Measuring and testing – Meteorology – Electric disturbance
Patent
1989-03-17
1991-04-16
Ruehl, Charles A.
Measuring and testing
Meteorology
Electric disturbance
367 4, 441 1, G01W 100
Patent
active
050072854
ABSTRACT:
A low-cost floating drifter adapted to accurately follow near-surface ocean currents and transmit periodically to monitoring satellites data and position-determining information. Global tracking of ocean currents is made economically and scientifically feasible by the use of large numbers of such drifters. The drifter includes a floating surface buoy in the approximate shape of an oblate spheroid and containing an electronic system, a slotted plane antenna, transmitter, sunrise and sunset detector, environmental sensors, buoy hull strain sensor and battery power supply. The surface buoy is stabilized and induced to follow ocean currents by a drogue suspended from the bottom center surface. The drogue includes a wire-cored buoyant rope of up to hundreds of meters in length and weighted to a slight negative buoyancy. The drogue may also include an elongated cylindrical sock of substantially greater diameter than the rope. By means of the sunrise and sunset detector and the electronic system, the transmitter is controlled to operate only during selected passes of a solar synchronous satellite so as to conserve the battery and permit unattended life of up to several years. By means of the hull strain sensor and the electronic system the transmitted signal contains data from which the drogue integrity can be determined. Other status and environmental data are also transmitted. The drifter has special provisions to resist corrosion, fish-bite damage and biological fouling.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3281765 (1966-10-01), Taplin
patent: 3543228 (1970-11-01), Farmer et al.
Cheney et al., "Air Deployment of Satellite-Trucked Drifters", J. Geoph. Res., vol. 85, No. C5, May 1980, pp. 2773-2778.
Petersohn et al., "DOPY-a Minimum Motions Drifting Data Buoy", Conf. Oceans '79, San Diego, Ca., 9/79, pp. 245-249.
Araujo Richard K.
Chhabra Narender K.
Dahlen John M.
Reid Robert W.
Scholten James R.
Ruehl Charles A.
The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory
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