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Argos, satellite telemetry solution for new low-cost European WAVY drifters

Mar 18, 2019

The Argos system made it possible to relay the first in-situ observations of the open ocean by satellite in the early 1980s and continues to be a relevant technology for ocean science today, especially given that the new Kinéis constellation will launch 20 Argos-compatible nanosats starting in 2021. That is why a consortium of ten European institutions led by Deimos Space, have selected Argos as the satellite system behind a new generation of drifting buoys, called WAVY, within the framework of an H2020-funded project, MELOA.

Revolutionizing in-situ observation networks

MELOA (Multi-purpose/Multi-sensor Extra Light Oceanography Apparatus) is a H2020 project that will run from December 2017 to February 2021. The goal of this project is to develop a range of drifter units called WAVY. WAVY will revolutionize current in-situ observation networks because they are designed to be low-cost, easy to deploy, highly versatile and low maintenance.

The entire range of WAVY buoys will be tested by a wide community of oceanographers and meteorologists in test campaigns in Europe.

More info about Oceanography, Meteorology, Hydrology, Glaciology

Argos to relay WAVY data from the open oceans

Argos modem

The Argos modem and antenna developed within the MELOA project.

Argos was chosen as the satellite telemetry system for WAVY’s open ocean observations because of the system’s low energy consumption and robustness. The new Argos Transceiver developed within the project is based on the Artic Chipset, it will provide a very low consumption and low-cost solution for connecting assets at sea. The Artic chipset will provide the latest Argos functionalities as using the downlink for satellite pass prediction and Argos-4 HighData rate transfer for big packets of data like Waves Spectra information.

CLS will process the data collected by WAVY buoys and deliver through the MELOA portal as open data to the board of scientists involved in the project but also to operational ocean and weather community.

The ultimate goal of this project is to inspire new buoy manufacturers to produce low-cost buoys based on this innovative H2020 project and provide a new generation of oceanographers with affordable alternatives to fill in the gaps of our current ocean observing networks.

Learn more

Learn more about the project: https://www.ec-meloa.eu/

Project partners: https://www.ec-meloa.eu/pages/the-consortium

Watch the video

Contact the Argos team