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swell station

photo of swellstation
swellstation

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:

swellstation diagram

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.