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Ever wonder how we will follow Niu's journey through the Pacific Ocean once it leaves Oahu? Read on to learn about how Archinoetics' engineers and scientists use a GPS signal to track Niu's voyage!
It’s hard to imagine that just a few hundred years ago, sailors and ships at sea had to rely on dead reckoning, an accurate clock, and the position of heavenly bodies to determine their approximate location at sea. Thanks to the advent of satellite technology and GPS systems, anyone on earth can approximate their position to within a meter of their location on the globe.
But How Does it Work?
Satellite tags on earth’s surface – whether in your car, on a boat, or implanted under the dorsal fin of a whale – transmit messages into space. These signals are specific to a given tag, and are received by multiple satellites 800km or more above the earth. The satellites that receive the signal use mathematical calculations (“triangulation” or a comparison of the signal overlap between all the satellites that “see” the signal) to pinpoint the tag’s location, which is then broadcast back to a receiver on earth. The more satellites that receive the signal in space, the more accurate the position “fix” that is sent back will be.
Tracking Animals in the Sea
Tags can't transmit underwater, so they are best used on marine animals that breath air and must spend at least some of their time at the surface, or devices like Niu that float at the surface.
For smaller animals like seals and turtles, the tag is glued to the fur or shell on the dorsal (top) surface. Larger animals like whales and dolphins are tagged using barbed needles that are “stuck” into the outer layers of blubber, holding the tag in place. Tags can transmit their signals to the overhead satellites for days or even years depending on their battery life, and most are designed to “pop off” the animal and float to the surface, awaiting collection, after a set period of time.
How is Niu Tracked?
Niu will be using a slightly different system, employing a satellite phone that will broadcast the data collected by Niu’s onboard sensors (it’s eyes and ears, if you will) to a network of 66 satellites orbiting the earth. With 66 satellites that can receive Niu’s calls, it is almost impossible for Niu to wander off somewhere where it can’t “phone home.” There will always be a satellite somewhere above Niu’s head. When those satellites get a call from Niu (several times each day) they send the information right to Archinoetics, where it is updated on our website. So, you can follow Niu's movement using the internet, and see what Niu is experiencing out in the ocean!
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