Buoys — Hardware, Firmware, Schematics

WII5 wave buoys — every type from WII1 through WII5, the AVR firmware that runs them, electronic schematics, enclosures, and the tools used to configure them.

A WII buoy in the field.

The physical buoy and everything that lives on it: the firmware, the main board, the enclosure, and the field tools used to configure and read it.

  • Types — WII1 through WII5, with sub-types for the WII4 (Edison-era) and WII5 (AVR-era) variants.
  • Firmware — AVR/ESP32 control code (the heart of the current release).
  • Onboard data processing — the on-buoy maths (Alison Kohout’s wave-motion algorithms) that reduces raw acceleration into the wave-statistics payload before transmission. Lives under Software → Onboard Data Processing.
  • Electronics — schematics (PDF), PCB designs, photos.
  • Enclosures — ice-survival design decisions: thermal, weight, anti-slide spikes, and antenna visibility.
  • Test Equipment — static wave/heave tester, off-grid access points, local real-time dashboards, and BLE / Wi-Fi access boxes.
Firmware

AVR/ESP32 control firmware — the C++ code that runs on every WII5 buoy.

Electronics

Main board, schematics (PDF), PCB designs, parts lists, and build photos.

Buoy Types

WII1 through WII5 — the lineage of WII wave buoys, their sub-types, and the photos and history of each.

Enclosures

Buoy enclosures — design decisions around ice, temperature, weight, anti-slide spikes, and survival in Antarctic deployment.

Test Equipment

Test rigs and field tools — static wave/heave tester, off-grid access points, and local dashboards for watching real-time sensor data during testing.

Onboard Data Processing

The on-buoy maths is documented under Software → Onboard Data Processing. This page is a sidebar pointer.