Innovative Water Logger Technology Enables Ocean Sampling

The Technology

The Wireless Open Water Logger (WOWL) enables large-scale, opportunistic ocean sampling by providing a low-cost, reliable, and open-source ocean temperature and depth logger.

Sampling offshore ocean temperatures – particularly at depth – is challenging and expensive, therefore a simpler and less costly solution is needed. 

The WOWL is designed to be inexpensive, rugged, and easy to use. It integrates with users’ smartphones via Bluetooth and a free application, eliminating the need for dedicated hardware to retrieve and upload data. No ship integration is necessary.

The WOWL is an effort by Creare, LLC, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Maine’s Darling Marine Center. The team’s vision for the future is that data will be geo-tagged by smartphone and then uploaded to an existing, cloud-based, and publicly-accessible data repository.

The data will then be accessed via standard, open-data formats (e.g., CSV text files) from both the mobile application and the cloud repository. Users can visualize data as soon as they are uploaded via WeatherCitizen or other open-source, online visualization toolkits.

Photo of a hand holding a water logging device next to a crab trap
An example of a Water Logger device inside of a crab trap Credit: Creare, LLC

Benefits

  • Inexpensive: Eliminates the need for dedicated hardware to retrieve and upload data
  • Rugged and reliable: Designed to withstand harsh environments
  • Simple and easy to use: Integrates with users’ smartphones and connects to cloud-based repositories

Applications

  • Can be deployed via small commercial fishing vessels or fishing gear
  • Open software is adaptable to users’ specific needs

Resources

Company Contact

This technology is commercially available for purchase. For additional information please contact the Creare, LLC team at wowl@creare.com. Note: Any reference obtained from this website to a specific company, product, process, or service does not constitute or imply an endorsement by NOAA.

Federal Procurement – Sole Source Information

Through the SBIR/STTR Congressional Authority and Policy Directive, companies are eligible for Phase III sole-source contracts to support work that derives from, extends, or completes work funded with SBIR Phase I or Phase II awards. Technologies in the Marketplace that include this statement are eligible for Phase III awards from any federal agency. For more information about Phase III, see this website and reach out to noaa.sbir@noaa.gov with questions. Find a full list of available SBIR/STTR technologies, access the Award Database on SBIR.gov.