The Wave Glider:

A New Concept for Deploying

Ocean Instrumentation
Justin Manley and Scott Willcox

T
he Wave Glider is a new class of persistent ocean and the length of its tether have been tuned to provide excel-
vehicle. Development of the Wave Glider vehicle began lent wave-energy propulsion performance in both energetic
in 2005 with a vision of enabling new types of ocean and calm seas.
observations independent of costly deep-water moorings or While wave energy provides propulsion, Wave Glider uses
ship operations. Encouraged by immediate success with early two photovoltaic solar panels, each rated to deliver up to 43 W
prototype designs, Liquid Robotics, Inc. was founded in 2007 of peak power, to generate electricity for navigation, control,
to further develop the platform for scientific, commercial, and communications, and payload systems. These are harnessed
military applications. The key innovation of the Wave Glider to 665 W hours of rechargeable lithium-ion batteries to ensure
is its ability to harvest energy from ocean waves to provide continuously available power. This battery subsystem consists
essentially limitless propulsion. This provides an entirely new of seven smart battery packs that are electrically isolated from
approach to deploying ocean instruments and thus enables
new concepts of operations for ocean applications.
Wave Glider is a combination sea-surface and underwater
vehicle comprised of a submerged “glider” that is attached
to a surface float via a flexible tether. Fig. 1 shows the Wave
Glider. It is propelled by the conversion of ocean wave energy
into forward thrust, independent of wave direction. The wave
energy propulsion system is purely mechanical; no electrical
power is generated by the propulsion mechanism. Just as an
airplane’s forward motion through the air allows its wings to
create an upward lifting force, the submerged glider’s vertical
motion through the comparatively still waters at the glider’s
depth allows its wings to convert a portion of this upward
motion into a forward propulsion force. As waves pass by
on the surface, the submerged glider acts as a tug pulling the
surface float along a predetermined course and is controlled
by a single rudder on the glider. Separation of the glider by
23 ft (7m) depth from the float is a crucial aspect of the vehicle
design. Fig. 2 shows the operating principles.
There is substantial power available in ocean waves, and
the Wave Glider harnesses this power to maintain an average
forward speed of 1.5 knots (2.8 km/h) in typical seas with one
to three foot (0.3 to 0.9 m) waves. The Wave Glider’s forward
speed is dependent upon the amplitude of the surface waves,
the overall buoyancy force provided by the float, and the
glider’s weight. Sea State 0 (0 m waves) has been observed to
yield speeds of 0.25 to 0.5 knots (0.47 to 0.94 km/h) while Sea
Fig. 1. This Wave Glider photo shows the surface float (red) and glider (white)
State 3 (1 m waves) and higher can result in speeds exceeding beneath–note the wake caused by motion through the water despite the low
1.5 knots (2.8 km/h). The Wave Glider’s mass and buoyancy wave height.

