Experience with an Argos-3 satellite system to tracking and data collection from marine drifting buoys

The technical characteristics of the new satellite communication system Argos-3 are investigated with reference to the drifter experiments in the World Ocean and the Black Sea. A comparison of the standards of satellite communication systems Argos-2 and Argos-3 is carried out. The distinctive features of the Argos-3 from the previous generations of the system are greatly increased bandwidth and a significant reduction of the data equipment power consumption through the use of the reverse link for the guarantee of prediction of the satellite transmission and acknowledgment during the message transferring. In the context of the international pilot project “Argos-3 Pilot Project” the Argos-3 equipment performance is evaluated and its configuration is determined according to the in-situ operation as a part of the marine drifting buoys (drifters). The results of in-situ experiments with new Argos-3 drifters and traditional Argos-2 drifters are compared and the performances of both systems are analyzed. The recommendations on the optimum configuration of the equipment Argos-3 as part of drifting buoys are given. The results of the laboratory and long-term field experiments have shown the efficacy of the solutions to adapt the surface drifting buoys to the satellite system Argos-3, developed in MHI и “Marlin-Yug Ltd” and which is now widely used to improve the global drift-monitoring network.