A new miniature instrument for in situ measuring, processing, recording and display of oceanographic properties

摘要

The paper describes the design philosophy and functions of a newgeneral purpose oceanographic instrument which is presently beingtested as a prototype.The instrument combines established oceanic sensors with modernmicroprocessor and display technology. The basic idea behind thedesign is to make a compact and modular "workhorse" instrumentthat interacts with both humans and computers in a natural way.The instrument is presently able to measure and to in situ processcurrent speed, direction, temperature, depth and salinity. Theprocessed data may be in recorded in the instrument, visuallydisplayed from the instrument or continously transferred toexternal processing devices via cable. Other sensors in additionto the already mentioned may be added in the future.