A serious amateur project

[FJ Taylor]

Probably the primary reason this forum exists is that SSS are expensive. A few individuals have produced their own personal designs (eg Stur) which obviously work very well. This however takes time, which a lot of us do not have.
Is there a pool of knowledgeable people with the requisite electronics and or software skills within this forum who could join forces and develop a simple mark 1 sidescan to a design that the whole team could copy?
By each taking a small bite of the responsibility it might be possible to produce something effective.
Any interested parties?

[FJ]

Re: A serious amateur project

If you look at the beginnings of this forum several years back, this was attempted and seemed to fall apart. Everyone had different needs and started wanting to go in different directions and it just never happened. I think it would take a well defined plan upfront of what the design should be capable of and then try to get people knowledgable in the right areas to contribute on particular pieces of the project. If it's completely unstructured, people aren't going to agree on what the final product should be and it will fail again. Side Scans seem to be coming down in price but still most of us can't afford $3500 for the Imaginex.
Good luck,
FJ

[FJ Taylor]

Re: A serious amateur project

Yes an agreed plan and a simple initial specification is exactly what I want to do. My intention is to integrate COTS products so that people aren't tied up re-inventing the wheel (oh god I sound like a consultant...you can tell it's friday night!!).

I'd propose a group of no more than 5 people who are serious enough to take on a small job at a time and so we edge forwards. I'm after those with some experience rather than the scoobie doo's. There are obviously a few survey engineers lurking the forum who privately can't afford (or can't justify) the CMAX we all want.

Are you volunteering? ;-)

[FJ]

Re: A serious amateur project

If you're looking for someone with experience I'm afraid that wouldn't be me..
FJ

[Mark Roberts]

Re: A serious amateur project

As a practicing EE / product developer, I can assure you that designing a product via long distance committee would be a real challenge. Trying to then market it would be an additional huge hurtle without having a formal business plan / company structure. Designing this way, and for low volume markets is likely to yield a product cost well above that of any existing product.

That said, I'd be interested in participating!

I've a machine shop, am an experienced electronic engineer specializing in high frequency work, scuba diver, and power boater living on the puget sound. I'd love to have a SSS for new scuba site location, and have done a number of small underwater electronics projects. My free time is tough to come by, so I wouldn't want to get involved without a solid committment from others, and certainly don't want to entertain annoying little questions from random wannabes... but, this could be fun!



Engage Technology

[FJ Taylor]

Re: A serious amateur project

Hi Mark

I have no intention of marketing this. My primary interest is the towfish as there are a number of products available to service the top end data requirements. Having said that the data acquisition and processing side could be an interesting excercise.

I also agree that those with solid commitment are the ones to court.

Before anyone mentions the Imagenex I have no desire to 'dis' it. I've used Imagenex sector scanning sonar products and found them to be excellent. I just want some other features in my sidescan.

Is you HR work audio or RF?

[Mark Roberts]

Re: A serious amateur project

If you check the website, you'll see that I specialize in RF, microcontrollers, etc. I've sucessfully built hydrophones for my own use in the past as well...

[Charles, Oak Island,NC]

Re: A serious amateur project

I guess that makes me a scoobie doo's what ever the hell that is...All I built was a working Dan and have been here on this site for about 3 years.................

[Charles, Oak Island,NC]

Re: A serious amateur project

corection 5 yrs 2 months 20 days

[Carl-NC]

Re: A serious amateur project

FJ is correct, there was once a flurry of activity here, with several folks working on SSS projects. I don't know that it was ever organized into a team effort, tho.

As I recall, everyone seemed to get stuck in about the same place: the transducer. Too hard to find, too expensive, etc. Don't have time to go back through all those threads to do a post-mortem.

So, if there is interest in an organized project, I would be willing to participate. My background is IC design (at Analog Devices) in the area of RF and high-speed data converters. Can do PIC & C++/Windows programming, Scuba certified, full woodworking shop and now setting up a metal working room. Full development bench including a TDS640 DSO and HP3585A Spectrum Analyzer. I can also supply IC's from Analog Devices.

I would suggest 2 things to start with: an agreement on what the project is, and finding a source of transducers. Also would suggest trying to pull back in some of the prior participants, they went through at least some of the School of Hard Knocks.

I would also like to suggest that this be a public project. That is, the full design gets posted for all to see & use.

- Carl

[Robert]

Re: A serious amateur project

There are alot of us who have come here for direction. What most of us are looking for is a design we can all copy. Dan's side scan was the starting place. What we could do is have input on a set of specifications and have some design sketches from everyone. All of us seem to have different talents that can be applied. Once a design is set, assign different areas to a specialized group. I am sure the work will fall to a select few, but we will all learn if we communicate our ideas and findings.

Lets get this underway! Whos got some ideas on transducers? How about software design?

But remember the KISS priciple, keep it simple with room to grow!

Robert