Sidescan Sonar

[Bill]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

>>>>Dan Fountains page shows how to hook up the transducers -- Cheaply!! From there, the DSP in the fish should be relatively easy.


>>>>Up stairs at the PC end will be the challenge. The math is tricky but do-able. I do a lot of Visual Basic coding, so the software can be windows based and easily used on a laptop.


>>>>Has anyone come up with schematics for activating the transducers for pinging, listening and measuring time?


>>>>depending on how robust this project is, we can consider a CTD (current, temperature & depth) unit. The speed of sound underwater changes with these variables, so if high definition is required the addition of this might be useful.


>>>Terry, you might consider a GPS interface for reading


>>>longitude and latitude, which is important once a


>>>target has been acquired. Software could be developed


>>>to print hard copies showing target acquisition,


>>>depth, heading, lon - lat, and shadow.


>>Bill,


>>Good idea to link GPS to it.


>>Most GPS have a data connector.


>>Do you happen to know how the signals from this connector looks like (Is it RS232 or something like that ?)


>>I use a KODEN DGPS and will see if i can get some info about it.


>>Perhaps someone can check another brand to see if there are differences.


>>Regards Jan


>>The GPS must be a DGPS because


>A KODEN KGP-98D DGPS uses a NMEA-0183 port for communication with plotters.


>An interesting webpage is


>http://www.marinesoft.com/Navigation/Technical/mse5.htm


>Regards Jan


Jan, I am still trying to locate my partner in Az.,


he will be able to answer all the tech. questions.


My expertise is more target identification after


acquisition.(both sonar and nanotesla readout from


magnetometer)Bill

[Jan]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

>>>>>Dan Fountains page shows how to hook up the transducers -- Cheaply!! From there, the DSP in the fish should be relatively easy.


>>>>>Up stairs at the PC end will be the challenge. The math is tricky but do-able. I do a lot of Visual Basic coding, so the software can be windows based and easily used on a laptop.


>>>>>Has anyone come up with schematics for activating the transducers for pinging, listening and measuring time?


>>>>>depending on how robust this project is, we can consider a CTD (current, temperature & depth) unit. The speed of sound underwater changes with these variables, so if high definition is required the addition of this might be useful.


>>>>Terry, you might consider a GPS interface for reading


>>>>longitude and latitude, which is important once a


>>>>target has been acquired. Software could be developed


>>>>to print hard copies showing target acquisition,


>>>>depth, heading, lon - lat, and shadow.


>>>Bill,


>>>Good idea to link GPS to it.


>>>Most GPS have a data connector.


>>>Do you happen to know how the signals from this connector looks like (Is it RS232 or something like that ?)


>>>I use a KODEN DGPS and will see if i can get some info about it.


>>>Perhaps someone can check another brand to see if there are differences.


>>>Regards Jan


>>>The GPS must be a DGPS because


>>A KODEN KGP-98D DGPS uses a NMEA-0183 port for communication with plotters.


>>An interesting webpage is


>>http://www.marinesoft.com/Navigation/Technical/mse5.htm


>>Regards Jan


>Jan, I am still trying to locate my partner in Az.,


>he will be able to answer all the tech. questions.


>My expertise is more target identification after


>acquisition.(both sonar and nanotesla readout from


>magnetometer)Bill


Bill,


Perfect.


I am just reading the webpage.... my girlfriend phoned when I found the page.. so had to quickly write the post and logoff.


Looks promissing, not to difficult to get data out of GPS.


Regards Jan

[jan]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

>>>>>Dan Fountains page shows how to hook up the transducers -- Cheaply!! From there, the DSP in the fish should be relatively easy.


>>>>>Up stairs at the PC end will be the challenge. The math is tricky but do-able. I do a lot of Visual Basic coding, so the software can be windows based and easily used on a laptop.


>>>>>Has anyone come up with schematics for activating the transducers for pinging, listening and measuring time?


>>>>>depending on how robust this project is, we can consider a CTD (current, temperature & depth) unit. The speed of sound underwater changes with these variables, so if high definition is required the addition of this might be useful.


>>>>Terry, you might consider a GPS interface for reading


>>>>longitude and latitude, which is important once a


>>>>target has been acquired. Software could be developed


>>>>to print hard copies showing target acquisition,


>>>>depth, heading, lon - lat, and shadow.


