Posted on October 3, 2017
By Eric Haun, Marine Technology
Aiming to raise the bar for shallow water mapping and imaging, Ping DSP has introduced its new MBES Bathymetry Engine.
With a useable swath width of up to 14 times water depth, the 3DSS brings accurate, wide swath echo sounding to shallow water and provides the same operational and bathymetric performance benefits of Multibeam Echosounders but over the larger swath.
Ping DSP said the new MBES Mode uses an advanced new seabed detection algorithm that takes advantage of the dual head nature of the 3DSS sonar and its high resolution 3D imaging capability to achieve swath widths far exceeding traditional beamsteering systems. The new MBES Mode introduces user control of sounding beamwidths as narrow as 0.25°, beam densities of up to 1024 beams, and sector sizes to 220°. Beams can be organized as equidistant, or equiangle, or in a new hybrid mode that preserves equidistant spacing over the widest possible swath while also providing full water column coverage of vertical structures and spurious hazards.
In addition to MBES Mode bathymetry, the 3DSS simultaneously outputs stunning 3D Sidescan imagery and enhanced 2D Sidescan, and operates optimally in water depths from 0.7m to 60m. The compact size (4″ dia. x 22″ long) of the 3DSS make it easy to use on almost any size vessel or autonomous/remote controlled surface vessel operating in a broad range of environments such as; coastal white zones, ports and harbors, rivers and lakes, inland waterways, reservoirs and tailings ponds. Applications suited to the bathymetric and 3D imaging capabilities of the 3DSS include; shallow water hydrography, dredging, engineering surveys, habitat mapping, riverbed change detection, rapid assessment, mine counter measures, structure mapping, maritime archaeology, erosion and scour assessment, search and recovery, pipe and cable tracking, ice profiling, fisheries and others.
Source: Marine Technology
