Research on wave buoy calibration using the vertical lifting method of a linear motor

Abstract To enhance the measurement accuracy of the acceleration sensor wave buoy, a calibration method utilizing the vertical lifting motion of a linear motor has been proposed. The sinusoidal displacement of the linear motor was controlled vertically using a motion controller managed by advanced RISC machines and field programmable gate array systems. The acceleration data collected by the acceleration sensor was processed in MATLAB’s frequency domain, where the sinusoidal acceleration curve was fitted. The analysis of the sinusoidal acceleration effect produced by the linear motor was conducted using fiducial errors measurements. The uncertainty of the frequency domain integral algorithm and the linear motor acceleration introduced by MATLAB has little effect on the measurement results. The results indicate that, compared to a 10 ms control period, reducing the control period to 1 ms decreases the wave height and wave period indication errors of the acceleration sensor wave buoy by over 74%. Additionally, the fiducial errors for both the linear motor and the acceleration sensor decreased by 13%, resulting in final errors of 5% and 14%, respectively. This calibration method is also applicable for the dynamic characterization of acceleration sensors, proving valuable for research in oceanography, marine forecasting, disaster mitigation, and inertial navigation.