>>>Bill,


>>>Good idea to link GPS to it.


>>>Most GPS have a data connector.


>>>Do you happen to know how the signals from this connector looks like (Is it RS232 or something like that ?)


>>>I use a KODEN DGPS and will see if i can get some info about it.


>>>Perhaps someone can check another brand to see if there are differences.


>>>Regards Jan


>>>The GPS must be a DGPS because


>>A KODEN KGP-98D DGPS uses a NMEA-0183 port for communication with plotters.


>>An interesting webpage is


>>http://www.marinesoft.com/Navigation/Technical/mse5.htm


>>Regards Jan


>Jan, I am still trying to locate my partner in Az.,


>he will be able to answer all the tech. questions.


>My expertise is more target identification after


>acquisition.(both sonar and nanotesla readout from


>magnetometer)Bill


Bill,


I had a look.


Looks very easy.


NMEA-0183 sends sentences in plain ascii.


Message layout


$ talker-id msg-id data , data , ..... CR


All message id's are descibed...


Making the hardware to read it is hardly needed, it can be, more or less, directly connected to Com port of PC.


Good idea to add GPS had not thought about that.


When everyone checks his/her GPS to see which kind of dataport it uses we could see if we need to make adapters so it can talk to our program.


I expect that all marine GPS systems use NMEA standard. (National Marine Electronics Association)


Regards Jan

[Terry]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

>>>>>>Dan Fountains page shows how to hook up the transducers -- Cheaply!! From there, the DSP in the fish should be relatively easy.


>>>>>>Up stairs at the PC end will be the challenge. The math is tricky but do-able. I do a lot of Visual Basic coding, so the software can be windows based and easily used on a laptop.


>>>>>>Has anyone come up with schematics for activating the transducers for pinging, listening and measuring time?


>>>>>>depending on how robust this project is, we can consider a CTD (current, temperature & depth) unit. The speed of sound underwater changes with these variables, so if high definition is required the addition of this might be useful.


>>>>>Terry, you might consider a GPS interface for reading


>>>>>longitude and latitude, which is important once a


>>>>>target has been acquired. Software could be developed


>>>>>to print hard copies showing target acquisition,


>>>>>depth, heading, lon - lat, and shadow.


>>>>Bill,


>>>>Good idea to link GPS to it.


>>>>Most GPS have a data connector.


>>>>Do you happen to know how the signals from this connector looks like (Is it RS232 or something like that ?)


>>>>I use a KODEN DGPS and will see if i can get some info about it.


>>>>Perhaps someone can check another brand to see if there are differences.


>>>>Regards Jan


>>>>The GPS must be a DGPS because


>>>A KODEN KGP-98D DGPS uses a NMEA-0183 port for communication with plotters.


>>>An interesting webpage is


>>>http://www.marinesoft.com/Navigation/Technical/mse5.htm


>>>Regards Jan


>>Jan, I am still trying to locate my partner in Az.,


>>he will be able to answer all the tech. questions.


>>My expertise is more target identification after


>>acquisition.(both sonar and nanotesla readout from


>>magnetometer)Bill


>Bill,


>Perfect.


>I am just reading the webpage.... my girlfriend phoned when I found the page.. so had to quickly write the post and logoff.


>Looks promissing, not to difficult to get data out of GPS.


>Regards Jan

[Terry]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

The GPS will be any easy addition. That is more a software problem. The DSP in the fish and the transducers will be the key. The should be an easy project.


Beam pattern of the transducers should be regulated by the dollars we want to put in. A 4" x 1" tranducter will run $5000 to $10000 for each side. Quite an investment. The idea of using puck style transducers (2 in parallel & both in series) on each side will be less than $800 total for both sides!!


If we want very the best transducers, it would probably be more cost efficient to buy a pre-built side scan instead of trying to build one.

[Jan]

Re: Sidescan Sonar

>The GPS will be any easy addition. That is more a software problem. The DSP in the fish and the transducers will be the key. The should be an easy project.


>Beam pattern of the transducers should be regulated by the dollars we want to put in. A 4" x 1" tranducter will run $5000 to $10000 for each side. Quite an investment. The idea of using puck style transducers (2 in parallel & both in series) on each side will be less than $800 total for both sides!!


>If we want very the best transducers, it would probably be more cost efficient to buy a pre-built side scan instead of trying to build one.