Maker Buoy Ocean Current Tracking Project Launches Populated Circuit Board Option

The Maker Buoy project, which designs and produces low-cost drifting buoys based on the Arduino platform, has announced the launch of a fully-populated circuit board — allowing anyone to get started with the technology behind its ocean-tracking devices.

"The idea for an Arduino-based drifting buoy arose from a fascination with the Internet of Things applied to the ocean," the team behind the project explain. "In 2016 we deployed an Arduino-based buoy with GPS and an Iridium transceiver off Norfolk, VA. Amazingly, that buoy lasted over two years and travelled over 9000 miles. Since then, several more capable buoys have been deployed. The current Maker Buoy design is a descendant of those earlier buoys, but smaller, cheaper, and easier to construct. This design is currently in use providing valuable information on ocean currents."

The Maker Buoy project is now providing that design as a populated circuit board, enabling those who can't splash out on a fully-assembled model.

The populated circuit board, however, is only part of what you need: while it includes a watchdog timer, status LED, and circuitry to drive a flashing strobe for safety, the board only becomes functional when paired with an Adafruit Feather M0 microcontroller, Rockblock Iridium satellite modem, and a GPS receiver. For deployment at sea, a solar panel and specialised waterproof housing is also required.

The populated Maker Buoy PCBs are available from the project shop priced at $45, while bare PCBs without components are priced at $20. A DIY kit, which includes all components required to build a fully-functional drifting buoy and begin tracking ocean currents, is priced at $600; a ready-to-go fully-assembled version, meanwhile, costs $725. Use of the Iridium Short Data Burst (SDB) satellite communication service adds a $13 monthly fee and $0.06 per 50-byte message cost.