Kenneth M Doherty

US Patent:

62717677, Aug 7, 2001

Filed:

May 1, 1995

Appl. No.:

8/434898

Inventors:

Daniel Frye - North Falmouth MA
Alan Fougere - North Falmouth MA
Kenneth Doherty - Woods Hole MA
Neil Brown - West Falmouth MA

Assignee:

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution - Woods Hole MA

International Classification:

G01V 300
G08C 1906
H04Q 522

US Classification:

3408532

Abstract:

The present invention provides a subsurface instrument and a system for the collection and transmission of deep ocean data utilizing standard buoy mooring lines. The system includes a moored surface buoy and a submerged data collection instrument both inductively coupled to the buoy cable. The instrument has a transducer responsive to the characteristics of seawater. A slave modem is interconnected to the transducer through an A/D converter allowing analog transducer signals to be converted to standard telephone modem signals. The modem signals are inductively coupled into the mooring cable and received by a master modem located in the buoy. The buoy may contain a satellite transceiver allowing transmission of the signals to a remote location. The subsurface instrument is battery powered and battery life is extended by powering down when the instrument is not in use. Upon receipt of a signal from the master modem or an internal timer, a wake-up circuit in the instrument is activated causing the transmission of ocean data to be initiated.