January 2020

Sensor Theory –
Understanding the Hardware
HYPACK 2020 TRAINING EVENT
GPS and Positioning

2
GPS - Positioning

• GPS uses 24 satellites that

orbit the earth every 12 hours.

• A user needs to “see” 4

satellites to get a position fix,
but more is better.

• GPS works on the WGS84

datum and spheroid

• Dynamic GPS positioning

accuracy ranges from 10-20 m
to 0.05-0.02 m depending
upon method employed.

3
GPS – Determining Position

Determining GPS Position

The time of travel is used to compute

distance. This computes a Psuedo Range.

Three Psuedo Ranges should ideally cross at

the position of the GPS.

Based upon range the

position is somewhere
along the circle

4
GPS – Determining Position

In fact, four satellites are

required to determine the
unknown values.

X - Latitude
Y - Longitude
Z - Height
T - Time Based Error

5
 GPS – Determining Position Geometry

The spread of
satellites determines
the quality of the
position.

Satellites too low on

the horizon can
provide errors as
well as satellites too
close together.

Elevation masking is
used to prevent
satellites low on the
horizon from causing
error in the position.

6
DGPS – Error Corrected Position

Error Assumptions

• Ionospheric and
Tropospheric effects
are the same at the
reference station
and user GPS

• Reference Station
and User GPS “see”
the same satellites

7
GPS Corrections
There are several methods to improve the GPS
location on the vessel. Satellite : DGPS – Sub Meter

Beacon : Beyond roughly 750 Km, a

DGPS is not likely to be any more
accurate than an uncorrected GPS

RTK: Base to Vessel range less than

20 Km, accuracy in cm

RTK Base Station

Differential Station

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RTK Tides in HYPACK

A GPS position as defined previously

requires four satellites and a receiver H D

With RTK GPS a tide station is not

required when surveying T’

K
To take advantage of an RTK GPS
requires the position and corrections which
then lead into a math problem A B CS N-K N

• HYPACK Tide Correction:

• T=N– K–A–H-D

• Chart Sounding:
• CS = B + D + T Bottom
• CS = B + N – K – A – H

9
GPS – Timing with PPS

PPS Signal ZDA Message

The 1 Pulse Per Second (PPS) signal is used to identify the time of the ZDA
message from a GPS receiver.

The ZDA message to HYPACK cannot be sent more than 1 Hz to ensure that
the proper ZDA message is aligned with the PPS signal

10
Vessel Motion

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Vessel Motion

A vessel experiences motion in all three directions.

Up
Fore and Aft motion is called Surge
Center of Gravity
Port and Starboard motion is called Sway

Vertical motion is called Heave Fore

Port

Starboard

Aft

Down
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Vessel Motion

• Rotation around the X axis is the Pitch

• Pitch Bow Up is positive Yaw Z
• Rotation around the Y axis is the Roll Center of Gravity
• Roll to Starboard is positive

• Rotation around the Z axis is Yaw

• Yaw Clockwise is positive

Pitch
X
Roll

13
Vessel Motion

Motion Reference Unit: Heave, Heave

Pitch, Roll and sometimes Heading
Center of Gravity
Inertial Navigation Unit: Heave,
Pitch, Roll, Heading and Position
Roll

Pitch

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Physics of Sound

Information in this section contains information from

the UK Hydrographic Office – SOPAC training

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Physics Of Sound – Sine Wave

In order to understand the characteristics and behavior of sound waves, it is

essential to understand Sine Curves

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Physics of Sound - Phase

The phase of the

signal is
especially
important in
interferometry
multi beam
sonars.

The Phase of the signal refers to the angle in relation to the

beginning of the sine wave.

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Physics of Sound – Frequency

Range vs
Frequency

Low Frequency
• Long Range
• More Penetration
• Less Definition
• Less
Waves/Second

High Frequency
• Shorter Range
• Less Penetration
• Higher Definition
• More
Waves/Second
Frequency of the signal is given as: f(hz) = 1/T
In this example f = 0.5 Hz
Hz is equal to the number of times in 1 second

18
Using Acoustics to measure distance

The frequency of the acoustic wave used to

measure the depth depends upon the type of
survey.

• Deep Water / Long Range surveys use Low

Frequencies

• Shallow Water / Short Range surveys use

High Frequencies

The Higher the frequency, the greater the

precision.

