The MiniPAT is a pop-up archival transmitting tag (PAT tag, also known as a PSAT). It is a sophisticated combination of archival and Argos satellite technology. PAT tags are designed to track the large-scale movements and behavior of fish and other animals which do not spend enough time at the surface to allow the use of real-time Argos satellite tags.
Depth, temperature, and light-level data, among others, are collected and summarized for transmission and archived in onboard memory. Then on a preset date set by the researcher, the tag releases from its host animal, surfaces, and uploads a summary of the archived data to Argos
satellites.
Developed with a focus on reliability, ruggedness, and ease of use, the MiniPAT features a stable low-drag shape, a strong urethane nose, and pinger for radio tracking recovery.
Wildlife Computers now offers the MiniPAT-440 to reduce drag and improve retention performance in high-risk deployments and fast, highly active swimmers like tuna or billfish without sacrificing core MiniPAT functionality.
This user guide gives you all the essential information needed for interacting with, configuring, and deploying this tag.
USB Communications Cable Driver – 29-March 2023
Driver for the Wildlife Computers USB Communications cable.
Administer settings to your tag.
A statistical model for estimating animal movements. GPE3 is an integrated component of the Wildlife Computers Data Portal and runs exclusively on our servers.
Below are the physical specifications of the MiniPAT. A full description of the features is available on the downloadable MiniPAT Product Features (PDF).
| Attachment Type | Towed |
| Sensors | Wet/Dry, Depth, Temperature, Light, Accelerometer |
| Depth Sensor Range | 0-1700 m, 0-2000 m* |
| Depth Sensor Resolution | 0.5 m, 1 m* |
| Depth Sensor Accuracy | ±1% of reading |
| Temperature Sensor Range | -40° C to 60° C |
| Temperature sensor Resolution | 0.05° C |
| Temperature Sensor Accuracy | ±0.1° C |
| Conductivity Operational Limits | 0.1 to 5 S/m |
| Light Sensor | 5 x 10-12W.cm-2 to 5 x 10-2W.cm-2 |
| Operating Temperature Rating (°C) | -20° C to 50° C |
| Optimal Storage Temperature Range (°C) | 0° C to 5° C |
| Memory | 64 MB |
| Dimensions | MiniPAT-430: 118 mm (length) x 41 mm (diameter) MiniPAT-440: 120 mm (length) x 37 mm (diameter) |
| Weight in Air | MiniPAT-430: 68 g MiniPAT-440: 62 g |
| Pressure Rating | 2000 m |
| Maximum Deployment Length | 730 days |
| 1Meters of freshwater. To convert to dBar, or an approximation for meters of seawater, multiply the reported balue by 0.9804 | |