DBCP DRIFTER IRIDIUM PILOT PROJECT
At its twenty-sixth session, La Jolla, USA, 16-20 October 2006, the Data Buoy Cooperation Panel
(DBCP) agreed to actively pursue technology evaluation initiatives. A proposal to establish an
Iridium Pilot Project was presented to the session, and the Panel agreed that it was now in a
position to put into action the various additional activities that it had approved in principle during the
session, particularly the Iridium Pilot Project.
This document, approved by the DBCP Executive Board, will establish the “DBCP drifter Iridium
Pilot Project”, which will run for a period of two years as of November 2006, the project’s Terms Of
Reference and its Steering Team. The pilot project is particularly timely in view of developments in
GEOSS and disaster monitoring, in recognition of the ways in which the WMO proposes to handle
its future information requirements (e.g. WMO Information System), and that many Panel members
are already active with Iridium. In addition, the use of GPS for location purposes will provide for
precise timing of observations for future observational requirements.
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 2
1) Aims of the Pilot Project
In the first instance, the goal of the Pilot Project will be to evaluate and demonstrate the operational
use of Iridium satellite data telecommunication technology for the real-time collection of drifter data
in support of the WWW, GOOS, and GCOS applications, and the WMO Natural Disaster
Prevention and Mitigation Programme. In addition, the Pilot Project will aim to evaluate whether
this can be realized in a cost effective way, on a global basis, and under various ocean conditions.
Deployment of drifters in data sparse areas of interest to developing countries will also be targeted.
The Pilot Project will seek to evaluate the feasibility of Iridium technology for real-time
telecommunication of drifter data, relating to:
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
Operating a global observing system (at least 50 units deployed worldwide);
Network reliability and survivability;
Data throughput in terms of quantity and timeliness;
Data management, especially data formatting and insertion on the GTS;
Operational shipment and deployment, including rapid response options (e.g. ahead of
tropical cyclones);
6) Cooperation with developing countries in terms of drifter deployment and Iridium technology
transfer;
7) Collaboration with manufacturers to promote free availability of Iridium modems and drifters
8) Demonstrating overall cost effectiveness (manufacturing, transmission, data processing,
life-time);
2) Evaluation of the global system
A sufficient number of drifters will have to be deployed in order to provide reliable evaluation of
performance and to assess whether an Iridium drifter network can work in any ocean area and
under various ocean conditions. When referring to a global observing system it is understood that
drifters used for this project will be deployed in all ocean basins, including both the Northern and
Southern Hemispheres, in tropical regions, in mid-to-high latitudes, and in the Polar regions. The
goal is to show that the instruments will work in harsh sea environments, high winds, and under a
wide range of temperatures. To that end, it is proposed to build and deploy at least 50 units.
3) Support to Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation applications
Of particular interest will be hurricane and storm surges monitoring and forecast activities. All
drifters will measure SST and most will be drogued at 15 metres. Some of the units will be
deployed as hurricane drifters and report one or more of the following variables: sea level pressure,
wind speed, wind direction, waves, sub-surface temperature profiles using thermistor strings.
Development of rapid deployment technology will be part of the Pilot Project’s activities
(deployment package, certification for air deployment, small hull, two-way communications for
targeted/adaptive sampling (e.g. storm buoy mode).
4) Capacity Building
Developing countries will be invited to participate in the Pilot Project by providing for deployment
opportunities in their regions of interest. The Pilot Project may wish to highlight deployments of
drifters in the Western Indian Ocean and/or the Gulf of Guinea as these have been identified as
data sparse areas. The Pilot Project will seek transfer of technology through the participation of
experts from developing countries in the project and through publication of documentation.
5) Hardware
Buoy operators and manufacturers will be invited to participate in the Pilot Project so as to:

Identify appropriate transmitters and GPS units (e.g. Iridium 9601 device).
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 3
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Mount these on drifters and developing appropriate on-board software.
Provide cost effective manufacturing. A sufficiently large number of drifters will be equipped
with such transmitters and GPS receivers and the resulting drifter design should permit
routine production of operational units at reasonable cost.
Ensure that the electric power consumption is acceptable so that drifter life-times exceeding
one year are achieved. The overall cost effectiveness of Iridium drifters will have to be
assessed through the computation of metrics involving hardware, packaging, shipping,
satellite data transmission, and data processing costs.
Collaborate in the design of reliable deployment packages for deployment by ship and/or air,
and reliability of drifter shipping to remote regions and developing countries.
6) Data Management
The Pilot Project will assess the feasibility of converting collected data to geo-physical units,
applying appropriate automatic quality control procedures, encoding the data according to WMO
GTS standards, and distributing the data in real-time onto the GTS. Membership of the pilot project
will include data management centres or agencies which are willing and able to provide such
support.
