Evolutionary sea state estimation for short-term forecasts

Measurement based short-term forecast of sea state conditions requires an accurate time resolution to characterize the sea state evolution. On the other hand, wave buoys must manage power savings issues by limiting processing and data transmission. In this paper we consider a standard wave buoy transmitting data every 30 minutes, including the raw displacement measurement. By applying proper time / spectral processing it is possible to increase the time resolution, while maintaining the processing and transmission rate on the buoy with a minimum effect on power consumption. The proposed approach is applied to four different states to prove its effectiveness.