GeoTag: A New Archival Tag for the Improved Tracking of Marine Organisms

Systems Science Applications proposes to design an archival tag that includes three new sensors: a magnetometer, accelerometer, and dual channel radiometer. The magnetometer will be corrected for pitch, roll, and transient accelerations by data from the accelerometer. The resulting vertical and horizontal magnetic intensity measurements will be combined with NOAA world magnetic maps to provide independent estimates of geolocation. The dual channel radiometer measurement of upwelling irradiance in two spectral bands will provide a good estimate of the chlorophyll concentration. This data will then be combined with satellite chlorophyll imagery to provide an additional independent estimate of geolocation. We believe that the addition of these two mechanisms will significantly improve tag geolocation accuracy. During Phase I we will develop a prototype of the new sensors and conduct computer simulations to quantify improvements to geolocation accuracy. We will also evaluate the new sensors and conduct computer simulations to quantify improvements to geolocation accuracy. We will also evaluate memory utilization, duty cycle, and data compression strategies to maximize tag life while minimizing power consumption. Finally, we will analyze the full set of tag hardware components and design the physical board layout to verify that the resulting tag will meet stated size, weight, power, and cost requirements before building and testing the new tag in Phase II.