GEOSTAR-development and test of a communication system for deep-sea benthic stations

The aim of GEOSTAR project is the design, construction and test of an autonomous deep-sea station for seismology and oceanography data collection. The role of the communication system (CS) is to give periodical information on the state of the station and on collected data. The CS is built around a set of releasable data storing vehicles, the Messengers, which carry data to the surface and are recovered by a ship or transmit data on ARGOS net. The paper examines the functions and architecture of the CS, describes its constitutive parts and reviews the qualification tests.