Simply a put, a few lasers shining out onto the horizon, which let off an alarm whenever they hit something. Sort of like the laser alarms in a banks vault. They should not hit anything, as they will be shining well above the water line. This will be located on a tower, with a leveling system to prevent the ships rocking from forcing the lasers to contact the waterline. The lasers will always be level with the earth.
Possible problem: birds flying in front of the laser.
I just watched a show on the History channel about Rogue waves, and they seem very real considering all the sources and incidents.-- EvilPickels, Jan 14 2010 They're real enough. The problem you will have is that your system will only detect such waves as they cross the true horizon - depending on how tall your vessel is, that will vary a lot. And then you have to confirm if it's a real alarm, and then maneuver out of the way - no easy task for a big vessel, and if you react to every alert as real you would potentially waste a lot of time and fuel.
Satellite imaging or expendable buoy networks might be better.-- 8th of 7, Jan 14 2010 With suitable modulation of the beam, and a sensor to detect the reflected light, you might be able to measure the distance to the rogue wave too.-- Wrongfellow, Jan 14 2010 Wave radar; or just Wadar-- DenholmRicshaw, Jan 14 2010 //Wadar// havoc for anyone who can't pwonounce their "r"s.-- DrWorm, Jan 14 2010 These lasers would be mounted on land, not boats. A laser beam can't set off an alarm unless there's a sensor at the far end. Birds though could be ignored because interuption would be momentary vs. Sustained. I bun ya.-- Mustardface, Jan 15 2010 I'm with [8th of 7], I'm not convinced these happen often enough to be worth the expense, one of his systems seems more reasonable.-- Germanicus, Jan 15 2010 "Watch out; that rogue is waving at us again!"-- pertinax, Jan 16 2010 I googled wave but am still none the wiser. Incidentally, I thought that people were installing early warning sensors on the sea bed in strategic locations for just this sort of thing.-- gnomethang, Jan 17 2010 How about a Rouge Wave Alarm for detecting over- friendly Communists?-- Aristotle, Jan 17 2010 As long as Sarah Palin isn't attached to it, I'd buy it ;-)-- blissmiss, Jan 17 2010 I suppose the laser tracker could detect the relative positions of hand, elbow and smile. Trigonometric algorithms compute a score based on velocity and seperation, with HM the Q as a fixed reference. If the score deviates more than a set amount, a klaxon sounds.-- pocmloc, Jan 17 2010 random, halfbakery