Aquaculture,Low-Power Sensor Node, Mobile Phone

Cite: Masaaki Wada, Katsumori Hatanaka and Masashi Toda, "Developing a Water Temperature Observation Network based on a Ubiquitous Buoy System to Support Aquacultures," Journal of Communications, vol. 3, no.5, pp.2-11, 2008.