The SEMB has evolved from WHISL's original Texas Automated Buoy System (TABS), which has been deployed at numerous locations in the Gulf of Mexico since 1994 with excellent results.

Two PCMCIA flash memory card slots provide high-capacity, non-volatile data storage.

• Real-time reporting of surface environmental data will improve the quality and timeliness of spill and effluent trajectory models.
• Decisions made in the first several hours after and oil spill or maritime accident determine the ultimate success or failure of the clean-up or rescue operation.  Real-time input to decision-making improves the response effectiveness.
• Port and Harbor navigational safety can be improved with real-time environmental information being disseminated to Pilots and Ship Captains.

• Oil Spill Response
• Shipping Safety and Rescue
• Oil Platform Data Systems
• Oceanographic Climatological Research
• Water Quality Monitoring

• Collision-resistant buoy design
• Optimize cellular telephone or packet radio telemetry
• Can perform complex in-situ computations for data reduction and/or quality assurance

• Overall Dimensions:

31" diameter for main flotation
24'  length, top of antenna to mooring attachment
• Main flotation hull:

31" diameter x 85" long
• Construction

5086 alloy aluminum core and electronics enclosure 
Closed cell urethane foam cladding with abrasion-resistant outer skin
• Air weight with single point current meter:

950 lb
• Displacement at normal draft:

1700 lb
• Weight (tension) required on mooring line:

750 lb

Maximum mooring depth:
400 m
Natural pitch period:
< 2.0 seconds
Natural heave period:
< 2.7 seconds
Design conditions (normal operation):
2 kt current w/3 m Hs waves @ 9 second period
Max static tilt:
<15 degrees
Std dev of dynamic pitch
< 3 degrees
Survival conditions
3 kt current w/ 11 m Hx waves @ 14 second period

Currents:
     Standard: vector averaging current meter
          WHISL SeaPac 2000 at 2.4 m depth
     Optional: ADCP
          RD Instruments Workhorse
Meteorological:
     Optional:
          Climatronics TacMet at 12.5 ft above water
     Parameters measured:
          Wind speed & direction, air pressure & temperature,
           relative humidity
Position/Time
     Optional:
          GPS
Available input channels (in addition to above)
     9600 baud asynchronous RS-232 serial:
          1 available channel (may be multilexed)
     12-bit programmable analog inputs:
          1 available channel (standard)
               4 additional channels (optional)

Low-Power Micro-Processor:
     Onset Computer Corp., Tattle Tale Model 8
          EEPROM: 256 KB
          RAM: 256 KB
          Speed: 16 MHz
Digital input ports:
     6 asynchronous serial RS-232, 9600 baud
Communication Port:
     1 Master serial communications port (up to 115 Kbaud)
Software debug port:
     9600 baud
On-board data storage capacity:
     Up to 340 MB flash RAM on 2 PCMCIA cards
Time:
     Battery-backed real-time clock +/- sec/day typical
          Remotely re-settable on GPS synchronized

Standard telemetry equipment:
Primary: satellite cellular system
     Westinghouse Series 1000 Hybrid Voice/Data Mobile
     Terminal with Packet Assembler/Disassembler (PAD)
     for digital data transmission (x.25 compatible)
Backup:
     Seimac ARGOS PTTT with 64-byte compressed data
Peak data rate:
     4800 baud
Optional primary telemetry equipment:
 Telephone:
     Cellular
Multi-station 2-way radio (medium range):
     Packet modem and transceiver, up to 9600 baud
Direct 2-way radio (short range):
     Spread spectrum transceiver

Source:
     Solar collectors:
          9 Solarex 10 watt panels in 3 vertical arrays
     Capacity, Dec/Jan at 28^o N:
          > 6 amp-hours/day into 12 volt
Current drain with satellite cellular telemetry @ 6 hr
      transmission:
          < 4.5 amp-hours/day
Storage:
     Main battery:
          12 volt sealed lead-acid cell, 168 amp-hours
     Duration of normal operation:
          > 40 days without recharge
     Independent ARGOS battery
          12 volt sealed lead-acid gel cell, 24 amp-hours