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Sound Interaction with Seabed

Direction of
Acoustic
Energy The acoustic energy’s
Energy
returned interaction with the seabed
to sonar has multiple components
Reflection that affect the energy
returned.

The geometry of the pulse

Angle of is important to the signal
Incidence returned.

Scattering

Absorption

20
Environmental Considerations

21
 Environmental Characteristics

When using
acoustic
measurements the
speed of sound
affects the result.

Each of the items in

this image affect the
speed of sound.

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Sound Velocity Corrections
Sound Velocity
• Type in depth and sound speed data
• Import the profile from file
• Receive automatically from MVP.
• The profile is applied in survey for real time
QC.

SONTEK
CASTAWAY SV
Probe. Simplified
Bluetooth Upload.

HYSWEEP® Sound Velocity Editor

Squat and Settlement

Enter a table of draft adjustment vs. speed.
Draft lookup is based on speed over ground, which does not account for current
Understanding Signal Ray Tracing

By applying a Sound Velocity Profile

the sounding can be corrected

High Sound Velocity

Low Sound Velocity
Higher Sound Velocity

Lower Sound Velocity

True position and depth of the sounding

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Speed of Sound – Incorrect Values

Using an incorrect
sound speed will result
in depth measurement
errors.

The error will increase

with range causing the
well known “frown” or
“smile” pattern in MBES
data.

25
Speed of Sound – Corrected Soundings

Correctly applying
the SV profile prior
to editing the data is
crucial in the
processing of MBES
data

12
26
Accuracy vs Precision

27
Precision and Accuracy

Precision Accuracy
• Measure of repeatability • Measure of reliability
• The quality of observations • How close is it to the ‘real’ answer

28
Normal Distribution

In surveying we
always quote to
95% confidence,
which is 2σ

29
Single Beam Sonars

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Single Beam Echo Sounder

Measure travel time from the sonar to

the reflected Seabed.

The SBES can only take one HYPACK

measurement at a time, hence the

Single Beam.

The system typically “pings” several

times per second.

Speed of Sound * Time = Distance

Sound Pulses
Seabed

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SBES – Beam Characteristics

As beam width increases the footprint on the seabed

increases as well. The sounding is the strongest return within
that area

20’ 40’
3 degree 1.0 2.1
5 degree 1.7 3.5
8 degree 2.8 5.6
45 degree 14.1 28.3

Footprint Radius

Fish Finders use a wide angle to

“see” any fish nearby.

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SBES – Beam Characteristics

The width of the beam in a SBES can severely affect the

accuracy of a reported sounding.

Fish Finders use a

wide angle to “see”
any fish nearby.
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Single Beam Echogram data

Echogram Data: Used to display the acoustic data for each ping from network-capable
echo sounders. Acoustic ping data can be used to correct the detected bottom depth.

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SBES in HYPACK

Planning and conducting a survey in HYPACK starts and ends in the Shell

35
SBES in HYPACK

Using the SBMAX64 program, editing has never been easier

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Multi Beam Sonars

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Bathymetric Sonar Types

What is the difference between a beam former

and an interferometric MBES?

A Beam Forming System uses Amplitude

Detection similar to a single beam sonar for a
particular beam angle.

An Interferometric System uses Phase

Detection by finding the phase shift at two or
more elements of the receiver array.

In summary, beam formers measure range for

each of a set of angles, and interferometers
measure angle for each of a set of ranges.
Beam former detection is based on signal
amplitude & phase. Interferometer is a phase
differencing system.

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MBES Basic Principles

Measure the range at a

given angle to determine
the depth

39
Transmit and Receive Beams

The overlapping area of the Transmit

and Receive beams is considered
the Beam Footprint

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Beam-Forming

Multiple transducer elements are used to create each beam

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Ensonified Area or “Footprint” Size Differences

Footprint Size of 8.0 degree

is 6.99 feet in 50 foot deep
water

+ (1) 8.0 degree

(6.99’ or 2.13 m.)

