Abstract: The invention provides a plug-and-work sensor interface device named “puck” for fast and easy deployment of various types of serial devices, which include commercial off-the-shelf and custom-made sensors and instruments, in a distributed, dynamic oceanic observing network. In an embodiment, each puck is removably attached and electrically coupled to a specific sensor to be deployed. The puck comprises a non-volatile memory for associating and storing arbitrary binary information about the sensor and a microprocessor for controlling how the information is read from and written into the non-volatile memory. The sensor information may include unique sensor identifier, sensor metadata, sensor device driver, etc. The puck itself does not execute any of the device code; rather, a host retrieves the sensor information from the puck when the puck is plugged in. The retrieval can be done automatically or semi-automatically with user interaction.

Abstract: The invention provides a plug-and-work sensor interface device named “puck” for fast and easy deployment of various types of serial devices, which include commercial off-the-shelf and custom-made sensors and instruments, in a distributed, dynamic oceanic observing network. In an embodiment, each puck is removably attached and electrically coupled to a specific sensor to be deployed. The puck comprises a non-volatile memory for associating and storing arbitrary binary information about the sensor and a microprocessor for controlling how the information is read from and written into the non-volatile memory. The sensor information may include unique sensor identifier, sensor metadata, sensor device driver, etc. The puck itself does not execute any of the device code; rather, a host retrieves the sensor information from the puck when the puck is plugged in. The retrieval can be done automatically or semi-automatically with user interaction.