Funds are provided to develop and implement near real-time image processing and bi-directional telemetry capabilities for the Autonomous Vertically Profiling Plankton Observatory (AVPPO). AVPPO was designed to collect high-resolution time-series data on the vertical position and taxonomic composition of the plankton together with ancillary environmental data on spatial scales of mm to 100 m in high-energy Shelf regions of the ocean. Presently, AVPPO stores all hydrographic and video data on video tape, which is the limiting factor for deployment length. Further development will enable the processing of both the hydrographic and video data in real-time, thereby allowing rapid data transmission to shore after each profile. A single high-resolution digital camera will replace two standard video cameras. Video data will be compressed 90 fold using new wavelet compression technology then recorded on a 6 Gb hard drive for a maximum of about 30 h continuous recording, thus extending the profiler's capability to about 300 profiles from 100 m depth. Full duplex interactive communications through VHF, cellular phone, and possibly satellite links depending on the bandwidth requirements of the sensor systems will also be implemented. Ultimately, this technology will allow long-term, high-frequency monitoring of critical environmental variables which would be impossible by conventional sampling systems.
