Sea Trials of the New Datawell GPS Directional Waverider

Gus Jeans¹, Ian Bellamy1, Jitze Jan de Vries² and Paul van Weert³

¹Fugro GEOS Limited, Gemini House, Hargreaves Road, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN25 5AL UK
²Datawell BV, Zomerluststraat 4, 2012 LM Haarlem, The Netherlands
³Shell Global Solutions International BV, P.O. Box 541, 2501 CM The Hague, The Netherlands

Results of the first independent sea trial of the new Datawell GPS systems are presented. Measurements were conducted using a standard directional waverider buoy fitted with the new GPS sensors and the traditional accelerometers. This enabled a rigorous comparison with the tried and tested measurements of the standard directional Waverider. The principle of operation of the GPS system is briefly described, the relative advantages of each measurement system are summarised, and the performance of the new system is independently assessed. Various methods of processing the directional wave data are considered, including use of the Rijkswaterstaat SWAP program.

Submitted on January 22, 2003