The VENUS buoy profiling system winch system test on the University of Victoria's Ocean Technology Testbed (OTTB) bouy is progressing. Shortly after installation in December 2012, the system underwent a site acceptance test with the manufacturer. Following on from this, the Data Management group has now developed a real time linkage between the system and the database. The next stage is to develop the software infrastructure to command and control the system.

The picture shows the instrument cage (centre) being lowered into position under the winch (centre left). An engineer from MacArtney A/S (next to winch in blue) was on site at this time to conduct the site acceptance test. VENUS engineer Paul Macoun (in red) spools in winch cable to take up slack as the OTTB crane is lowered.

We anticipate that the software development will be complete by the end of February 2013, at which time the system will come off the OTTB buoy. The next step will be integration with the custom-built buoy at the Marine Technology Centre.