Electronic Porpoises on the Ocean's Horizon
Kirt's Cogitations™ #17

RF Cafe University "Factoids," "Kirt's Cogitations," and "Tech Topics Smorgasbord" are all manifestations of my ranting on various subjects relevant (usually) to the overall RF Cafe theme. All may be accessed on these pages:

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Electronic Porpoises on the Ocean's Horizon

Soon, electro-glide vehicles will be roving the oceans to collect and transmit vital signs. Currents, temperatures, salinity, surface height, and many other parameters will be collected from a network of these contraptions to assist the world's oceanographers in reporting and predict oceanic phenomena similar meteorologists. These primarily self-propelled first descend through a gliding action to a depth of about 2 km, then pump oil into an external bladder to increase volume while maintaining its mass. The resulting lower density causes the vehicle to float upward until, at the surface, it pumps the oil back into the vehicle and begins the cycle over again. Initial plans call for a 300 km grid of vehicles that can roam the oceans at a speed of about 1 knot, for up to 5 years.

RF Cafe began life in 1996 as "RF Tools" in an AOL screen name web space totaling 2 MB. Its primary purpose was to provide me with ready access to commonly needed formulas and reference material while performing my work as an RF system and circuit design engineer. The World Wide Web (Internet) was largely an unknown entity at the time and bandwidth was a scarce commodity. Dial-up modems blazed along at 14.4 kbps while tying up your telephone line, and a lady's voice announced "You've Got Mail" when a new message arrived...