Enabling wireless sensors for shipboard measurement applications

PSM Instrumentation Ltd. – a marine-focused instrumentation company, is working together with the University of Brighton in a collaborative (KTP) project aimed at incorporating wireless technology into their existing range of liquid level sensors used in shipboard tank gauging applications, etc. With the growing trend in the deployment of wireless technology in industrial and commercial environments, its introduction in the marine industry could save tons of copper cables by using marine-compliant wireless sensors for various monitoring and control functions involved in the safe operation of the ship. This paper describes the efforts being made to achieve regulatory compliance by leveraging standards-based wireless communications technology. Furthermore, the paper gives insights into how an existing sensor’s electronics have been re-designed to operate at ultra-low power levels in order to facilitate extended battery lifetimes and/or ‘fit-and-forget’ energy harvesting solutions. For the intended application, it is critical that this must be achieved whilst, at the same time, maintaining compliance with intrinsic safety and electromagnetic compatibility regulations.