Pilot Project membership will also include the DBCP Evaluation Group, who will assist in the
definition of a standard Iridium data transmission message format, and in the evaluation of results
(e.g. see format being used by Météo France in annex D).
7) Iridium and its VAR network, Interested buoy operators, DBCP members, and other
interested partners
This group will be invited to offer one or more of the following:
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Provision of Iridium data telecommunication costs (air time)
Provision of Iridium data telecommunication units
Provision of drifters
Testing and calibrating instruments
Deployment of drifters in their area of interest
Shipping units to remote regions and developing countries
Provision of deployment opportunities
Assistance with the establishment of a data routing architecture
Assistance with the collection of performance statistics (eg. Transmission failure rates, bit
errors, call drops, timeliness, etc.)
8) DBCP Evaluation Group
The Evaluation Group will specifically address the following issues;
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Instrument performance evaluation
Evaluation of the quality of returned GPS fixes
Evaluation of data timeliness
Designing and proposing a standard Iridium data transmission message format (e.g. see
annex D)
Proposing engineering/housekeeping parameters to be transmitted
Proposing best ways of measuring certain variables (e.g. temperature profiles, wave data)
Proposing best way of using two-way satellite data telecommunication for adaptive/targeted
sampling (e.g. storm mode)
9) Project organization, time frame and reporting
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 4
A Steering Team for the Pilot Project has been established. The Steering Team is chaired by the
DBCP Chair. The Terms of Reference and Membership for the Pilot Project Steering Team are
given in Annex A.
The Pilot Project will start as of November 2006 for an initial two-year period and will report to the
DBCP on progress at its annual sessions. The Steering Team will communicate mainly via email
and will meet as the need arises. Participants at Pilot Project meetings will be expected to attend at
their own expense although some limited funding might be considered by WMO to support such
meetings. Secretariat support for the PP will be provided by WMO and IOC.
10) Initial Membership and participation
Participation in this Pilot Project is open to other organizations, agencies, institutes, private
companies willing to commit resources to the Pilot Project. Interested parties are invited to submit
a letter of intent to the DBCP Chair with copy to the WMO and IOC Secretariats. The letter of intent
should include indication of the likely support/facilities that will be offered to the Pilot Project.
The list of individuals who expressed interest in the Pilot Project is given in Annex B. Participating
agencies and their initial commitments are listed in Annex C. Others are free to join provided they
have contributions to make to the Pilot Project.
11) Coordination and Information Exchange
The Technical Coordinator of the DBCP, Ms Hester Viola (viola@jcommops.org), will provide
coordination for the Pilot Project. The Coordinator will collect and compile information from the
participants, including the following:




List of commitments by the participants
Deployment plans
List of deployed Iridium drifters, including WMO numbers, GTS bulletin headers,
deployment information (date, time, location, type), lists of installed sensors, and any
additional technological information and metadata that might be useful for the Pilot Project
Quality evaluation results (life-time, quality of transmission, timeliness, data quality)
A mailing list for the Pilot Project will be established: iridium-pp@jcommops.org.
Individuals interested in being registered with the mailing list are invited to contact the Technical
Coordinator of the DBCP.
A “Wikipedia” web site will be established for the Pilot Project by the Technical Coordinator of the
DBCP. Exact URL for the web site will be communicated by email to the participants.
12) Workplan
An initial work-plan for the Pilot Project will be drafted by the Chair of the Steering Team.
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 5
Annex A
Terms of Reference for the Steering Team of the
DBCP Drifter Iridium Pilot Project
(DBCP Iridum-PP)
The Pilot Project will evaluate and demonstrate the operational use of Iridium Satellite data
telecommunication technology for the real-time collection of drifter data in support of the WWW,
GOOS, GCOS, and Natural Disaster Prevention and Mitigation applications.
The Pilot Project will run for an initial two-year period as of November 2006 and will report to the
DBCP on progress at its annual sessions.
The Pilot Project will seek to evaluate the feasibility of Iridium technology for drifters in terms of:
9) Operating a global observing system (at least 50 units deployed worldwide);
10) Network reliability and survivability;
11) Data throughput in terms of quantity and timeliness;
12) Data management, especially data formatting and insertion on the GTS;
13) Operational shipment and deployment, including rapid response options;
14) Cooperation with developing countries in terms of drifter deployment and Iridium technology
transfer;
15) Collaboration with manufacturers to promote free availability of Iridium modems and drifters
16) Overall cost effectiveness (manufacturing, transmission, data processing, life-time);
The Steering Team is tasked to guide the Pilot Project in achieving the tasks described above.
