Antarctic Broadcasts: Broader Impacts Through Telepresence (ABBITT)

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The Antarctic Broadcasts: Broader Impacts Through Telepresence (ABBITT) project is a pilot project that has the potential to greatly improve education activities related to NSF-funded Antarctic research. The project will test technologies that have been developed for ship to shore transmissions in a region where they have not been used - extreme southern latitudes - and test the delivery of broader impact activities using this technology while at-sea onboard the R/V Lawrence M. Gould (LMG) and from the U.S. Palmer Field Station, located on the Antarctic peninsula. The LMG has a new ship's satellite antenna that should be capable of the broadcast quality service, but it has not been tested for this use. The Inner Space Center (ISC) at the University of Rhode Island's Graduate School of Oceanography is a leader in developing ship-to-shore telepresence technologies - communications technology that optimizes live video, audio, and data transmissions via advanced satellite and terrestrial networks that link remote locations to the rest of the world. The ISC serves research expeditions aboard several ships in the U.S. research fleet, as well as several privately owned research vessels. The ISC facility includes a fully equipped broadcast studio that allows for the production of professional quality programming and live, interactive broadcasts. The PIs propose to test this equipment aboard the LMG and at Palmer Station. They will test the system and produce live interactive broadcasts from the ship that will be delivered to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) during the testing phase.A new combination of technologies that have not been previously used in the Antarctic will be tested, including a Mobile Telepresence Unit (MTU) and a new shipboard antenna on the LMG. University of Rhode Island scientists will configure the MTU for the ship and install it in the shipboard laboratory. This system will integrate with the new Fleet XPress satellite telecommunication system and should be sufficient for video broadcasting and sending produced video clips ashore to be cut in during the outreach programs. Broadcasts will be conducted from the ship and from Palmer Station in Antarctica when weather and satellite footprints allow connection to the U.S. These broadcasts will be aired in the Q'rius Center auditorium at the Smithsonian NMNH, which has seating for about 100 museum visitors. The new capability supported by this award will expand options for communications from the Antarctic and Southern Ocean, providing additional capacity for both research and education.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.