8 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2010

1094-6969/10/$25.00©2010IEEE
each other. Only two batteries
are in use at any given time,
and each battery has separate
discharging and monitoring
circuitry. The Wave Glider ’s
navigation, control, and com-
munications systems require
only 0.7 W of (average) con-
tinuous power. The longest
Wave Glider mission duration
without a battery recharge
(i.e., without the benefit of the
solar panels) is about 23 days.
This duration would decrease
Fig. 2. The operational principles of the Wave Glider
further with more payload
sensors aboard.
In practice, the average continuous power delivered by the
solar panels is substantially less than the combined 86 W of
peak output power. Latitude and the season of the year have
a significant effect on the power generated by the vehicle’s
solar panels. There are also several other factors that influence
the overall average continuous power produced by the solar
panels including light level, temperature, shading, fouling,
and conversion and storage efficiencies. Together, these factors
reduce the (averaged) continuous power available to payloads
to approximately 10 W. While just a few Watts is sufficient
for many payloads – such as cameras and oceanographic
sensors – additional development effort will increase available
payload power to realize the full potential of the Wave Glider
platform, particularly when operating in higher latitudes.
Liquid Robotics is exploring concepts to harvest wave energy
on a small scale for conversion to electric power to meet these
needs. Also, a primary cell payload has been devised that
provides over five kilowatt hours beyond the base battery
capacity. With this option in place, missions of several months
without benefit of solar energy are envisioned. Meanwhile
the base power system configuration is proving beneficial in
various real-world settings.
The key innovation of the Wave
Glider is its ability to harvest
energy from ocean waves to
provide essentially limitless
propulsion.
The Wave Glider employs a 12-channel GPS receiver as
its primary navigation sensor and carries a tilt-compensated
magnetic compass with three-axis accelerometers. Some
vehicles also carry an optional water speed sensor, allowing
for short-term dead reckoning. The Wave Glider’s typical
navigation accuracy is better than three meters. The Wave
Glider navigates autonomously to reach waypoints and to
keep station. A Wave Glider’s course can include a series of
December 2010 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 9
closely spaced waypoints (tracklines) where precise transit
lines are required. Station keeping around a single waypoint
of interest is also possible.
Wave Gliders are controlled via a simple web-based
command and control interface. Each Wave Glider vehicle
communicates with the shore-based web server by initiating
an Iridium modem messaging session, which is received at an
Iridium network ground station where the data is redirected
onto the Internet. These sessions occur at configurable
intervals, typically every five and fifteen minutes. Using
the web-based interface, any number of operators (with the
appropriate authorizations) can control any Wave Glider ve-
hicle from any Internet-enabled computer, PDA, or cell-phone.
Similarly, subscribers can monitor vehicle status and data on
an as needed basis. Wave Gliders can also carry short-range,
high-bandwidth radio modems for local area communications
and acoustic modems for subsea telemetry.
Performance in Sea Trials
Over the past four years, Liquid Robotics has undertaken a
vigorous series of sea trials, driving prototype and product-
level vehicle development programs. The current production
generation of the Wave Glider is the beneficiary of over seven
years of combined sea time.
Since 2006, Wave Gliders have collectively traversed over
128,000 km. The longest single deployment was over 500 days.
The longest point-to-point journey exceeded 5000 km.
Liquid Robotics, with U.S. Coast Guard permission, main-
tains a test range in a one-mile by one-mile area offshore from
Puako on the Big Island of Hawaii. Initial engineering trials
and operational/acceptance testing of customer deliveries are
conducted inside the Puako test range. Once trials have been
satisfactorily completed, additional testing to expose the Wave
Glider to a wider range of sea conditions is conducted farther
offshore.
The Wave Glider vehicle “Red Flash” circumnavigated the
Big Island of Hawaii, January 9-18, 2009, a 343 nautical mile
(635 km) mission that the vehicle completed in 9 days, 2 hours
with an average speed over ground of 1.57 knots (2.9 km/h).
Sea conditions during this mission were estimated to be 10 ft

Fig. 3. The Wave Glider “Red Flash” off the Pacific Northwest
(3 m) seas and 15 knot (27.8 km/h) winds. A similar engineer-
ing trial and demonstration was conducted between August
13 and September 23, 2009. The same vehicle, Red Flash,
transited from Monterey Bay along the west coast of North
America to Alaska. This mission lasted 41 days and covered
just over 1300 nm (2407 km) for an average speed over ground
of 1.5 kn (2.8 km/h). During this mission severe weather
exposed Red Flash to winds above 40 knots (74 km/h), swells
exceeding 18 ft (5.5 m) and peak wave heights of over 21 ft
(6.4 m). Red Flash endured these conditions and maintained
core functionality. The vehicle was recovered for inspection
and the antenna mast was found to have broken. As core ve-
hicle antennas (GPS and Iridium) are directly deck mounted,
this did not endanger the Wave Glider itself. Improved masts
for payload sensors requiring elevation are currently being
designed based upon these recent results. Fig. 3 shows “Red
Flash” off the Pacific Northwest. Fig. 4 shows the long-range
Wave Glider missions in 2009.
Additional long-term missions, including multi-month,
basin-scale ocean transits, are currently underway. Finally, as
an engineering endurance trial, one Wave Glider, “Stripes,”
is conducting a station keeping mission in the Puako test
range, augmented with frequent transits out into the open
ocean. This Wave Glider demonstrated more than a full year
of continuous operation on December 16, 2009. After a brief
recovery to the deck of a support vessel and a brief cleaning
of the hull, the vehicle was returned to the ocean. On May 8,
2010 the vehicle was returned to shore for maintenance after
508 days at sea.

Fig. 4. Major Wave Glider missions of 2009. Map credit: © 2009 Google; © 2009 Europa Technologies Data S10, NOAA, U.S. Navy, NGA, GEBCO; © 2009
Tele Atlas, US Dept. of State Geographer. The distinctive overlay of routes and labels on the Google map of the Pacific Ocean and bordering land masses is by
Liquid Robotics, Inc.

