Established in:

no date set

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56023 Navacchio, Province of Pisa, Tuscany, Italy

Information:

Oceans cover 70% of the earth’s surface. Yet traditional tracking and measuring methods for ocean faring assets are expensive and inefficient. Satellite data combined with IoT technologies has the potential to give us a better understanding of our oceans, at a cheaper price. Elements Works, a start-up that uses state of the art technologies for sustainable coastal development, has created an innovative smart buoy called netH2O. For individual or large-scale use, this buoy is low cost, low maintenance, and adaptable to the needs of the customer. The buoys provide monitoring and communications for sectors such as offshore fish farms, marinas, or even beach goers interested in finding the best surfing day.

NetH2O buoys are equipped with temperature sensors, inertial motion units and GPS. With the sensors they can obtain data about waves and currents. The buoys can also be equipped with acoustic sensors to monitor boat movement, or with solar panels to extend their lifetime. This advantage gives NetH2O the ability to monitor offshore infrastructure, such as fish farm pens. These buoys require less maintenance than current models because they don’t require any external pieces to take their measurements. The buoys are accurately positioned by a mix of inertial sensors and Galileo signals. They can be distributed by plane or ship and if there is a collision with a boat, no one comes out damaged on the other side.

Elements Works has been designing innovative underwater technologies since 2014. Among their list of achievements ranks an underwater aquaculture cultivation system and an underwater barrier system to build sturdy jellyfish nets. They are also designing a contactless mooring system called StableBuoy to complement the NetH2O buoys. Founder Michele’s background in mathematics led him to develop a wave energy converter in his first start-up in 2007. Alessandra, a software engineer, works alongside Michele developing these innovative solutions. This team is passionate about ocean sustainability and is poised to become a global leader in ocean data gathering solutions.