Introduction to FleetLink
FleetLink was started in 1998 with funding from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) via the National Ocean Partnership Program (NOPP). In 2003, FleetLink was included in the University of New Hampshire's Coastal Ocean Observing and Analysis (COOA) Program, which was funded by NOAA's Coastal Services Center (Charleston, SC).
Since 2007, FleetLink has been supported by the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) data and information management office. In particular, WHOI staff members have assisted in the software development necessary for conversion to Iridium data transmission, and are serving FleetLink data. The WHOI's R/V Tioga is a participating vessel.
Clearwater Instruments, Inc. (Watertown, MA) provides software and hardware development and production of the systems as well as production of deployable software (i.e., CD-based executables) and conversion of the data telemetry carrier to the Iridium network.
Other FleetLink partners are the University of New Hampshire, which operates the R/V Gulf Challenger, and the University of Connecticut, which operates the R/V Connecticut.