Steering Team Membership
The Steering Team is comprised of the following individuals:
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David Meldrum, SAMS, UK, Chair, Iridium PP Steering Team (David.Meldrum@sams.ac.uk)
Hester Viola, Technical Coordinator, DBCP, France (viola@jcommops.org)
Jon Turton, MetOffice, UK (jon.turton@metoffice.gov.uk)
Yvonne Cook, MSC, Environment Canada (Yvonne.Cook@ec.gc.ca)
Bill Burnett, NOAA/NDBC, USA (Bill.Burnett@noaa.gov)
Steve Piotrowicz, Ocean US (steve.piotrowicz@noaa.gov)
Sergey Mothyzev, Marlin Yug, Ukraine (motyzhev@marlin-yug.com)
Bill Woodward, CLS America, USA (bwoodward @clsamerica.com)
Ngoc Hoang, NAL Research Corporation, USA (nth@nalresearch.com)
M. Ravichandran, INCOIS, India (ravi@incois.gov.in)
Secretariat support is being provided by WMO and IOC. Contact points:


Etienne Charpentier, WMO, Switzerland (echarpentier@wmo.int)
Boram Lee, IOC, France (b.lee@unesco.org)
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 6
Annex B
DBCP Drifter Iridium Pilot Project initial membership
The Pilot Project includes, to the greatest extent feasible, participants from the affected and
interested marine community groups. The following individuals have expressed interest in
participating in the Pilot Project:
Chairperson, Iridium PP

David Meldrum, SAMS, UK, Chair, DBCP (David.Meldrum@sams.ac.uk)
Coordination and information exchange

Hester Viola, Technical Coordinator of the DBCP, JCOMMOPS, France
(viola@jcommops.org)
Buoy operators, instrument evaluation, contributors
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Elizabeth Horton, Navoceano, USA, Vice-Chair, DBCP (elizabeth.horton@navy.mil)
Steve Piotrowicz, Ocean US, USA (steve.piotrowicz@noaa.gov)
Jon Turton, Met Office, UK (jon.turton@metoffice.gov.uk)
Yvonne Cook, MSC, Environment Canada, Canada (Yvonne.Cook@ec.gc.ca)
Graeme Ball, BOM, Australia (G.Ball@bom.gov.au)
Ali Mafimbo, KMD, Kenya (mafimbo@meteo.go.ke, mafimbo@yahoo.com)
Jean Rolland, E-SURFMAR, France (jean.rolland@meteo.fr)
Julie Fletcher, MSNZ, New Zealand (fletcher@metservice.com)
Julie Thomas, SIO, USA (jot@cdip.ucsd.edu)
K. Premkumar, NIOT, India (prem@niot.res.in)
M. Ravichandran, INCOIS, India (ravi@incois.gov.in)
Iridium
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Scott Scheimreif, Iridium Satellite LLC, USA (Scott.Scheimreif@iridium.com)
Bill Woodward, CLS America, USA (bwoodward @clsamerica.com)
Data Management, GTS
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Bill Burnett, NOAA/NDBC, USA, Chair, DBCP Evaluation Group (Bill.Burnett@noaa.gov)
Christian Ortega, CLS, France (christian.ortega@cls.fr)
Manufacturers
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Jeff Wingenroth, Technocean, USA (jw@technocean.com)
Sergey Mothyzev, Marlin Yug, Ukraine (marlin@stel.sebastopol.ua)
Andy Sybrandy, Pacific Gyre, USA (info@pacificgyre.com)
Tony Chedrawy, Metocean, Canada (tony@metocean.com)
Ngoc Hoang, NAL Research Corporation (nth@nalresearch.com)
Reo Phillips, Axys, Canada (rphillips@axys.com)
Helen Cussen, Trident Sensors, UK (helen@tridentsensors.com)
Secretariats
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Etienne Charpentier, WMO, Switzerland (echarpentier@wmo.int)
Boram Lee, IOC, France (b.lee@unesco.org)
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 7
Annex C
Iridium Pilot Project participating agencies and initial commitments
Agency
DBCP
SAMS
Ocean.US
NOAA/AOML
Meteo-France
UK Met Office
US Coast Guards
Environment
Canada
Commander,
Naval
Meteorology and
Oceanography
Command
Kenyan
Meteorological
Department
Australian BOM
MSNZ, New
Zealand
SAWS, South
Africa
INCOIS
Iridium Satellite
LLC
CLS
CLS America
NOAA/NDBC
NAL Research
Corporation
Trident Sensors
Technocean
Marlin Yug
Pacific Gyre
Metocean
Axys
WMO
IOC
TOTAL
Commitment
Additional cost to put Iridium on drifters (call for
proposals for 10 drifters)
10 Drifters (depl. Location to be decided), 1 in
Antarctica
Funding for Iridium modems, Iridium upgrades,
and/or Iridium air time
Drifters
5 Drifters, transmission format (e.g. annex D), GTS
data distribution for the committed drifters
Drifters (Southern Ocean)
Drifters (Davis type)
Barometer upgrades with Iridium, tests on ships
(AVOS) and moorings
Drifters, Air Deployments, liaison with US Coast
Guards
Drifters 2007
10
Drifters 2008
11
5
2
2
Deployments (Western Indian Ocean)
Deployments (Indian Ocean, Southern Ocean)
Deployments (Tasman Sea)
Deployments (South Atlantic, Indian Ocean,
Southern Ocean)
3 drifters (Indian Ocean), deployments (Indian
Ocean), assistance with the collection of
performance statistics.
