SLDMB Project NSS NIF Brian Stone Canadian Coast Guard 2011
North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum Big challenges relates still to tidal drift and current. To get a reliable result of the maritime search activities, you need to have a real time wind, current and surf data for the drifting calculations. Without this information, even the best calculation software doesn't give you the correct estimate or area of probability. North Atlantic Coast Guard Forum Report of the Expert Group on Search & Rescue 07.04.2011 2
SLDMB Self Locating Datum Marker Buoy Ship or air deployed drifter buoy used to report surface currents to automated maritime search planning tools (CANSARP) 3
Seimac Ltd s SLDMBs Worked well for many years PIW or 4 person liferaft mode used as TWC in CANSARP Drawbacks: Company no longer manufacturing or refurbishing Used slow ARGOS network Expensive ~$4k per buoy / ~$3k refurbishment Plus Argos Service Costs Expire mid 2012, no suitable replacements 4
Principle NIF Contractors C-CORE is a separately incorporated non-profit research and development corporation of Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador 5
Project Objective Principal contractors C-CORE Work with existing manufacturers to make a new cheaper SLDMB Zero leeway Costs ~$3K plus iridium network registration and airtime 5 existing manufacturers invited 3 prototypes tested in wave tank 2 were a workable prototype Metocean Ltd, Canada Clearwater Instruments, USA 6
Iridium Satellite Network Benefits Worldwide Coverage Low Latency ~2 minutes No ground station required (Argos LUT at CCG College near end of life) Low power requirements, buoys last longer, reports more frequently 7
SLDMB Communications Schedule SLDMB reporting schedule Rapid Response mode Every 10 to 15 minutes for first 24 hours, then every 30 minutes for next 48 hours Scientific mode Hourly positions afterwards may be stored and transmitted once every 3 hours Bi-directional communications Some SLDMBs may support changing of reporting schedule by buoy owner 8
Prototype Testing
Environmental Testing Wave tank testing Stability ability to upright in 10 seconds Vibration test One hour of shaking along each axis (x, y, z) Air Drop (shock) test six shocks in the Z axis, 3 positive and 3 negative Low and High Temperature Test -20 for 120 hours, -30 for 24 hours +30 for 120 hours. +35 for 24 hours Watertight Integrity Test Depth of 6 meters for 48 hours 10
Air Cannon Testing Objective to simulate buoy entry into water from aircraft 2 Metocean tested 2 Clearwater tested Clearwater Prototype Metocean Prototype 11
Field trials Four field trials of prototype buoys were conducted: July/August 2010 in Placentia Bay October 2010 in Placentia Bay December 2010 to March 2011 on the Grand Banks, and March 2011 off Nova Scotia 12
Sea Trials #1 Placentia Bay Objective to ship deploy buoys and monitor their performance until they ceased transmitting 6 new Metocean prototype SLDMB 6 old Metocean 7/10 th Code Drifter [USCG type] 6 Clearwater prototype SLDMB 1 CCG Seimac SLDMB (ARGOS) 3 Pathfinder Marine Marker Buoys Buoys released near Mortier Rock 47 01.286N 55 00.700W 13
Sea Trials Metocean Old Pathfinder Metocean New 14
Sea Trials Clearwater Pathfinder MMB Metocean 15
Sea Trials Metocean Prototype Clearwater Prototype Metocean 7/10 CODE Pathfinder MMB 16
Sea Trials #1 44 days 17
Sea Trials #2 Placentia Bay Objective to deploy upgraded Metocean buoys and monitor their performance until they cease transmitting 6 Metocean prototype SLDMBs 2 Clearwater prototype SLDMBs Buoys released near Mortier Rock 47 01.286N 55 00.700W 18
Sea Trials #2 10 days 19
Sea Trials #3 Grand Banks 22 prototype SLDMBs deployed MetOcean Metocean 7/10 CODE Clearwater Pathfinder MMB SVP 20
Sea Trials #3 66 Days 21
Sea Trials #4 16 days Test for fix of Metocean tangling issue 22
Air Drop Testing Objective to deploy SLDMBs from an aircraft to observe their flight characteristics, deployment in the water and survivability. Air drop testing conducted in British Columbia November 2010 (Clearwater & Metocean) and March 2011(Metocean) 23
Air Drop - Clearwater 24
Air Drop - Metocean 25
SLDMB Data Processing
SLDMB Data Processing SLDMB Web Server receives buoy data via internet, decodes the message, and sends information on to CANSARP Web based SLDMB mapping implemented at server SLDMB drift data stored in the server database - Export of SLDMB drift data available to all users 27
SLDMB Error Processing Date/time correct Reduction of erroneous positions Lat/Long of 0.00N/S 0.00E/W and at N/S poles considered erroneous and automatically marked as bad data. Buoy Owner can modify. New positions considered erroneous if more than 5 times the average drift rate Exact duplicate positions considered erroneous Buoy Owners can also mark positions as bad 28
Short Term Predictive System Hindcasting and forecasting of SLDMB positions Allows for the delay in deployment Allows for prediction of drift Based on statistical regression analysis only 29
SLDMB WebServer Surface Current Mapping Generates a map of surface currents from the SLDMBs and the interaction of the surface currents with the coastline 30
SLDMB WebServer Buoy Control Allows the owner of a buoy to change reporting interval and turn on/off reporting of a SLDMB which supports this. Note: not all SLDMBs support this. 31
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Guidelines for SLDMB Deployment
Number of SLDMBs Single unit deployment In cases where the last known position is known and the time lag to SLDMB deployment are minimal, only a single unit may be necessary Multiple unit deployment A minimum of three SLDMBs should be used to facilitate SAR operations. The assessments clearly indicated the benefit of incrementally adding a second and a third SLDMB to the analysis Maximum Number of SLDMBs The use of more than 5 SLDMBs in relatively constrained areas, does not add significant information to the search planning accuracy 34
Initial Deployment Configuration Initial deployment strategy is not critical Note that the initial separation distance should not be too large, typically of the order of 10 nautical miles If no other information is available, this should be the last known position (LKP), or if a significant period of time has elapsed (+6 hours) at datum If 3 SLDMBs are available it is suggested they are deployed in a triangle that is centered on the most likely position of the SAR target at the time of deployment If the search area radius exceeds 20 nautical miles, it is suggested that 3 are deployed in a triangle and a fourth SLDMB be deployed at the center 35
Size of Deployment Area There are several factors that should be taken into account when specifying the size of the deployment area: the historical (known) spatial variability of the current field the uncertainty about the present position of the SAR target the information about the weather conditions at the time of incident and SAR operation 36
Timing of Deployment The SLDMBs should be deployed as quickly as possible Deploying SLDMBs over a longer period of time does not add significant value, except where the search area has expanded beyond the area encompassed by the SLDMBs 37
Thank You SLDMBs don t save lives if YOU won t throw them overboard!