Proof of concept Naval Oeanographic Office Survey Operations Center

The Naval Oceanographic Office Survey Operations Center (SOC) consists of an integrated shipboard satellite communications suite and a land-based data management system capable of transferring, managing, monitoring, and validating survey data from the field. The asymmetric satellite data link consists of 2048 kb/s from the ship and 384 kb/s back to the ship. The communications system consists of a 2.7-meter C/Ku-Band satellite antenna, servers, routers, encryptors, commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) Content Delivery System, Internet access, video teleconferencing, and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone service. The SOC-based management system integrates COTS software and custom software, allowing geographic information system applications to track the survey assets. Installation of the first communications suite was performed aboard USNS PATHFINDER in April 2001, followed by a successful proof of concept demonstration of the complete system in June 2001. During this proof of concept demonstration, underway multibeam swath bathymetry, Conductivity-Temperature-Depth, Expendable Bathythermograph, Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler, navigation, underway bioluminescence, and subbottom profiler data were transmitted across the satellite link, along with video, Internet, and VOIP telephone service. This paper provides implementation details regarding the proof of concept demonstration of the SOC.