Experimental Investigation of Using Vision-Based Wave Height Sensors and a Kalman Filter to Estimate Ocean Wave Field

The vision of this research is to use a small array of discrete low-cost wave height sensors to estimate the 2D wave field in the vicinity of the sensors. This will provide useful information for wave energy converters (WECs) within a wave farm to cooperate with each other to maximize total energy production. To this end, a Kalman Filter Observer has previously been developed to synthesize the sensor information and to estimate the temporal and spatial evolution of the wave field. In this paper, this concept is validated experimentally in a fume equipped with a wave maker. The tests utilize a simple wave height sensor consisting of a buoy and a camera connected to a single-board computer. Wave height information is obtained in real-time at a rate of 40 frames per second using a custom-designed vision-based localization algorithm. The information is then processed by the Kalman Filter Observer to estimate the wave profile. The estimated wave heights at locations away from the sensor are found to be accurate under various wave conditions. The experiments also provided information on how best to tune the parameters of the Kalman Filter Observer.