Integration of Argos-3 PMTS

Designed as a modem that communicates with the entire Argos satellite constellation, the PMT should seduce the oceanographic community, says Michel Guigue, Argos-3 PMT project manager. "Argos-3 and the PMT offer interesting new features. It is a real revolution. Until now, Argos was a one-way communication system, but thanks to the new Argos-3 PMTs it is evolving into a two-way system. As a result, users will be able to transmit at least ten times more data, control their platforms remotely by sending commands such as switching ON/OFF or even modify a sensor sampling rate."

He adds: "Our 30 years of experience in this field have resulted in this exciting evolution towards the new two-way capabilities. The PMT offers great flexibility, as users simply configure the corresponding protocols to use the PMT as a classical one-way PTT or to upgrade it to two-way and optimized data collection."

Michel Guigue continues, "The two-way capability of the Argos-3 PMT will improve the cost, the consumption and lifetime as well as the size of Argos platforms. Floats for example will see their surface time dramatically reduced, which is a major breakthrough for this application."

The new PMT is indeed able to automatically receive information broadcasts and set up rendezvous with satellites to transmit data when they are in view. Its data collection is secured thanks to data reception acknowledgement by the satellite.

 "The advent of Argos-3 services changes the relationship of the SVP drifter to the Argos system. It offers the opportunity to improve data collection from drifting buoys", says Gary William, Clearwater Instrumentation CEO. "These changes come about because the PMT and Argos-3 satellites talk to each other, exchanging valuable information that can greatly improve drifter operations. Argos-3 now makes it possible to specify what data are desired, and to transmit these data in an economic and accurate way, thus making the equipment last longer".

The PMT has not only seduced manufacturers but also several users. The Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC), for example, is currently developing an Argos-3-equipped CO2 buoy. Next to that, the Instituto Canario de Ciencias Marinas -ICCM-  (Canaries, Spain) is currently integrating a PMT into a moored buoy for real time monitoring of meteorological and oceanographic parameters for long-time series in open ocean at the ESTOC site (European Station for Time Series in the Ocean at the Canary Islands) under the framework of -Red ACOMAR Canarias- and -EUROSITES- projects.

"Given the many enthusiastic responses from users and manufacturers to the Argos-3 PMT, we are now thinking of the development of a smaller Argos-3 transmitter that would suit the wildlife community's needs", says Michel Guigue.