1. Organisation of the Benin AOC ( Cotonou) A. Borgstedt : coordination, link with AOC J.M. Bouchez : tech. coordinationA. Dadé: secretary C. Peugeot/S. Galle : link with TT5, and with AMMA hyperspace Local Operation Centre in Djougou/ tasks during SOP : Human resources, teams, parnerships with african, Which data to transmit.. tbd, following outcomes of the Leeds meeting

2. Tasks : upon request, depending on our capabilities Support / assistance for teams, Site preparations, support for missions Design of telecommunication facilities Credit for SOP operation made available through IRD (french and EU funds) Assistance in material shipping, custom clearence

3. Rainrecorder Rainbucket limnigraph Automaticpiezometer Dailypiezometer Meteorologicalstation Watershedborders Transect(figA1.1) scintillometer radar Disdrometer VAN Network : Photometer GPS IDAF X-PortX- VHF + UHF RONSARD Bénin communication - Djougou

4. Bandwidth needs considered (from PI’s feedback) NO REAL-TIME PROCEDURES !!! RONSARD : 200 ko every 15 minutes, if convection, idle otherwise  800 ko/hour  at most 20 Mo/day NANGATCHORI: NOx-measurements 1,5 Mo/day (compressed data) Ceilometer/MW-Profiler/Micro Rain Radar 0.15 Mo/day (not compressible) UHF48 Mo/day VHF 12 Mo/day Total62 Mo/day OTHER SITES : DJOUGOU, PARAKOU(RS), COTONOU-Airport : nothing

5. RONSARD (Copargo) Equipment : satellite modem R-BGAN, Inmarsat, Bandwidth : 144 kbps, ~50 kbps effective Cost : Modem 550 External antenna + cable 997 Activation+ 1 year subscription474 2022 Transmission : 6.20 €/Mo Estimate : average of 10 Mb/day x3 months5580 Total estimated cost (3 months)7602 € Funded on AOC budget (API) To be checked : attenuation by rainfall !! Related issue : Bi-static : real-time comm. with RONSARD must be funded/installed by DLR team

6. VHF/UHF facilities and other instruments in Nangatchori Equipment : V-SAT link (LIPTINFOR), Bandwidth : 64/64 kbps, dedicated link recommended Re-use of existing IRD parabola (saves some euros !!) Cost : (euros) Antenna head upgrade + installation6712 UPS 1KVA1170 Esquipment sub-total7882 Dedicated band 64/64 : 991 €/month (recommended) – (Mesh tech.) Shared band (p.m.) 572 €/month 8 months, dedicated link (2006) : 7928 Total estimated cost 15810 € Funded on VHF budget (API) : missing 3800 euros for 2006 !! Facility shared with all other instruments on the site/emissions in turn following priorities To be checked : attenuation by rainfall !!

7. Djougou (X-Port, GPS) No transmission requests from instruments PI’s BUT : existing INMARSAT link for the GPS station, some IP ports available Equipment : Inmarsat M4 from Thrane & Thrane Probably, activation of this link for the local Operation Center Cost : equipment already funded (API) Transmission costs : 6.80 $/min needed : negociation with GPS PI’s ; under way

8. Phone communication To be updated depending on operational needs (e.g. location of site coordinator, scientific secretary,..) Djougou (National+International lines) phone line (+ fax if needed) at IRD house phone at X-port site phone + fax at the hotel (backup solution) cell phone works well Nangachori and Copargo : unreliable cell phone network : limit of coverage 3 INMARSAT satellite phones (2 lent by german IMPETUS project + 1 owned by IRD).

9. Flow of information (tentative !!) X-PortX- VHF + UHF RONSARD Quick-looks sent to AOC-web site (automated FTP) Simplified data sent to Toulouse+AOC-web site (automated FTP) Quick-looks/data : sent directly from the sites. Local OC (Djougou ) Collect from sites and transmit to AOC : instr. status ; ground data of interest, Data needed from Parakou and Cotonou ? (under some flight paths, eg. I1.3, I.17) Sat./cell phone « Rest of The World » Phone/fax/Internet Sat./cell phone Kopargo Nangatchori. Djougou Other instr. GPS