christian meinig

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Christian Meinig

Pacific Marine Environmental LaboratoryNational Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

US Department of Commerce

An Overview of PMEL Iridium Ocean Observatories

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PMEL Engineering Development Division

Mission: To support the PMEL research effort with innovations in the fields of digital and analog electronics, mechanics, materials, and software engineering.

Staff of 17: • 6 engineers, 8 technicians, 3 machinists

Facilities include:• Electronic labs, machine shop, mooring shop, pressure

vessels (10 ksi), 38’ workboat S.P. HAYES, hydraulic ram and wind tunnel

FY ’03 Support • 30 cruises on 11 different ships; 260 DAS• Over 180 moorings deployed, 48ea 40’ containers shipped

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

End-to-End Support Serving NOAA’s Missions

Science drivers, mission requirements, fund raising Choose appropriate partnerships Engineering innovation & design Machine and mooring prototypes Field testing –

• Local & Full Ocean Scientific evaluation & feedback Production fabrication and contract manufacturing Web products

• Realtime data• Engineering parameters• Outreach products

Science & Engineering Publications

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PMEL Iridium Systems

pCO2 buoyspCO2 buoys

Realtime Realtime Tsunami Tsunami WarningWarning

““Tsunameter”Tsunameter”

Realtime Realtime Subsea Subsea Volcano Volcano ObservatorObservatoryy““NemoNet”NemoNet”

PICO-self deployedPICO-self deployedSurface mooringSurface mooring

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

NemoNet Goals

To understand and quantify the volcano’s impacts on the surrounding ocean’s chemical, physical and biological environment

Realtime bi-directional Buoy based ocean observatory (1yr) with low bandwidth (10’s kbytes/day) needs

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

NemoNet 3 Seafloor Nodes with

expanded coverage– Omni directional acoustic

modems Bi-directional Realtime 24/7 Instruments:

– Bottom Pressure Recorder(1ea)

– RAS samplers (2ea)

• water(45ea@500ml)

• DNA

• pH, temperature(3ea)

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Realtime Web-based interface

www.pmel.noaa.govwww.pmel.noaa.gov

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Next generation Iridium based “Tsunameter”

Remote or command Remote or command triggered desktop-seafloor in triggered desktop-seafloor in 3 min—migrate of GOES3 min—migrate of GOES

Interrogate for high freq dataInterrogate for high freq data

Capable of measuring Capable of measuring tsunamistsunamis~1cm height in 6000m~1cm height in 6000m

2 year endurance in 2 year endurance in challenging N. Pacific latitudeschallenging N. Pacific latitudes

Cost effectiveCost effective

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Realtime “Tsunameter” Data

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Prototype next-gen “Tsunameter”Data return rates June ‘03- May ‘04 GOES(Sutron) ~80% return (some firmware issues)

• High power!• Not bi-directional

Iridium ~95% return (some architecture problems in context of a warning center)• Protocol based on acoustic modem experience• Will Iridium be around?• POTS (plain old telephone system) reliability• Hawaii warning center circuits busy during last year’s

false alarm

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PICO (Platform and Instrumentation for Continuous ocean Observations)

Problem: ‘Buoy system’ costs are high

Dedicated ship & highly skilled crew

Complex & potentially dangerous operations

Large buoys Limited subsea capabilities Vandalism problems

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Engineering ChallengesDesign a ‘buoy in a box’ that functions similarly to an TAO buoy

Mooring line (one piece / many functions)Anchor (low cost / reliable)Buoy (robust / low cost / stableSensors (profiler / met /pC02 / low power)

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Anchor/reel design

Line in a box – random/ordered Horizontal reel Bobbin with vertical axis

Concept – Store the line in the anchor and have it pay out like an XBT on free fall.

Challenge – Prevent line entanglement with line lengths of 5000 meters or more.

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PICO BUOY HULLDesign goals: Tough

Efficient Long service life

_____________________________

Gross displacement: 1020 kg (2250 lbs)Dimension across flats: 1.35 m (52 in)Nominal payload: 120 kg (270 lbs)

Construction:

Galvanized framework Layered density foam Polyurea skin

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PICO electronics

332 based CPU Compact Flash data storage Iridium transceiver GPS receiver Antennas below fiberglass

cover -no apparent signal degradation

Alkaline batteries Minimal sensors for

engineering test deployments Profiler – under development

Yaw

Pitch

Roll

Inductive Coupler to Buoy

Clamp/Motor

Dropweight

Sensor Package

Pico Mooring Line

PICO Single ProfileEngineering Package

Profiler will carry instruments through the upper 400 meters of water with one or two trips daily

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Realtime Pitch, Roll, Yaw Data

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Deep water prototype deployment

April 2004

Deployment from the KOK

Water depth 4650m

Anchor monitor

Single Profile Instrument on mooring line

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Asset Tracker: Iridium Position System

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

PMEL Iridium Linux Server

Iridium Bi-directional ServerIridium Bi-directional Server

PMEL -Engineering Development Division Seattle, WA

Future Iridium DevelopmentWish listData Services Provider

– Add metadata,calibrations, GTS,bi-directional, etc

Higher QC on Iridium modemsTCP/IP for embedded systems Reduce dependence on POTSSmaller, Cheaper, Faster…