University of Washington
Iridium Telemetry Trial
- Introduction
- Contact Information
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The Iridium system is a constellation of low-orbiting satellites that amount
to a "cell-phone network" in the sky. The Iridium system offers global
coverage that allow communications from any point on the Earth with a view
to the sky and the system is capable of 2400 baud data transfers. The
Univerisity of Washington is a partner in developing a new generation of
autonomous profiling drifters that enable the remote collection of
hydrographic profiles with high vertical resolution. The objective is to be
able to collect salinity, temperature, and oxygen profiles to 2000 decibars
with a vertical resolution of 2 decibars. Data telemetry will be
accomplished via the Iridium system. Two-way communications will allow the
instrument to be remotely controlled.
In order to demonstrate that the Iridium system is viable for this
purpose, the University of Washington developed a
surface drifter with
overall physical characteristics that match a profiling drifter. This
surface drifter possessed no buoyancy engine or sensor module. We wanted to
verify the antenna design and evaluate telemetry characteristics with
respect to open ocean wave fields.
Contact Information:Questions concerning
the information available here can be addressed to the principal
investigator of this project, Professor Stephen C. Riser,
School of Oceanography, Box 357940, University of Washington, Seattle,
Washington 98195 USA, riser@ocean.washington.edu.
This web site was developed and is maintained by Dana
Swift (email:swift@u.washington.edu).
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