Due to their flexibility, ease of deployment and ability to be relocated as needed, buoy-based systems are most commonly used to monitor water quality during dredging in accordance with regulations such as the Norwegian Standard for turbidity measurement, NS 9433. Flexible turbidity sensor and mooring options allow for deployment in almost any situation.

One of the most common platforms used for turbidity monitoring at dredging sites is the NexSens CB-450. This buoy is light enough to be deployed from a small boat, but packs a large power supply with its on-board battery and solar panels to support long-term monitoring. An M550 solar marine light can be mounted on the buoy tower for visibility to ship traffic at night.

The center data well in the buoy holds a NexSens X2-CB data logger with waterproof sensor ports and wireless communications. This simplifies sensor connections and real-time data transmission to the WQData LIVE web datacenter, where alarms are configured to alert for high turbidity or other abnormal conditions. The X2-CB logger works with nearly all industry-standard turbidity sensors from manufacturers like YSI, Eureka, Campbell, In-situ and others. There are multiple sensor ports on the X2-CB logger to accommodate placement of sensors at different depths.

For short-term applications, the smaller and simpler CB-50 data buoy with an X2-SDL data logger is often sufficient. This provides the same functionality of the CB-450 system except solar charging, but in lightweight and easy to deploy package.

If additional parameters beyond turbidity are required, the X2 data logging platform supports many other sensor types for water quality, weather conditions, currents and more.