1ST TEST IN GREENPORT

What a disaser... First i wasn't sure the calk will dry on time (and it didn't), then i started worrying that the usb cable wasn't waterproof. Then I had problems triggering the hobo sensor, plus it was so sunny outside i couldnt see anything at all on the computer screen... Then i lost the boat and my computer battery died in the middle of logging. I had to go back home, leave it plugged and run another test. I just ordered a new battery so maybe i can go again next week, but the hobo logger i used in the boat is on backorder until the 20th of April... what a bummer.
Some of my equipment for the trip...

I programmed the HOBO G pendant to start at command.

When it started logging, i secured it inside a toy boat and set it in the water.



I now have learnt not to underestimate the undercurrent...

And this is the last I saw of it... probably still logging somewhere.
It was programmed to log for 13 hours!!!!

Then I realized that the captain wasn't on the boat: Where the f@#$ is your boat, mister?

With some disappointment and fear, i had made a couple of vessels for the Arduino board, the ADXL330 and the GPS receiver. Hoping it will stand the sea salt water. Glue gunning ended up being the best option for sealing the cable hole.


So here it goes, inside a watertight container:

As a first test (mostly to see how it would float and if it was balanced) i set it in the shore, but the tool ideally will go in deep sea once i have access to a boat and it is finally wireless.


And yes, it is water proof.


After recharging my computer battery, i decided to go run some more tests closer to the docks. I placed the Tsunameter on a floating platform to see if i could see a correspondance between the numbers and the wave movement.

At first i programmed the Arduino to run a simple average and a standard deviation reading. So i looked at the data in Arduino serial monitor:

Then I reprogrammed it to spit out the reading from the accelerometer, untouched, and the GPS data:

In Max:

I only had a chance to test the hydrophone in a couple of locations, but i didn't have a chance to record it since my computer battery died.

I only tested the DolphinEar because it was the only one i could listen to directly instead of running it through the amp and then quicktime or audacity.


I haven't looked at the numbers yet, and since i didn't have a working depth sounder i am not sure how much math i can do at this point in time. But a few things came out of this experience:
- the boat encasing was a brilliant idea, it worked so well it sailed alone. So i ordered another logger since the visual graphing software they have is pretty useful. It should have looked like this:

this came from the tests i ran the day before.
- the Tsunameter device really needs to go wireless and i need to attach both to fishing wires in order to retrieve the devices. If someone wants to help me figure out Bluesmirf modules...
- i wish i could run eventually tests in deep sea so that i can set a threshold for it to understand the different qalities of the wave families.
- the hydrophone was really noisy, but i am assuming it was partly because of the fact that it was in shallow waters. Once set in the water from the dock it sounded clearer but it was still picking up a lot of above water sounds. More tests need to be done to make sense of the hydrophone functions.
- I need the depth sounder in order to understand the wave height. I am still not sure how to calculate the wavelenght which is what really differs between wind generated waves and tsunami waves.