To be defined
3
Data Management/QC/GTS
Iridium Value Added Reseller, Iridium data
telecommunication
Data Management/QC/GTS
To be defined
To be defined
Technological developments, quality evaluation,
additional cost to put Iridium on drifters
Technological developments, model integration,
deployments, transmission formats
3 SVP drifters (excluding air time, barometer)
Iridium air time, Drifter Engineering and
Development, investigations regarding Data
Management/QC/GTS
Technical evaluation and reporting, web display,
GTS distrib. testing, integration in buoys and AVOS
Secretariat’s support
Secretariat’s support
3
36
20
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 8
Annex D
Iridium transmission format
Of Météo France SVP-B prototype drifters
Two prototypes were ordered to Metocean in 2006. They were delivered by the end of September.
Tested ashore – and in the Bay of Brest during a few hours – they show a nominal functioning.
One of them was deployed off France the 26 October 2006 and started reporting on GTS under
WMO number 62508, and SSVX13 LFPW GTS bulletin header. The second is planned for
deployment East of Newfoundland in mid-November 2006.
1. Format (version 2 – used on these first two prototypes)
Parameter
Mode
Bits Pos
Min
Max
Formula
2
0
0
3 Fixed = 3 (011)
Time (since Jan. 1st 00:00 )
16
2
0
Latitude
20
18
-90
98 Lat (deg) = n*0.00018 - 90
Longitude
21
38
-180
197 Lon (deg) = n*0.00018 - 180
Air pressure
11
49
850
SST
9
60
-5
Pressure tendancy
9
69
-25.5
25.6 dP (hPa) = n*0.1 - 25.5
Submergence count
6
78
0
100 Subm. (%) = n * 1.5873
Battery voltage
3
84
10.75
Time to first GPS fix
7
87
0
254 TTFF (s) = n * 2
Iridium transmission duration
8
94
0
255 SBDT (s) = n
Data Checksum
8
102
0
255 8 lowest bits of the sum of the
first 14 bytes
16383
Hour (UTC) = n * 0.25
1054.7 AP (hPa) = n*0.1 + 850
35.88
16.75
SST (°C) = n*0.08 - 5
Vbat (V) = n*0.75 + 10.75
Columns :
Mode is used to describe the type of data (Meteo-France convention - “3” is used for
drifting buoys).
Column “Bits” : length of the word in bits for the parameter;
Column “Pos” : Start bit in the message for the parameter;
For some parameters, “Max” is just an approximation;
Total length of the message : 15 bytes.
Remarks for version 3 :
1. We need a second “Time” parameter for the position. As for the observation time it will be
the number of quarter of an hour elapsed since the 1st January of the current year. Two
more bytes will be needed.
2. As far as the Iridium transmitter has it owns checksum, it seems not necessary to keep an
additional one in the message.
DBCP drifter Iridium Pilot Project, Nov. 2006, p. 9
2. Operating principle for the first two prototypes:
-
One observation every hour. One GPS position 8 times a day: 00, 03, 06, 09…
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Iridium transmission at HH+11 minutes;
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Raw data are received through email within one minute (two addresses : one for operational
use, one for test purposes);
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GTS data transmission from CMM during the software evaluation (first few weeks after
deployment); from Météo-France operational transmission service later. The software is
almost ready;
-
WMO ids will be 62508 and 62509.
3. Studies:
Each Iridium transmission is fitted with a location and an error estimation (CEPRadius).
Comparisons between Iridium and GPS positions have been carried out when the buoys were
ashore. They have been promising, at least for meteorological purposes.
An evaluation of Iridium locations will be conducted to see if the buoys could work without GPS.
The principle would consist in keeping the most recent reliable positions into the data processing
ashore in order to be able to filter wrong ones.
The GPS is energy consuming. The two prototypes get only 8 GPS positions a day to save energy.
This sampling will spend more energy than for Argos drifters.
The advantage/drawbacks of 24 regularly sampled but inaccurate Iridium positions compared to
the present 8-10 Argos positions provided by standard SVP-B drifters and 4 accurate GPS
positions will be assessed.
Without GPS :
-
the lifetime of the drifters will be significantly higher (no device to power and shorter Iridium
SBD message : 8 bytes instead of 16);
-
their cost will be lower.
Pierre Blouch, Météo France