In Autumn 2018, with funding from the Horizon 2020 JERICO-Next Transnational Access (TNA) Programme, the Anteia Directional Wave Buoy arrived from its base in Bilbao, Spain, to the SmartBay Facility, where it underwent four months of testing in Galway Bay.

Designed by Zunibal, a company with more than 25 years’ experience in developing electronic services and products for application in the marine sector, the Anteia Directional Wave Buoy is a unique collector of oceanic data. Weighing just 26kg, Anteia is a lightweight, easily-deployable wave buoy that is strong and robust enough to survive long-term deployments in harsh marine environments.

Anteia was developed to create a cost-effective buoy for wave measurements; analysing different parameters associated with wave motion such as heave, direction, period and water temperature, in addition to wave induced motion.   Anteia analyses each wave as it impacts the buoy and transmits the corresponding information in real-time. Using unparalleled communication options to suit the needs of its end users, Anteia transmits data using UHF, GSM/GPRS and also Iridium SBD. Thanks to this, users can choose the most appropriate mode of transmitting data to suit their specific requirements. 

Deploying the Anteia Directional Wave Buoy in Galway Bay allowed Zunibal to test the functionality and verify the accuracy of all these measurements before bringing their new system for wave observation to the market.  “The SmartBay Facility provided us with an opportunity to make suitable data comparisons between the SmartBay metocean data buoy and the Anteia Directional Wave Buoy. The data integration systems and installation vessels available from SmartBay also made the offshore operations very easy.” said  Adolfo García-Corcuera, of  Zunibal.

So, where are they now?

The Anteia Directional Wave Buoy is currently used for a range of different applications, including coastal monitoring, civil engineering studies, wave energy converters, aquaculture application and research activities.

Following testing in Galway Bay, the team  published a paper titled ANTEIA System: Self-customizable solution for coastal surveys for OCEANS’19 in Marseille France and an abstract and poster titled Could Coastal Buoys Improve Beach Management for WMO Technical Conference on Meteorological and Environmental Instruments and Methods of Observation (TECO-2022) in Paris, France.

Most notably, Anteia was recently deployed for Spain’s top-level rowing competition: Eusko Label Liga, which takes place off the Basque Coast in Northern Spain. Anteia provided wave-by-wave data for television networks and allowed spectators to see wave height and frequency data during the competition!

Through the JERICO-Next Transnational Access Programme, the Marine Institute worked closely with Zunibal during the test phase of Anteia.   “It is great to see the success of novel technologies that have used the SmartBay Facility reaching commercial maturity and we wish Zunibal every continued success with the Anteia buoy. ” said Alan Berry, Research Infrastructures Manager at the Marine Institute.   The Marine Institute facilitates access to the SmartBay Facility providing opportunity for both national and international scientists to test new sensors and devices for monitoring the marine environment.