Title :
The Hawaii-2 Observatory
Author :
Petitt, Robert A., Jr. ; Harris, David W. ; Wooding, Beecher ; Bailey, John ; Jolly, James ; Hobart, Ed ; Chave, Alan D. ; Duennebier, Fred ; Butler, Rhett ; Bowen, Andrew ; Yoerger, Dana
Author_Institution :
Woods Hole Oceanogr. Instn., MA, USA
fDate :
4/1/2002 12:00:00 AM
Abstract :
A permanent deep ocean scientific research facility-the Hawaii-2 Observatory (H2O)-was installed on the retired HAW-2 commercial submarine telephone cable in September 1998. H2O consists of a seafloor submarine cable termination and junction box in 5000 m of water located halfway between Hawaii and California. The H2O infrastructure was installed from a large research vessel using the Jason ROV and standard over-the-side gear. The junction box provides two-way digital communication at variable data rates of up to 80 kbit/s using the RS-422 protocol and a total of 400 W of power for both junction box systems and user equipment. Instruments may be connected by an ROV to the junction box at 8 wet-mateable connectors. The H2O junction box is a "smart" design, which incorporates redundancy to protect against failure and allows full control of instrument functionality from shore. Initial instrumentation at the H2O site includes broad-band seismometer and hydrophone packages
Keywords :
digital communication; electric connectors; protocols; redundancy; submarine cables; telecommunication cables; 400 W; 5000 m; 80 kbit/s; H20; Hawaii-2 Observatory; RS-422 protocol; broad-band seismometer; cable termination; deep ocean scientific research facility; hydrophone packages; instrument functionality; junction box; redundancy; submarine telephone cable; two-way digital communication; variable data rates; wet-mateable connectors; Communication cables; Instruments; Observatories; Oceans; Remotely operated vehicles; Sea floor; Telephony; Underwater cables; Underwater vehicles; Water;
Journal_Title :
Oceanic Engineering, IEEE Journal of
DOI :
10.1109/JOE.2002.1002479
