Echo Sounders And Their Function In Oceanographic Surveys

Echo sounders are a part of the bathymetry selection of instruments that are crucial elements in hydrographic surveys.

Bathymetry is the science of measuring water depth. No matter whether you are surveying, dredging or managing underwater operations, accurate bathymetric records is critical, be it total water depth or the location of particular instrumentation within the water column.

Digital signal processing methods that utilise fuzzy logic are readily available in the marketplace. These echosounders will select and lock onto the true echo, while automatic power and gain management means that erroneous echoes are reduced and accurate readings can be produced in water depths as shallow as 30cm. Being a stand alone altimeter, this technology is ideal for integration into bathymetry equipment. Combining the technology with integral GPS receiver and on board information collection delivers echo sounders with the advantages of optimum flexibility and quick deployment time.

Echo sounders, both single and multi-beam require speed of sound data to effectively supply depth measurements. If straightforward, small boat echo sounding is necessary with single or dual frequency transducers and interface of external parameters with GPS reference then a single beam echo sounder is ideally suited.

The MIDAS Surveyor has been designed to provide a reduced cost product for modest scale hydrographic surveys. The system is supplied with a 210kHz transducer as standard, and uses sophisticated electronic digital signal processing procedures to ensure high accuracy and reliable bottom tracking. With a built in SBAS enabled DGPS receiver, the MIDAS Surveyor will record position and water depth information for over 30 hours, in addition to performing on-line correction utilizing external heave and tide data inputs. Alternatives include an added 33kHz transducer, or high accuracy 16 channel DGPS receiver.

Echosounders suppliers design, produce, market and support a big selection of sea based engineering products to support other related Industry sectors. These industries include port and Harbour Authority Management, Conservation, Oil and Gas and defence. However they all possess a typical demand and that is the accurate recording of marine conditions and the ongoing adjustments to those conditions and environments.

A number of Echo sounder Companies additionally make and distribute a range of Oceanographic and Hydrographic equipment and devices. All of these devices are inter-related due to the particular characteristics of the marine and waterway environments in which they work. The scenarios present in each of these environments, which may vary significantly in composition, temperature and pressure, requires that the construction of these hydrographic devices must be as sturdy as possible and not vulnerable to corrosion or reaction to their operating conditions.

As a consequence, echosounder Suppliers and Manufacturers, are first and foremost precision engineering enterprises that have adapted their knowledge to generate and manufacture top quality engineered resources for the marine environment.

There are a number of similar instruments that echo sounder Manufacturers also typically make. These are, Current Meters (sometimes called Current Flow Meters or Tidal Flow Meters), Sound Velocity Profilers, Sound Velocity Sensors, Wave Recorders and Tide Guages. All of these products have applications that relate to the accurate recording of changes within the marine environment that result in the variation of composition, conductivity or direction, depth, speed, water temperature, or pressure.

These instruments could possibly be branded to have different product names but fundamentally they carry out the same basic procedures but with varying focus.

From a real life usage point of view, the following Applications and Project types apply, namely, Hydrographic Survey, Military or Defence, Metrology and Positioning Systems, AUV (Autonomous Underwater Vehicle) and ROV (Remote Operated Vehicles) Applications, Seismic Issues, Hydrometric Measurement Projects and Surveys, Harbour Operations and Studies and Port Operations, Dredging Operations, Scientific and Academic Projects relating to the Renewable Energy, marine environment, and Oil and Gas Industries.