Field service teams dispatched from SSC support buoy deployments and retrievals and perform scheduled or contingency maintenance at the stations. It also provides bases for buoy refurbishment, equipment installation and checkout, along with aircraft to visually inspect stations or search for buoys that have gone adrift. NDBC's technology development is ongoing. It strives to add new capabilities, improve performance, contain costs, and increase system effectiveness. To attain these goals, NDBC has acquired and maintains sophisticated analytical tools and experimental facilities.
Numerical models permit assessment of moored and drifting buoy hydrodynamic performance.
NDBC subjects new and rebuilt sensors to extensive field testing prior to their installation on remote stations to ensure they will operate properly. The OTP, a huge, easily accessible platform that can be modified to accommodate unique experiments, is also ideal for test and evaluation of new monitoring technologies. NDBC is researching ways to reduce the cost of taking measurements. One of the most expensive meteorological sensors is a high-quality barometer. The goal is to use a much less expensive barometer in conjunction with microprocessors to compensate for temperature-induced nonlinearities.