---
title: "Years at sea between services"
url: https://mru.space/use-cases/ocean-buoys/
description: "Moored buoys run for years on solar power and a satellite link. Mru Field keeps the logger delivering checked data after a processor fails at sea."
---

[Mru](https://mru.space/) / [Mru Field](https://mru.space/field/) / [Use cases](https://mru.space/use-cases/) / Ocean buoys and moorings

Ocean · Surface Priority

# Ocean buoys and moorings

Years at sea between services, on solar power and a satellite link.

![Air-sea interaction spar buoy deployed in rough open ocean](https://mru.space/_astro/pl02-spar-buoy.CVPLLtt__1zszG4.jpg)

Air-sea interaction spar buoy deployed in rough open ocean Lt. Elizabeth Crapo, NOAA Corps · Public domain

$8.0B

Spent on ocean-observation instruments in 2024, growing about 7% a year.

Credence Research

Moored buoys measure the ocean for years at a time, in some of the hardest places on Earth. A failed logger leaves a gap in a record that can never be filled.

Mru Field runs on the processors already in the equipment. When one fails and nobody can come, it continues on the ones left and delivers only results it can check. Status: decision core at TRL 3; first field pilot planned for 2027.

01

## Computers fail one by one

Radiation, heat and age take out processors and memory. Nothing is replaced until the next visit.

02

## The link is thin

Bytes per message, or nothing until the next window. Problems have to be solved on site.

03

## Power runs down

Batteries fade and panels foul. The system has to do less, on purpose, and keep the important part going.

## Three computers. Then two. Then one, still working.

Most redundant systems stop when they lose their majority. Mru Field steps down instead, and says which mode it is in.

3 alive · vote

A B C

Three computers vote. One bad result is outvoted.

2 alive · compare

A B C

Two compare. A known-answer test finds the faulty one.

1 alive · self-check

A B C

The last one checks its own work and keeps the record going, at half speed.

Power

Solar and batteries

Link

Iridium or cellular

Visits

Months to years

Service life

Years

## Questions

Does Mru Field need new hardware?

No. It is software for the processors you already deploy. It runs beside your control code and decides which computer to trust as parts fail.

Can it run on a buoy's power budget?

The core is small: about 1.5 MB of memory per process on ARM64 in our tests. It adds work only where it checks results.

How do we start?

Use the form below. We first model your hardware and show what each redundancy design returns over its whole life. Then we plan a pilot on your own equipment.

## Related settings

[All use cases](https://mru.space/use-cases/)

[

Ocean · Seafloor

### Deep-sea observatories

](https://mru.space/use-cases/deep-sea-observatories/)[

Ocean · Autonomous

### Profiling floats and gliders

](https://mru.space/use-cases/profiling-floats/)[

Infrastructure · Satellite IoT

### Satellite-linked remote devices

](https://mru.space/use-cases/satellite-iot/)