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| General |
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 The METOCEAN Polar Ocean Profiling System (POPS) is designed for deployment on the Arctic ice cap. The POPS is an advanced generation payload for Ice Platforms. Past experience with sensors, telemetry and data acquisition have played a major role in the development of the POPS Platform.
The METOCEAN POPS Platform provides meteorological and oceanographic sub-surface data transmitted via IRIDIUM telemetry. The system consists of six (6) major elements:
- System Controller
- Compact Flash Data Logger
- Ice Platform
- Meteorological Sensors
- Data Telemetry and Global Positioning System
- Subsurface CTD Vertical Profiling System
All data acquisition, processing, formatting and messaging are managed by the METOCEAN CPU, which has been adapted from the highly successful ARGOS reporting drifting buoy family of products.
The illustration to the right shows a POPS Platform using closed-cell Ionomer® foam as the flotation collar. The system features a waterproof communication port for easy configuration and verification. The system power supply consists of "D size" lithium cells for long term deployment.
The subsurface system is mounted on a 0.156-inch diameter oceanographic cable. The cable is interfaced to the platform using a strain relief. The inductive modem ground plane is located on the top plate of the platform. Signals are passed to the POPS Platform using a waterproof connector.
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| Sensor Sampling |
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| The POPS Sub-Surface Vertical Profiling System samples salinity, temperature and depth (CTD) at a minimum of two samples per meter. The Vertical Profiling System communicates with the platform electronics via an inductive coupling system. Salinity, temperature and depth are measured from 800 (or 1000) meters up to 10 meters of depth and every hour while at parking depth (300m).
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| Data Transmit Format |
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| Data transmission is accomplished using IRIDIUM telemetry, which offers bi-directional communication. Like most forms of telemetry, the amount of data that can be sent is limited by either the physical constraints of the telemetry system or by the cost per byte of data. For these reasons, METOCEAN generally formats the data messages such that they require the least possible number of bytes to transmit. Checksums are also within each message and are used to detect nearly all data errors.
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