Herman Martens Meyer

• Lande, Øystein; Meyer, Herman Martens; Dreyer, Lars Willas; Rabault, Jean; Krzywkowski, Théo & Jensen, Atle (2026). Feasibility Study of an Ultra-Low-Cost 3D-Printed Wave Buoy for Water Wave Measurement. Water Waves. ISSN 2523-367X. doi: 10.1007/s42286-026-00153-w. Full text in Research Archive Show summary

  This paper presents a feasibility study of an ultra-low-cost wave buoy for measuring water waves, built from a 3D-printed hull and an off-the-shelf data logger with an integrated MEMS inertial measurement unit. The buoy records continuously and carries no telemetry, which reduces the average power consumption to 4.7 mA, so that two D-cell batteries sustain more than 6 months of sampling at 100 Hz. A custom firmware stores the raw sensor data in binary form with a GPS-disciplined UTC time base, and the surface elevation is reconstructed in postprocessing through orientation estimation, removal of the gravity component, adaptive band selection, and double integration. The validation is organized so that each stage isolates a single source of error. Under pure translation, where the orientation of the sensor is constant, the measured acceleration amplitude equals the target on average and three sensors agree with one another to within 1–2%. Under pure rotation about an axis through the sensor, where the true vertical displacement is zero, the reconstructed angle agrees with an exact reference to within 1.6%. The stationary noise of the sensor is propagated through the processing chain to give the smallest resolvable excursion as a function of period, and the response of the hull is computed by a radiation–diffraction analysis and confirmed by free-decay tests. The complete system is then tested in nine irregular sea states in a wave basin, with peak periods from 1 to 3 s and steepness from 0.011 to 0.033. The reconstructed motion reproduces the optically tracked motion of the buoy closely in every sea state. Compared with a fixed wave probe, the buoy records lower crests and deeper troughs, and the difference grows with steepness, which reflects the response of a freely floating body to the wave field rather than an error of the instrument. The total materials cost is below $200, and we conclude that 3D printing combined with low-cost MEMS sensors provides a viable route to affordable wave measurement, in particular for sheltered and nearshore waters where the wave periods are short.

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