Next-Generation Marine Atmosphere Observing Instrumentation

The overall objective of this Phase II program is to continue and finalize the development of the dropsonde satellite data transmission device and back-end data retrieval system. This design and development effort will yield a number of prototype units to be integrated with the Yankee Environmental Systems dropsonde being developed concurrently. The combined device will be a more automated system that does not rely on operator intervention for deployment, and provides significantly improved communications capabilities since the satellite data uplink eliminates the current point-to-point radio links between the sondes and the host aircraft. A simple, easy to use, web-based data retrieval system will provide all of the data aggregation functions in a manner that is transparent to the user.