Data Acquisition

The GoMOOS buoy processing system acquires its data primarily via cell phone communication with the buoys themselves. The buoys call in to UMaine at specified times to the PC known as helmholtz (either via cell or web modem connections), which has the Campbell software on it. After it arrives, it is then available to ekman, which is the primary compute engine.

An alternate backup route is via the GOES satellite system. Every hour (generally after the cell phone transmission is attempted) the buoys upload their data, which makes its way to the downlink station at Wallops, VA. At this point it is possible for micmac to retrieve the data and process it as well. Due to bandwidth considerations, the GOES data stream is usually a subset of the cell phone data stream.