Underwater site investigation not only demands mapping morphological features and water depth, but also often requires information on the physical properties of sediments.

Sediment classification software helps to retrieve these properties fast and efficiently. The software packages for sediment classification presented in this product survey are used to analyse data from single- or multi-beam echosounder or side-scan measurements that have been acquired for other reasons. This software retrieves the properties of sediments in a cost-efficient way as, in these cases, the expensive survey has been paid for by the morphological mapping.

Sediment classification analyses the response of a returning acoustic signal. This response can be interpreted in different ways. Ground-truthing is often required to relate the signal to real properties of the sediment. In this product survey, we provide you with an overview of commercial software packages and show you their methods and possibilities of acquiring practical information, such as grain size, habitat classes, geological features. The information in the product survey focuses on the parameters that are important for quality control and those that differentiate between the presented products.

We are aware that various scientific institutes work on the development of improved methods and applications of sediment classification. Unfortunately, we are unable to present all available systems. We have therefore limited this survey to the most commonly used and recent systems, using the documentation from manufacturers who sent us the information. Our objective with this survey is to show the use and applicability of sediment classification, and we hope that the use of information on sediment properties will increase in the near future. We appreciate the input of all who contributed to this product survey.