New Version of Geoswath Plus
GeoAcoustics has made its GeoSwath Plus available for an even wider range of applications through a recent program of technology developments, which has resulted in a new compact version of the wide swath sonar being made available, in addition to integration for the first time with the man-portable REMUS AUV, from Kongsberg Maritime company Hydroid.
The new GeoSwath Plus Compact offers very wide swath bathymetry, up to 12 times water depth coverage, together with co-registered georeferenced side scan data. The system is packaged in a small splash proof unit running off 24V with only 40W power consumption, making it ideal for deployment on very small boats, dinghies or even personal watercraft. GeoSwath Plus Compact is a portable multibeam solution available from Kongsberg Maritime. Although compact by nature, it offers Ultra high resolution swath bathymetry and side scan seabed mapping with press release accuracies shown to exceed the IHO SP-44 special order standards for hydrographic surveys. Features include: - Frequency versions: 125, 250, 500 kHz - 240º view angle - Operation from laptop PC - Dual transducer wet end - Full software solution: data acquisition, processing, presentation - Interfaces to all customary peripheral sensors.
The integration of GeoSwath Plus with the REMUS AUV has been made possible through a joint effort between GeoAcoustics and Hydroid. In late 2009, in a demonstration of Kongsberg Maritime's ‘The Full Picture' single supplier strategy, the companies deployed a 500kHz GeoSwath Plus (GS+) on a REMUS 100 for a survey of Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, USA. Two surveys were carried out, four lines 500m long for system calibration in Megansett Harbour and eight lines 700m long for a survey trial in the bay, with the lines running across the shipping channel leading to Cape Cod Canal. Lines were run at 3m constant depth and the bathymetry data was processed in the GeoSwath Plus software using an 80m swath width. The excellent quality of the navigation and depth mapping was demonstrated in the survey results, with clear definition of a 40cm high 10m period sand wave field in the shipping channel. The success of this trial has resulted in a commercial GeoSwath Plus and REMUS AUV package being made possible.
