Design and instrumentation of a shore-recording wave amplitude measuring buoy

The design of a shore-recording wave amplitude measuring buoy that uses the changing geometry of its stressed but compliant mooring to determine wave heights is presented. Instrumentation is described to measure the angles of inclination and tension of the base end of the compliant mooring cable which supports the wave following buoy. Transducers, amplifiers and voltage-to-frequency converters are installed in pressure housings (at about 150 ft.). The data in the form of analog audio frequency is carried over a 1/2 mile hard wire cable to a shore station where it is converted to digital form and multiplexed on a seven track instrumentation type digital tape recorder. The computer program for data interpretation and wave-spectra results are discussed in a companion paper.