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

The authors have been working on the support of the fishery industry using the information and communication technology. A water temperature observation network is proposed for supporting aquacultures, and a ubiquitous buoy system developed for this purpose is described. The ubiquitous buoy system was created by leveraging ubiquitous sensing technology with water temperature observation buoys that can be executed for $1,000, a figure designed to meet the demands of scallop cultivation fishermen. Since there are no base stations and gateways in marine environments, we selected mobile phones for the Internet connection to send the water temperature data by email. The ubiquitous buoys developed are light weight and of a compact design, and can be easily installed in marine fishery environments. Furthermore, the economic cost allows the buoys to be used in multiple point observation systems. Consequently, not only does the system allow water temperature observations in real time, but it can also be used in future applications to build water temperature observation networks using multiple ubiquitous buoys that share water temperature data and allow analysis of multipoint, multi-layer water temperature data, and thus facilitate efforts to visualize the makeup of water temperature distributions below the surface. Forty ubiquitous buoys have been placed in scallop cultivation regions along the coast of Hokkaido, and the water temperature data is starting to be used.