Collaborative Proposal: Development of a Prototype Multi-Sensor Ocean Floor Observatory on the MARS Cable

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The PIs propose to develop a hardware/software interface system that will allow the acquisition of various scientific data from a seafloor in observatory mode, using seafloor cables to provide power and communications. The main objective is to provide a system, based as much as possible on off-the-shelf technology, that will allow: connection of scientific instruments that are not in the immediate vicinity of a cable node and therefore require an extension cable, connection of multiple sensors with different interfaces (analog and digital), data rates, and other requirements to the extension cable, data acquisition as part of an existing continuous and real time monitoring system. There is a unique opportunity for this development with the conjunction of: the planned installation of the MARS cable and the proximity of the MARS cable path to the existing ocean floor broadband seismic MOBB station. This project will define, design, fabricate, and install the interfaces necessary to have MOBB installed on the MARS cable to fully exploit the power of the existing instrumentation and the benefits provided by MARS. In particular, the PIs propose to adapt to the cabled observatory environment, the AUDL (Advanced Underwater Data Logger) electronics module currently being developed by GEOsense for autonomous seafloor deployments, as well as software for on-shore data acquisition and remote communication with the sensors on the seafloor. The components developed will then be available for connecting other seafloor sensors to MARS and for replication on other cables. The proposed system is based on a commercially available datalogger, a Science Instrument Interface Module (SIIM) that will be freely available to other users, and software for data telemetry and shore-based acquisition and data distribution software based on Freeorb. Borader ImpactsThis work is necessary if the OOI and other ocean observatory programs are to meet their potential. Its uses go far beyond the application proposed here. The educational impact was limited although these PIs have an excellent track record of including students in their funded work.