Wave Energy Harvesting Buoy for Communications at Speed and Depth and Distributed Sensor Networks

Mikros Systems Corporation addresses the need for current and future buoy systems used by the United States Navy’s submarine fleet to increase situational awareness and battle group integration by enabling Communications at Speed and Depth (CSD) and through Distributed Sensor Networks (DSN). Mikros proposes a system solution consisting of small buoys that harvest energy from both ocean waves and sunlight. The proposed system utilizes wave energy harvesting technology currently under development by Ocean Power Technologies, Inc. (OPT), coupled with a small array of solar cells. This dual-technology approach should provide full communications capability at nearly all ocean locations in the world (i.e. at high latitude locations where waves are energetic and at near equatorial locations where they are not). The Mikros team’s solution, based on a unique wave energy harvesting technology, addresses the issues associated with CSD and DSN while exceeding the power generation requirements set forth in the solicitation. It will enable at least an order of magnitude higher communications bandwidth and payload longevity than the minimum set forth in the solicitation, and the increased power generation capability may lead to other novel, currently unidentified buoy applications.