Featured in the picture above (left to right): Mike Durbin Ph.D. E.E., Durbin Consulting LLC and Ken Weed, Lead Consultant Engineer - Verizon Satellite Solutions.
Ocean Exploration Trust is a team of oceanic scientists that partners with the University of Rhode Island to explore the world’s oceans. The team travels for months at a time aboard the exploration vessel Nautilus to remote areas of the globe and uses remotely operated vehicles -- unmanned, computerized vehicles operated from the surface -- to descend thousands of feet to the ocean floor, where no human can go.
With Verizon’s Private IP Satellite Solutions, these missions are accessible to educational institutions, ocean enthusiasts, and anyone with an Internet connection and sense of curiosity. Through this uplink, you can join the researchers on their mission: see what they see, conduct research right alongside them, or just gaze into the deep blue ocean.
With Dr. Robert Ballard, a pioneer in ocean exploration, at the helm, OET’s missions include discovering old shipwrecks such as the Titanic and John F. Kennedy’s PT-109 World War II patrol boat, as well as exploring life at the bottom of the sea.
The crew is currently in the Caribbean studying the natural oil and gas seepage into the Gulf of Mexico and its impact to the ecosystem from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. You can view a live feed of their travels.
It’s Not Magic. It’s the Power of Technology
Verizon’s Network – or more specifically, our PIP Satellite Solution -- makes this possible. Satellite is ideal, since it can be provided anywhere in the world as long as there is electricity, and can be reconfigured as needed.
Here’s how it works:
- Live HD video streams are transmitted from the ocean floor to the ship’s satellite antenna.
- Data then travels over our satellite network using one of the three satellites that is closest to the ship’s location.
- Next, the data travels back to earth to the Mt. Jackson, Virginia, teleport (ground station).
- It is then carried across Verizon’s LD wireline network and arrives at OET’s headquarters at the University of Rhode Island.
From blazing-fast speeds of FiOS Quantum, to connected cars, to oceanic exploration without ever leaving your laptop, Verizon’s technology is enabling the future.
This article was contributed by Jill Behunin, who is on the communications team at Verizon.
