Low power satellite communication for Ocean observation — INSAT-MSS

National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT) has installed MET-Ocean observatory at Gulf of Khambhat (GoK), Gujarat to collect time series measurements of MET parameters for Kalpasar project. Meteorological, Ocean parameters are required for ocean modeling for construction of dam at Gulf of Khambhat, Gujarat. In general, these platforms are battery based solar powered embedded systems with data transfer using satellite wireless communication. Hence we need to select all devices, sensors and other components having low power consumption to have compact battery, solar power system and also to have longer battery life with high data security. However, the communication systems are having more idle current (Quasi current) which plays a major role in sizing and selecting the power system in the satellite communication. The Indian satellite INSAT-3C which uses one MSS transponder need very low power (idle~40mA) for the data transmission. Hence INSAT-MSS have been selected as low power satellite data transmission for this project and implemented successfully. In this paper, the design of Ocean Observatory System and its Architecture using low power INSAT-MSS is presented along with its power consumption details, message length, Data formatting, laboratory testing, system installation and successful data reception along with its reliability & feasibilities for the years of operation.