Design, Development and Validation of Smart Sensor Drifting Node with INSAT Telemetry for Oceanographic Applications

Drifter buoys are globally deployed to measure surface meteorological and oceanographic variables. A Lagrangian drifting buoy (Pradyu II) to measure sea-surface temperature and current has been developed at the National Institute of Ocean Technology, Chennai. The drifter buoy with geostationary satellite communication (INSAT-3C) to have near real-time data at every hour is a unique attempt in the history of drifting buoy nodes. This article describes Pradyu II drifting buoy node, design of low-power embedded system, communication network and field test results from an experiment conducted in the Bay of Bengal during March-April 2013. The results from Pradyu II are compared with commercially available drifting buoy (Marlin-Yug), moored data buoy (BD11) and remotely sensed data.