Below are two cropped parts of File:ISS-28 Ron Garan prepares the Reentry Breakup Recorder.jpg
In the Unity node of the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Ron Garan, Expedition 28 flight engineer, prepares the Reentry Breakup Recorder (REBR) for installation in the Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 (ATV-2). The ATV-2 is scheduled to undock from the station on June 20, 2011. REBR data improves the understanding of vehicle breakup during reentry, allowing improvements in prediction of the breakup process, increasing the accuracy of estimated casualty expectations, and limiting premature deorbiting of space hardware. In the long term, this research assists in the development of a "black box" for commercial space transportation systems.
The Wikipedia article Reentry Breakup Recorder explains that the device is designed to record data during atmospheric reentry and breakup and then transmits that data before being destroyed upon impact. It then mentions that in one case the recorder survived a water impact and continued to transmit.
I think the copper enclosure shown in the photo might be helpful to redistribute heat and/or to protect electronics from high electric fields and charging from the plasma formed during reentry, but it would not itself survive reentry without some kind of additional covering.
Question: How does a Reentry Breakup Recorder survive reentry and then broadcast its data before impact?
What protected this device from being destroyed during reentry, both the electronics and the antenna necessary for broadcast of the data?
Was there a parachute near the end to extend the time available for broadcast?
Note the anti-static wristband.