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

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


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 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

C:\Documents and Settings\Chris\Desktop\TAO-EDD\tsunami_DART_update_03.exe

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/co2/moorings/

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/realtime/nemonet_anim.html


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


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)


Realtime Web-based interface

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

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/realtime/index.html

http://www.pmel.noaa.gov/vents/nemo/realtime/index.html


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


Realtime “Tsunameter” Data

http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/dart


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


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


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)


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.


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


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


Realtime Pitch, Roll, Yaw Data


Deep water prototype deployment

April 2004

Deployment from the KOK

Water depth 4650m

Anchor monitor

Single Profile Instrument on mooring line


Asset Tracker: Iridium Position System


PMEL Iridium Linux Server

Iridium Bi-directional ServerIridium Bi-directional Server


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…

christian meinig

Documents

buoy system costs

low bandwidth

mooring shop

software engineering

tao buoy mooring lineone

mooring prototypesfield

ocean observatory

govnext generation iridium