Teledyne RD Instruments to Provide Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler for OOI

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership, with funding from the National Science Foundation, has selected Teledyne RD Instruments Inc., of Poway, CA to provide Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) Instruments for the Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI).

Under the $4,555,845 contract, Teledyne RD Instruments (TRDI) will provide up to 86 ADCP instruments. 

TRDI’s Workhorse instruments in two configurations– Long Ranger and Quartermaster – will be provided for the requirements of the OOI.

The Workhorse Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) was introduced nearly 15 years ago.  These ADCPs can provide directional wave measurements and, when treated as an array of sensors, can resolve multiple wave trains of the same frequency travelling in different directions. The TRDI ADCPs can be configured to measure directional wave spectra with TRDI’s patented waves array technique.   The instruments vary in size between 5 inches by 12 inches up to 1.5 ft by 3 ft depending on the configuration. 

All ADCPs transmit sound of known frequency into the water column and listen for Doppler-shifted echoes from scatterers assumed to be passively following the flow – typically sediment, zooplankton and/or nekton.  The signal return along each beam is range gated to create profiles of the velocity along the beam axis along with profiles of several quality control parameters.  All TRDI ADCPs use broadband processing, a technique involving the use of coded pulses of known lags to greatly increase the amount of information contained within each measurement, and thereby greatly increase the precision of each measurement

Teledyne RD Instruments, Inc. specializes in the design and manufacture of underwater acoustic Doppler products for a wide array of current profiling and precision navigation applications. Originally founded as RD Instruments, the company was purchased by Teledyne Technologies, and now operates as a wholly owned indirect subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies, Inc.

The OOI, a project funded by the NSF, is planned as a networked infrastructure of science-driven sensor systems to measure the physical, chemical, geological and biological variables in the ocean and seafloor. As a fully integrated system, OOI will collect and disseminate data on coastal, regional and global scales. Through a unique cyberinfrastructure, OOI will make ocean observing data available to anyone with an internet connection. Greater knowledge of the ocean’s interrelated systems is vital for increased understanding of their effects on biodiversity, climate change, ocean and coastal ecosystems, environmental health and climate.

About the Consortium for Ocean Leadership

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership is a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit organization that represents 99 of the leading public and private ocean research and education institutions, aquaria and industry with the mission to advance research, education and sound ocean policy. The organization also manages ocean research and education programs in areas of scientific ocean drilling, ocean observing, ocean exploration, and ocean partnerships.

For more information on the OOI please visit the OOI Website or follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

For more information or interviews, contact:

Kerry G. Beck
Director of Communications, OOI
Consortium for Ocean Leadership
Office: (202) 787-1685
kbeck@oceanleadership.org