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CORVALLIS - Samuel Laney, a doctoral student in the College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, has been awarded a $25,000 fellowship from the Link Foundation.

Laney received the Ocean Engineering and Instrumentation Fellowship for the 2003-2004 academic year to develop streamlined methods for collecting and processing oceanographic data.

Oceanographers often use drifters, ocean gliders, and autonomous underwater vehicles to deploy instruments in the ocean over great distances for long periods of time.

Collecting oceanographic data autonomously is critical to understanding complex ocean systems, but power consumption and size typically limit the type of instruments that can be deployed on autonomous platforms. And some instruments aren't feasible on autonomous platforms because they produce too much raw data, exceeding data storage or communications transmission.

Laney is proposing to create a 'smart sensor' interface that pre-processes some or all of the raw data onboard. The interface will simplify the integration of 'data-rich' instruments into existing autonomous platforms, but it can also be used to streamline data collection with instruments and sensors that are already used autonomously.

Laney said that initially he intends to develop this smart-sensor interface around the bio-optical oceanographic sensors he uses in his doctoral research.

"But my goal is to develop a standardized interface, easily mated to a wide variety of oceanographic sensors and programmable by non-specialists," said Laney.

The Link Foundation was established in 1953 by Edwin A. and Marion C. Link to support programs that foster the theoretical basis, practical knowledge and application of energy, simulation, and ocean engineering and instrumentation research. It awards several types of fellowships and grants, including two-year fellowships of $25,000 annually for students working toward a Ph.D.