ALEXANDRIA, Va., Aug. 6 -- United States Patent no. 12,377,938, issued on Aug. 5.
"Environmental data collection ocean buoy and hurricane eye tracking" was invented by James C. Wang (Las Vegas), Jane Wojcik (Brookline, Mass.), Michael Wojcik (Brookline, Mass.) and Y. S. Hsu (Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "A buoyancy control system, GPS sensor and data analysis engine, a wind direction sensor, and a controller to detect significant wind direction changes. Upon calculation that the desired location within the eye wall has been reached the buoy descends to depths where ocean currents are reduced, preventing drift from the hurricane eye. A solar sensor triggers ascent ...