10 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2010

 In operations to date in the Pacific Ocean (off Hawaii and
the west coast of North America), the Gulf of Mexico and
Atlantic Ocean, the Wave Glider has proven resistant to bio-
fouling and entanglement. Subsea fouling has been observed
in long-term tests off Hawaii, but performance impacts have
been modest. Biofouling of the solar panels is mitigated by a
constant wash due to the low freeboard. The panels never dry
enough to become encrusted or become submerged enough
to accumulate marine growth. Kelp has been encountered off
California with mixed results. Many times Wave Gliders have
safely passed through regions of kelp. In one instance, a Wave
Glider entered a significant kelp bed and became entangled.
By the time operators on a vessel reached it, the vehicle had
worked itself free. The ocean environment is vast and diverse.
Some regions will pose more significant hazards than others,
but in most cases the Wave Glider has functioned quite well.
The ocean environment is vast
and diverse. Some regions will
pose more significant hazards than
others, but in most cases the Wave
Glider has functioned quite well.
The Wave Glider vehicle has been designed to withstand
extreme seas. Ultimately, the Wave Glider ’s endurance is
limited only by its robustness, as its propulsion power is
effectively unlimited. In Hurricane Flossie in 2007 and during
the 2009 Red Flash deployment, the Wave Glider demonstrated
its ability to weather high seas and severe winds. The opposite
extreme of very calm seas represents a greater challenge to
successful Wave Glider operation. Without wave energy to
harvest, the Wave Glider would not be able to maintain course
and may not be able to keep station. Fortunately, the ocean is
rarely so calm, and when it is, it rarely remains calm for long.
Wave Gliders have been designed to make significant headway
even in very mild seas (i.e., with wave heights of a few inches,
~ 5 cm, or less). Even in these extremely calm conditions, the
Wave Glider is able to maintain a forward speed of 0.25 to 0.50
knots (0.13 to 0.26 m/s). This speed is usually sufficient to allow
the vehicle to keep station against typical surface currents.
Demonstrated Oceanographic
Observations
The Wave Glider has modular mechanical, electrical, and
software interfaces to accept a wide variety of payloads. All
command and control, communications, and navigations
electronics are contained in a core electronics module, which
also houses the batteries and their charging electronics.
Dedicated forward and aft payload compartments house
most payload sensor systems and support electronics. These
compartments can be fitted with watertight dry boxes or left
open to splash and wash. There is ready access to surface waters
for instrument probes. While the topside float provides a large
December 2010 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 11
Fig. 5. The Wave Glider has deployed common oceanographic instruments
such as the acoustic Doppler current profiler (ADCP) shown here.
volume and simple integration options, the subsea glider
can also support payloads. The tether between the float and
glider carries power and communications. A subsea payload
compartment is an available option, and an industry standard
connector is available for ease of integration. This configuration
makes the system well suited to a variety of ocean instruments.
To date, several payload systems have been demonstrated
on the Wave Glider, including passive hydrophones and towed
hydrophone arrays, marine weather stations, still and video
cameras, and acoustic Doppler current profilers (ADCPs) which
measure the motion of water particles relative to the sensor.
Fig. 5 shows an ADCP attached to a Wave Glider. The current
generation of the Wave Glider has also demonstrated towing an
instrumented buoy that was itself towing an acoustic modem at
the end of a long cable. More recently, an acoustic modem and its
support electronics have been integrated onto the Wave Glider
float, eliminating the need to tow the hydrophone payload.
This payload flexibility has been applied to a variety of
demonstration programs. Among other applications Wave
Gliders have recently completed:
◗◗ a demonstration of a seafloor to surface acoustic link for
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
(NOAA) tsunami warning network,
◗◗ deployment of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography
(SIO) high frequency acoustic recorder (HARP) for
marine mammal monitoring,
◗◗ deployment of a 600 kHz RDI Sentinel ADCP for surface
current monitoring, and
◗◗ deployment of a conductivity and temperature sensor for
physical oceanography in Monterey Bay.
Tsunami warning stations consist of a seafloor pack-
age, known as a bottom pressure recorder (BPR), which
communicates with a surface mooring via acoustic signals.
Unfortunately, the surface moorings experience occasional
failures. When these occur in remote locales, the costs to repair
or replace the buoy rise dramatically due to the long voyage of

