General Description Of The Instrument - AML Oceanographic Minos-X User Manual

General Description of the Instrument

The AML Oceanographic X•Series instruments and Xchange
in ocean instrumentation. Swappable and interchangeable sensors dramatically improve the
capabilities of ocean instrumentation in the following ways:
• Change the instrument sensor types while at sea within seconds, and without tools. A CTD
can be changed to a sound speed profiler by exchanging sensor heads.
• To optimize the resolution and accuracy of sensor data, sensors can be swapped to change
the measurement range. For example, a 6000 dBar P•Xchange pressure sensor can be
swapped with a 500 dBar P•Xchange sensor or a salt water C•Xchange conductivity sensor
can be swapped for a fresh water C•Xchange conductivity sensor.
• Sensors from one instrument can be swapped to another instrument to maintain mission-
critical capabilities.
• Calibrated sensors can be sent from the factory to the instrument. The instrument is not
pulled from active duty for calibration.
• Spare sensors ensure that an instrument can be immediately returned to active duty after
sustaining damage.
• All calibration and traceability data resides within each Xchange™ sensor. Calibration data
for all sensors is available from the instrument, and calibration certificates can be printed
from AML Oceanographic SeaCast software when the instrument is connected.
• Logged data is stamped with sensor traceability and instrument configuration data.
• Only Xchange™ sensors are sent for calibration, leaving the instrument working in the field.
Minos•X is the mid-size logger of the X•Series family. It is designed primarily for small boat and hand
deployed operations. It provides all the capabilities and accuracy of the larger Plus•X instruments,
but trades off battery capacity and additional sensor channels in favour of reduced weight and size.
Minos•X comes in two sensor endcap configurations: the P1S2 is equipped with one primary
Xchange™ sensor port (i.e. conductivity or sound speed) and two secondary Xchange™ sensor
ports (i.e. temperature and pressure). Two additional analog ports can be added by the factory, if
required. The P2S1 variant supports two primary sensors and one secondary, making Minos•X the
smallest combined CTD/SVP on the market.
Minos•X is capable of logging continuously for 38 hours with a full battery charge. The actual life
varies somewhat depending on the sensors installed. Sampling rates are programmable by time (25
Hz to every 24 hours), by pressure (0.1 dbar or greater increments), or by sound speed (0.1 m/s or
greater increments). When logging at time intervals of 25 seconds or more, Minos•X powers down
between samples to conserve the batteries.
Minos•X can be powered internally or externally, and supported communication protocols are RS-
232 or RS-485. Minos•X can be equipped with Data•Xchange to add wireless capabilities and
enhance data transfer rates.
User Manual for AML Oceanographic Minos•X
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