Open AccessDevelopment of a Flexible, Extendable, and Low-Cost Control Unit for Surface Drifters
Author(s) -
Andrea Giudici,
Tomas Torsvik,
Tarmo Soomere
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
journal of atmospheric and oceanic technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.774
H-Index - 124
eISSN - 1520-0426
pISSN - 0739-0572
DOI - 10.1175/jtech-d-16-0116.1
Subject(s) - drifter , general packet radio service , computer science , real time computing , global positioning system , gsm , footprint , microcontroller , control unit , radio control , assisted gps , computer hardware , embedded system , telecommunications , wireless , paleontology , physics , lagrangian , mathematical physics , biology , operating system
An extensible, low-cost drifter control unit (VELELLA) design is presented, developed for use in drifters that are deployed in inland water bodies or near-coast regions. The control unit is custom built from basic components built around a small footprint microcontroller, making use of a GPS receiver for position tracking, a Global System for Mobile Communications [Groupe SpécialMobile (GSM)] radio for data transmission, and two sensor buses to handle analog and digital data generated by an arbitrary array of external sensors. A cloud-based data collection platform has been implemented to receive and store data transmitted over general packet radio service (GPRS) from the drifter. The control unit was found to perform satisfactorily in operational testing, providing data at subhertz frequency for position and temperature during extended time. However, some issues related to temporary data loss and power consumption spikes were identified, indicating that some further development of the control unit is required to achieve a production-ready platform for extensive and prolonged field operations.