IoT for buoy monitoring system

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the recent way to join low-cost hardware and cloud computing, in order to manage a network of physical devices and their data collection. During the last years the number of devices connected to IoT is dramatically increased, as well as, the number of webservices which allow to collect and manage the data. Most of these services are free for personal use, and low-cost for commercial purposes. In this work, the IoT technology was employed to monitor the health status of maritime signals, such as buoys, seamarks, beacons, etc. The developed system allows to react swiftly and efficiently if a problem occurs, in order to preserve both the safety of navigation and the signals integrity. Furthermore, the developed hardware equipment is low-cost as well as the webservices employed to notify possible problems. The system was, initially, developed to follow the position of a buoy using a GNSS device for this reason, even now, the system name is "Buoy Monitoring System" (BMS). Specifically, the paper describes the system design, its realization and the results obtained in terms of reliability; the case study regards all light maritime signals that operate in the Taranto harbor.