A real time talking port entrance current monitoring system

The currents at the entrance to Port Everglades, Florida are strong, variable, and unpredictable. This project was undertaken to provide additional information to the port´s pilots about the currents at this location, so that they may continue to safely guide ships to and from Port Everglades. A major goal of the system´s design was to optimize the usefulness of the real time current information gathered by an acoustic current profiler (ACP) for non-scientific users. The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Carderock Division´s South Florida Testing Facility (SFTF), under contract from PEP Inc., the Port Everglades Pilot Association´s corporate entity, developed and installed a real time port entrance current monitoring system with automatic voice information data retrieval. This paper discusses the overall system design of the real time current measurement system, its implementation, and results to date. The paper also reviews the wide band ACP procured from EDO Acoustics, which includes a 5th vertical beam, used to acquire tide and wave height information