Development of Surface Current Observation System using GPS Sensor Network and its Application to a Bathing Beach

The authors developed a new observation system to visualize the present status of the surface current in a bathing beach area, which utilizes GPS sensor floats and a network system that connects multiple sensors. This system can detected a real time trajectory and flow velocity of the GPS sensor floats to a computer, and can display the data on the screen. In this paper, the specification of the system and the results of its application to a bathing beach are described. In the observation, the GPS sensor float and a person having a GPS sensor was floated together and compared.