From Seabed to Shore - New Case Study on Wireless ADCP Data Retrieval with Singapore's MESN

Singapore, 18 July 2026: Subnero today announced the release of a new case study documenting a successful four-month deployment of the Subnero Wireless Integrated Suite (SWIS) – ADCP Edition on Singapore’s Marine Environment Sensing Network (MESN). The deployment demonstrated a complete wireless data path from a seabed instrument to a researcher’s desk, with no divers, no cables, and no additional infrastructure to build.

MESN, a collaboration across several of Singapore’s research institutions, operates three instrumented buoys around the island, each reporting more than thirty environmental parameters in real time. While surface sensors are easy to reach, much of the most valuable data sits on the seabed, and retrieving it reliably has traditionally meant cables, divers, or vessel visits. At the MESN-UBN buoy off Pulau Ubin, a lander carrying a Nortek Aquadopp Profiler ADCP and a SWIS acoustic smart modem closed that gap: an acoustic link carried data from the seabed to the topside modem on the buoy, and a cellular backhaul delivered it onward to shore, all seamlessly integrated within SWIS.

From February to June 2026, the system supported both on-demand retrieval, where a researcher connects from a browser and pulls down files in about two clicks, and autonomous on-schedule transfers, where the modems wake, move data to the surface, and sleep again to save power. The team also reconfigured the lander remotely after deployment, adjusting data collection frequency and switching modes without recovering or revisiting it. The link held up in some of the most demanding coastal waters in the region, with heavy shipping traffic, high biological noise, and rapid biofouling.

“It is great to see our collaborators validate their systems on MESN infrastructure, and good to be able to reach assets on the seabed from the comfort of our office,” said Koay Teong Beng, Lead PI at the Acoustic Research Laboratory (ARL).

“Being able to download data from the office whenever we want makes our customers’ work much easier,” said Veronica Tan, Subsea IoT Engineer at Subnero. “They can focus on using the data instead of worrying about how to collect it.”

The approach scales well beyond a research buoy. SWIS – ADCP Edition is already deployed around the world, supporting offshore energy operators retrieving seabed data between vessel visits, uncrewed surface vehicles acting as mobile gateways, and long-running observatories that need low-touch data delivery.

About Subnero
Subnero builds underwater wireless communication and networking systems: the WNC series of acoustic smart modems, the UnetStack software stack, and the SWIS family of integrated solutions, advancing the Internet of the Oceans.

About MESN
The Marine Environment Sensing Network (MESN) establishes instrumented buoys around Singapore for sustained, real-time marine observation, with data shared through the Ombak platform.

The full case study, titled From Seabed to Shore, is available here or as a PDF download.