swell station
SwellStation is an internet connected oceanic conditions monitoring station. The station is meant to provide at-a-glance information that is relevant for surfing.
Specifically, the device displays current dominant swell height (ft) and period (seconds) using 2 analog voltmeter needle displays. The data is pulled from the NOAA’s National Data Buoy Center, which is a network of ocean buoys that constantly monitor ocean conditions, with observations being posted online for public use.
The controller for the device is a Particle Photon. The case is made of black walnut and plywood.
Here is a diagram of how it works:
SwellStations backend is an API built using the Flask framework. The backend scrapes data from the NDBC periodically, and then sends a post request to the swellstation with the data. The Swellstation uses PWM to control the dials on the voltmeters.