Design and validation of a small-sized intelligent AtoN system for marine environmental monitoring in the Pearl River Estuary

This study introduces an innovative 3-meter intelligent AtoN system to address the limitations of traditional small-sized Aids to Navigation (AtoN), which are primarily constrained by their physical dimensions and consequently exhibit insufficient marine environmental monitoring capabilities, incomplete data acquisition, and low data accuracy. While retaining the fundamental navigational assistance functions of conventional AtoN, the proposed system has been systematically optimized in three key areas: overall structural design, environmental sensing capabilities, and data quality control. The feasibility of the design and the validity of the data have been verified from multiple perspectives. These include calculations of initial stability and Response Amplitude Operator, the tank test, and marine trials. During an 84-day marine trial, the system integrated up to ten types of marine environmental sensors and achieved a data reporting rate of 87.53% via 4G communication. Attitude measurements demonstrated that, under sea conditions with a significant wave height of 2.25 m, the buoy’s roll and pitch angles remained consistently within ±15°. This comprehensive methodology has effectively enabled the seamless integration of the entire process, spanning from design, validation, to application. It allows for continuous and highly precise monitoring of diverse environmental observation parameters. The research outcomes demonstrate that the proposed system substantially enhances the marine environmental monitoring and comprehensive situational awareness capabilities of small-sized AtoN, offering considerable application potential and promising prospects for deployment in ports and inland waterways.