Fig. 6. Wave Gliders complement traditional ocean observing platforms such
as fixed moorings.
a support vessel. In a demonstration program, Liquid Robot-
ics has placed the telemetry systems commonly used on a
tsunami buoy (undersea acoustic modems and satellite links)
on a Wave Glider. This configuration has been demonstrated to
provide connectivity to the BPR and thus offers a cost effective
alternative to conventional moorings.
Passive acoustic systems are often used to monitor ocean
regions for the presence of marine mammals. As with tsunami
warning systems, conventional approaches make use of fixed
moorings to deploy these undersea microphones and their
associated recorders. Wave Gliders have been configured to
carry such instruments, and field results are promising. A
series of data sets collected off Hawaii in 2009 and 2010 are
currently being reviewed. The results of this analysis were
presented at the IEEE/MTS Conference, OCEANS 2010 in
Seattle, Washington.
Ocean currents are of major interest to scientists and ocean
operators including those related to the offshore oil and
defense industries. A key tool in monitoring these currents
is the ADCP, which uses four acoustic beams to measure
particle motion in the water column. Wave Gliders have been
configured to carry ADCPs and have demonstrated successful
current monitoring in the open ocean.
One of the most common oceanographic data require-
ments is the conductivity temperature depth (CTD) profile.
This provides a vertical record of the salinity and temperature
of the water column and is one key to understanding ocean
physics. While the Wave Glider does not currently provide
for a vertical measurement, it has deployed industry-leading
sensors to collect horizontal profiles of conductivity and
temperature distribution. By providing precise position-
ing and real-time connectivity while collecting such data,
the Wave Glider provides a significant new capability to
oceanographers.
12 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine December 2010
A New Paradigm for Ocean Observation
As a persistent ocean platform, the Wave Glider complements
fixed buoys, undersea vehicles, drifting floats and vessels.
Fig. 6 shows a Wave Glider alongside a fixed buoy. The ocean
is vast, and observing requirements are not met by current
platform availability. Regions beyond traditional shipping
routes are especially difficult to access. Wave Glider ’s
long-range capability and persistent station-keeping make
it well suited to observing in these regions. In sufficient
numbers, Wave Gliders can provide oceanographic data
from transects across ocean basins. In 2009, this capability
was demonstrated when two Wave Gliders crossed the
Pacific Ocean from Hawaii to California. Fig. 4 shows their
paths. Additionally, areas of significance (e.g. upwelling
sites, seamounts, marine protected areas) can be observed by
station keeping Wave Gliders serving as virtual moorings.
Mobile and stationary Wave Gliders, operating for up to one
year without service, will greatly increase the number of
platforms observing the ocean as well as their temporal and
spatial distribution.
Liquid Robotics has placed the
telemetry systems commonly
used on a tsunami buoy
(undersea acoustic modems
and satellite links) on a Wave
Glider. This configuration has
been demonstrated to provide
connectivity to the BPR and thus
offers a cost effective alternative
to conventional moorings.
Wave Gliders are affordable, with a favorable capital cost
compared to moorings. While their capital costs are modest,
the potential savings in operations and maintenance are
noteworthy. Wave Gliders do not require large vessel support.
Liquid Robotics runs most operations from a 30 ft (9.1 m)
rigid hull inflatable boat. This is more than adequate to move
vehicles beyond the immediate coastal region into waters
deep enough for effective Wave Glider operation, where the
vehicles take over their own “deployment.” Launches directly
from shore have been demonstrated. Recovery is equally
straightforward. During the Red Flash mission described
above, the vehicle was recovered by a commercial fishing
vessel. The captain and crew safely and effectively recovered
the vehicle without any direct on-site support from Liquid
Robotics staff. The use of vessels of opportunity to support
Wave Glider operations is the anticipated norm. The smaller
vessels required for these operations and the rarity of launch
and recovery requirements present a significant cost savings
over conventional ocean platforms dependent on full-size, and
costly, research vessels.
The Wave Glider is a cost effective platform and also quite
versatile. With significant experience derived from engineer-
ing trials and scientific demonstration programs, Liquid
Robotics is ready to apply the persistent ocean presence of the
Wave Glider to ocean observation.
Acknowledgments
The Wave Glider has benefited from the support of customers
and collaborators. The authors express their appreciation to
their colleagues at Liquid Robotics and to financial and in-kind
sponsors of projects discussed here. These include, but are
not limited to, The Jupiter Foundation, Teledyne RDI, SAIC,
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and
Scripps Institution of Oceanography.
Bibliography
J. Manley and S. Willcox. “The wave glider: a persistent platform
for ocean science,” in Proceedings of IEEE OCEANS 2010, Sydney
Australia, May 2010.
J. Manley and S. Willcox. “The wave glider: an energy harvesting
unmanned surface vehicle.” Marine Technology Reporter, November/
December 2010 IEEE Instrumentation & Measurement Magazine 13
December 2009.
S, Willcox, C. Meinig, C. Sabine, N. Lawrence-Slavas, T. Richardson, R.
Hine, and J. Manley. “An autonomous mobile platform for underway
surface carbon measurements in open-ocean and coastal waters,” in
Proc. MTS/IEEE OCEANS 2009, Biloxi, MS, October 2009.
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Justin Manley (justin.manley@liquidr.com) holds MS and
BS degrees in Ocean Engineering. He has taken unmanned
technologies to sea in expeditions across the globe. Mr.
Manley is Director of Scientific and Commercial Business at
Liquid Robotics. He is the Vice President of Government and
Public Affairs for the Marine Technology Society and a Senior
Member of IEEE.
Scott Willcox holds MS degrees in Electrical Engineering and
Ocean Engineering and a BS degree in Electrical Engineering.
He was a founder and Chief Technology Officer at Bluefin
Robotics Corp. Mr. Willcox joined Liquid Robotics in May 2009
and serves as the Director of Defense Business and Principal
Technologist.