Challenges in marine instrumentation
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Date
1997Author
Afzulpurkar, S.
Desa, E.
Joseph, A.
Chakraborty, B.
Nayak, M.R.
Ranade, G.
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The problems of ocean science are technology intensive as the area to be surveyed is vast, complex and hostile. The accessibility of most of the areas too, puts severe constraints on the design methodology, specially the power source of the systems. Also the parameters involved are interdependent on many factors which may be natural or influenced by man. As the area involved ranges from local to truly global, the technology requirements have to be tailored for specific applications. For surface parameters such as color, temperature etc. satellite technology has proven to be of good value though much greater emphasis is still needed in the area of algorithm development. Underway data collection techniques mostly revolve around acoustic techniques and have traditionally yielded good results. With enhanced signal processing capabilities, data acquisition and instant processing has improved but much still needs to be addressed. Deep sea micro-level biological phenomenon need reliable optical systems, an area which is curently being greatly improved. For biological observations these camera systems are essential though teh presence of the experimentalist has distinct advantages. The area of biology has seen good development but still poses a very strong challenge for technology. Biosensors which can detect bioluminescence and other biological activities would play a major role. Autonomous instrumentation outfitted with different types of in-situ sensors would collect data without disturbing the system. Acoustic and optical instrumentation combined on the same platform would be able to address these problems. For this autonomous vehicles with extremely low power requirements, long term deployment and data transmission capability via satellites after surfacing, needs development. As the data collected in a typical oceanographic expendition is large, onboard processing of that data becomes important. Fortunately computers today are highly advanced and capable of extremely high speed number crunching and major bottlenecks rarely occur in the on-line transfer of data from ship to shore. Improvements in this area need only consolidation of the various techniques available to optimize the use of ship time.
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