Argos Satellite

Service Argos-certified Platform Transmitter Terminals (PTT) transfer data from the datalogger site to the Argos Data Collection and Location System via NOAA polar-orbiting satellites. The polar orbits allow a single satellite to provide coverage of the entire Earth’s surface as it rotates through the plane of the orbit.

The satellite can receive and decode data from several PTTs simultaneously, removing the timing constraints associated with GOES transmissions. In applications where the PTT is mobile (e.g., drifting oceanographic buoys), Argos can use Doppler shift data gleaned from several received transmissions to locate a PTT to within 150 m. The satellites’ relatively low orbit of 850 km permits the PTT to operate with a small antenna and power supply.