NOPP P.I.
Meeting Minutes
January 5, 1999
Present: Rollie Barnaby (UNH), Ann Bucklin, chair ( UNH), Ken
Ekstrom (MIT), Cliff Goudey (MIT Sea Grant), Bob Groman (WHOI),
Dave Hosom (WHOI),
Joe Novello (Alpha-Tron), Craig Pendleton (NAMA - Portland Fish Exchange),
Peter Wiebe (WHOI), Gary Williams (Clearwater Inst.),
Absent: Hartley Hoskins (WHOI), David Mountain (NMFS),
Guest: none
A meeting of the Project LENA investigators was held January 5, 1999 at
the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The meeting began at 10:00am.
Ann distributed an agenda for the meeting and
asked Bob to be the meeting recorder. Ann also distributed
- the abstract for here ASLO talk entitled "Oceanographic and Fisheries Data
Collecction and Telemetry from Commercial Fishing Vessels";
- an outline for her ASLO talk; and
- original summary budgets for each of the participants.
Call for additional agenda items
Ken mentioned that he is pursuing the Value Added Program from the Maptech people
in order to use their maps and programs within our system.
Peter mentioned that he had experimented with the CAP'N program and found it
very useful to use during his cruises. However, he noted that the software
slowed down the system the more it was used, and that eventually, after about
36 hours, the PC would require a reboot.
Specifications and selection of system hardware
There was an exchange of engineering diagrams, with Ken handing out his
System Hardware and
System Software
diagrams again, and Joe handing out his diagram as well. [Joe, I need another
copy of your diagram so I can scan it it, or send me the original digital
version. Thanks.]
We discussed preparing a Powerpoint-based demonstration so that Craig, Rollie,
Joe, et al.
could better present the proposed capabilities of the system and allow for
fishermen feedback on its design. We decided to meet before the upcoming
Fishermen Forum meeting in Samosett, March 4-6, in order to review the progress
of this demonstration. Bob was assigned to to lead the design of the mockup
of the demonstration, with help from Ken, Joe, Rolly, and Cliff. Bob suggested
that the demonstration be set up using a web browser as the front end,
although all required files would be local so that the demonstration could
be done on a stand-alone machine. We agreed to meet in February to review
this demonstration.
Craig will look for booth space at the Fishermen Formum and Bob will meet with
those interested prior to our February meeting for additional work on the
user interface.
Net data
There was a discussion about net data, and whether it could be handled by the
Athena data acquisition system. The answer was yes, it could, and that the polling
would be not as often as other sensors. This is handled during the Athena
configuration phase.
It was agreed that there was a three to one wire angle used during tows and that
this could be used for the setback calculate of the net gear.
We discussed using a one (1) second sampling rate going down, and a one (1)
minute sampling rate while the net was along the bottom. Tows are
approximately five (5) hours long. Gary thought that 32K of memory would be
sufficient to store these (compressed) data until they could be telemetered
to the main
system. Please provide any additional feedback to Gary by March.
We discussed the time stamping procedure for the net gear. We discussed
the pros and cons of a standard repetition rate versus a variable rate.
I believe that a variable rate was agreed to.
The positioning of the gear mounting sensor was also discussed. Gary
estimated that it would take 30 seconds to transmit the data to the main
system. Issues discussed included:
- When to transmit to the deck unit
- Need smarts not to give data to Athena until it is ready
- Connection issues - subcontract by Marcartney (Dave) or Impulse (Garry)
It was decided to leave the decision on connections to Gary, but they will be
based on the 485 standard. T's rather than
conjuction boxes will be used.
Software
We returned to software questions after lunch. It was noted, again, that there
is an electronic logbood project being undertaken my NMFS and that it may prove
helpful to use to follow their lead. For example, when we print out out
information, we should output the information in their format. Such information
as notes (via a comment window perhaps), gear changes, head gear, and weather
information should follow the form as best as reasonable.
Peter noted that the Oceanus' implementation of the Athena software provides
web
based display of the previous 24 hours worth of data as plots. Peter will look
into this (by contacting Jim Akens 508-289-3294) to see whether any of this software
would be useful to us.)
We discussed the possibility of the system sending diagnostic e-mail ashore
if it detects a failing/failed sensor.
There are different ways of specifying species names, including NMFS's way,
as well ways defined by the fish auctions.
We need to revisit what data will doe to the U.S. GLOBEC Georges Bank
data system and there was agreement that a moc-up of a "Globec view" of the
data would be useful. This discussion then led into a further discussion of
what are the products and features of the project, such as satellite images,
smoothed data (i.e. no locations of vessels shown), and data sent to the
National Weather Service.
Vessel Location System
Gary Powers and Charlies Houston can provide us with information about the
VLS. It used Boat Tracs. We need to find out whether we can interface to
this system. David M. should be contacted for additional information
to see if this would be possible.
Laptop vs. desktop system
Ken and Cliff will pick a PC to be used at sea. These machines will be
purchased via Joe's budget. Using these machines
as the basis for what the machine should look like, Joe can lead a build
vs. buy discussion at a future meeting. However, the actual purchase will
be delayed until the machines are needed since it's likey the prices
will drop the longer we wait.
Fish Auction Server Machines
Bob distribued a sample configured for a fish auction
server machine.
These machines will be running Linux. One of the issues is how to connect
these machines to the internet since the Fish Auctions use ISP's via dial-up
modems, which are usually only active when needed. There are dedicated
phone and ISP charges to consider. Bob will contact the Fish Auctions in
order to pin down these charges.
Budget Issues
Data sensor precision
It was noted that the WOCE requirements for sea surface temperature precision
is 0.01°C accuracy. Dave said that all IMET sensors are WOCE quality
instruments. But it was noted that weather forecast people who want wind,
barametric pressure, don't need "climate quality" (i.e. WOCE quality)
measurements, but are satisfied with sea surface temperature to
0.1°C accuracy. A new requirement by climate (WOCE specification)
people is for sea surface temperature to 0.01°C from as many
locations as possible.
These accuracy differences make a major impact on the cost of
the basic sensor. Next time we need to revisit these costs and understand
the impact of the IMET quality sensors on the costs. A sensor could be
purchased at 60% of list, or about $3,725 plus $345 for calibration.
Ship mounted temperature sensor was a budget issue as well.
Inmarsat-C
Joe will be purchasing the Inmarsat C transmister/receiver via his budget and
COMSAT costs are included in Peter's budget.
Bilge water and engine oil temperature sensors
These will be discussed at a future meeting.
ASLO talk
Ann requested that images and text for the ASLO presentation be sent to Peter
by January 21 for preparation of viewgraphs. [The viewgraphs
used are now available
on-line.
Milestones
It was agreed that we should have December 1999 sea-trials demonstration of the
system. This implied that we should finish hardware installation by June 1, and
begin testing July 1.
The next meeting will be February 10. [Editor's note: this meeting was
rescheduled to February 16.]
The meeting adjourned at 3:30pm.
Submitted by: R. Groman
Original: February 12, 1999
Edited: February 17, 1999
Edited: December 17, 1999