MTE Instruments have been creating bespoke solutions for scientific research groups since 1982. Over time, the team have come to specialise in oceanographic equipment, partially due to their location next to the Gulf of St Lawrence, on the east coast of Canada. From the earliest iterations of their data buoys and underwater recorders, it’s been imperative that they could deliver real-time telemetry, for their customers’ maintenance and monitoring purposes.
The Viking Buoy overhaul
The Viking Buoy is MTE’s main platform, and has been deployed all over North America. The MTE team are in the process of overhauling the Viking Buoy to upgrade to a newer generation of solar panels, modernising the controller for an AI capable one and upgrading the communication system.
With the help of Ground Control and the RockREMOTE, MTE have been able to dramatically simplify their means of communicating with the buoy. From having to maintain and work with two means of communication, the MTE team now only have to work with one.
Why the RockREMOTE and Certus 100 works for MTE
- Bi-directional communication
- Ability to transmit about 10 MB per month for a reasonable price
- Speed is not really a factor; MTE can work with 1 KB per second
- Ability to prevent rogue transmission is a big plus (customisable data limits and alerts)
As of now, using the Iridium Certus 100 service, MTE are able to operate and debug with ease. Internet tools like SSH are made available and offer not only a possibility in fixing problems, but in the remote deployment of new AI algorithms for in-field testing.
What the extra data facilitates
Certus 100 also allows MTE to transmit all recorded data by the buoy, instead of only summarised data. This allows data experts to process and analyse the various parameters in real time.
More and more services are made available for maritime workers to benefit from this live information. Weather information, sea currents and even whale presence are now used in day-to-day cruise planning.
OceanSIP is a service that was specifically tailored to ease the access to the live data of MTE’s various data acquisition platforms. The screenshot shows just some of data that’s now available in real-time via OceanSIP.
Martin Rioux, ing. | P.Eng. | Embedded System Developer
“With the advances in satellite communication, the hopes are rising in the scientific communities regarding the possibility of unmanned vehicles with real-time feedback, fauna monitoring cameras and audio monitoring only to name a few. It is hard not to be excited by the upcoming possibilities!
From MTE, thanks for making these possibilities a reality for the various experts who thrive in improving our knowledge.”
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