Aquarius gets ahead of the curve in telemetry from sea
This story entered on 12th Dec, 2006 06:26:24 AM PST

NOAA’s Aquarius was outfitted with a wireless communication network. A fixed wireless link connects the 400-square-foot manned undersea laboratory that is located 62 feet beneath the Atlantic Ocean and nine miles off the coast of Florida. The wireless link handles voice video and data at over 7 megabytes downstream. The link beams ocean floor video up a wire to a buoy on the surface where a wireless link beams it to nearby Key Largo, Fla. Previously, the research lab used a 24 megabits per second (Mbps), conventional wireless system, but recently that was replaced with a 7 Mbps link to handle growing video applications. Before the upgrade, the link could only handle 2 Mbps to 4 Mbps, depending on the size of the ocean swells on the surface. The system upgrade will increase data throughput, as well as to avoid interference. Aquarius is owned by NOAA and is operated by the NOAA Undersea Research Program’s (NURP) Undersea Research Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

More information: http://www.wirelessweek.com/article/CA6395684.html?spacedesc=Features

Contact information:
Name: Andy Shepard
Tel: (910) 962-2446
sheparda@uncw.edu