The second stage of the AtoN Telemetry/Remote control system project for South China Sea Area has been inspected and passed the final test. Delegations from Guangdong MSA, system contractor and software developer participated in the inspection process on sites.

The system, which was initially developed by Guangdong MSA, is design to telemeter and control the working status of AtoNs in the South China Sea Area remotely. Guangdong MSA currently has 29 telemetry/remote control buoys in service.

The system is consists of four sectors: data gathering terminal, data link, surveillance centre and centre station. Firstly, AtoN data such as current/voltage, charging current/voltage current, light characteristic, motor working status and racon working status is collected by the data gathering terminal. Secondly, the data gathering terminal will transfer the data to the centre station servers through data links. The combination of CDMA and satellite correspondence was adopted as a dual transmission module for the system data link. The advantages of CDMA such as its mature network facility, low operating cost, high telemetry usability and strong transmission signal enable it played a major role in the system data link while satellite correspondence is mainly apply to the area with weak network signal. Thirdly, once centre station servers receive all the AtoN data that combined with CDMA and satellite transmission, it automatically saves the data into its AtoN database. Finally, by access the centre station, the surveillance centre can read and display the AtoN data to client software. There are currently two visions of the clients: B/S and C/S vision. They can meet different need and suit various situations.

To make the best use of the system's remote surveillance function, most of the AtoNs that installed with telemetry/remote control clients are unmanned lighthouses or buoys that located in the outland area, such as Wenweizhou lighthouse (Guangzhou AtoN division), Weijia Isle lighthouse (Guangzhou AtoN division), Nanpeng Isle lighthouse (Shantou AtoN division) and Dafangji lighthouse (Zhanjiang AtoN division) etc. The system had detected many exceptional incidents during the past; it has also provided relevant data which helped each AtoN division to solve the problem.

As an upgrade of its predecessor, the second stage of the Telemetry/Remote control system project will further improve the efficiency of the AtoN administration and prevent AtoN failure and accidents in the area.