Medusa: the design and development of a TCP/IP communications nexus for the MOOS Portable Ocean Observatory Program

Author

Meese, Timothy ; Radochonski, Wayne ; Chaffey, Mark

Author_Institution

Monterey Bay Aquarium Res. Inst., Moss Landing, CA

fYear

2005

fDate

17-23 Sept. 2005

Firstpage

1374

Abstract

One of the key capabilities envisioned of MOOS (MBARI Ocean Observing System) is to provide both power and communications to oceanographic instrumentation in the benthic environment. With many technical elements, such as low-power instrument control ´nodes´ and EOM (electro optical mechanical) cabling being proven at sea, the need to manage TCP/IP communications over a fiber optic link to the benthic environment became apparent. This requirement led to the construction of a custom network switch with fiber optic capability named Medusa. Medusa provides the foundation for MOOS undersea networks with managed L2 TCP/IP packet switching including fault tolerance and enhanced diagnostic capabilities for gauging the health of the undersea network. This paper describes the overall requirements, design, software capabilities, and features of the Medusa platform

Keywords

oceanographic equipment; optical fibre networks; optical links; packet switching; telecommunication network management; transport protocols; MBARI Ocean Observing System; MOOS Portable Ocean Observatory Program; Medusa platform; TCP/IP communications; benthic environment; electrooptical mechanical; fiber optic link; managed L2 TCP/IP packet switching; network switch; oceanographic instrumentation; undersea networks; Communication cables; Communication system control; Instruments; Mechanical cables; Observatories; Oceans; Optical control; Optical fibers; TCPIP; Underwater communication;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

OCEANS, 2005. Proceedings of MTS/IEEE

Conference_Location

Washington, DC

Print_ISBN

0-933957-34-3

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/OCEANS.2005.1639946

Filename

1639946