(121)
(7) 1.5
(19) 3.0
0.5x1.0
degree
degreedegree
(1.3’
(2.6’
(0.44’
or
or 0.40
x0.79
0.87’
m.)
m.)or
0.14 m x 0.27 m)

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Beam-Forming – Across Track Resolution

Beam foot print increases in size as distance from Nadir increase

43
 Interferometric Sonars

The elements of
the array are a
known physical T0 T1 T2 T3 T4
T4
distance apart
T3
T2
T1

Transmit pulse
T0 The returning acoustic energy
is received fractions of a
Time second apart, measured as
phase difference
T0
Speed of Received Signal

sound at the
sonar head is Peak Amplitude
required to
convert time to
distance

Seabed
With the known phase difference and the element spacing, the angle of
incidence can be computed to the object. The difference in phase changes
44 with distance from the sonar.
Ping DSP – Principle of Operation

3DSSTM MBES Engine Bathymetry Engine allows for:

1. Beams defined by user specified MBES settings;

NBeams, θBeam, θSector.
2. Identical beams with well-defined boundaries, uniform
weighting and no side lobes.
3. Equidistant, equiangle or equidistant + equiangle
beam distributions.
4. A wide range of MBES configurations (e.g. 1°, 512
beams) and including statistically independent (i.e.
non-overlapping) beam geometries.
5. Accurate bathymetry with full vertical coverage over
extremely wide swathes.
6. Bathymetry results that can be readily compared with
results from similarly configured Multi-beam systems.
MBES – Snippet Data

The “Snippet” data is

the analog signal before
and after the bottom
detection.

The data is stitched together into a line of

signal strength for mosaic.
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Water Column Data

All of the return

data for every
beam is
displayed.

Logging Water Column data requires exponentially more hard

drive space than a normal MBES survey. Water Column data is the
equivalent of the Echogram in SBES.
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MBES in HYPACK

Multibeam Survey
Program
Collects and logs
multibeam and support
sensors.
Real time displays,
corrections and QC.
There are 15 windows to
choose from.

48
MBES – Editing in HYSWEEP

49
Side Scan Sonars

50
What is found in a side scan record?

Shadow Water Column

How the sonar sees the object

• Water column provides information Features on the seafloor block

about towed fish height. the signal from the sonar,
• Target features off the seafloor will creating shadows.
produce a shadow.
• Bottom sediment signal will differ
based upon return angle of incident and
seabed absorption.
51
Sonar System Components

Transceiver

• The sonar’s transceiver receives the

signal and sends it to the acquisition
computer for display and storage.
• The echo distance is determined by
Bottom echo
time similar to other sonar systems.
• Note that sound velocity is needed
to convert travel time into distance.
- 1500 m/s is a reasonable default.

52
What Happens in the Nadir Region

• There is no « White
Area » under the fish.

• The secondary lobes

ensonify the nadir.

• However: The incidence

angle makes this area
not really useful.

Nadir Region

53
What you find with a Side Scan Record

Sidescan Signal T0 (Ping)

T2

T1 (First return)
T2 (range) Signal vs. Time

T1 T1

Time Time
T2 T0 T2

T1 T0 T1
T2 T2

54
Amplitude vs. Time Signal

Bottom track detects the first return

from the seafloor.

T0
T1

The signal is converted to an RGB

value and plotted in the waterfall.

The waterfall view is the signal

amplitude coded by color level.

55
 The Importance of the Shadow

As the towfish gets closer to the seafloor,

the shadow size will increase.

Closer

Farther

56
The Importance of the Shadow

When trying to identify a target, the

shadow can be more helpful than the
shape of the object.

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Side Scan Survey Overview

A side scan sonar can be used for

a wide variety of survey
operations.

• Search and recovery

• Geological Identification
• Pre- and post-dredge surveys
• Target verification and location
• Useful tool for correlating and
verifying bathymetric data

58
Frequency determines effective range

Effective range and

imagery resolution is a
trade-off determined by the
operating frequency of the
side scan sonar.

The higher the frequency,

the shorter the range by
the higher the resolution.

The lower the frequency,

the longer the range but
the lower the resolution.

59
Searching with a 100 KHz sonar

Pipeline

shipwreck In this image a 100 KHz file

is processed. There are two
items of interest.

Return from a air /

gas discharge

60
Side Scan Operations

Towed vs. hull-mounted (fixed) systems

Benefits Problems
• Sonar is close to the
bottom
• Position of towfish may
Towed • Minimal motion
not be known
Ideal for deep water

• Accurate position
Hull • Won’t hit bottom
• Unsuitable for deep water
• Vessel motion will show in
Mounted Ideal for shallow water
data

61
Towed vs Hull-mounted Side Scan
It is critical that a fish is towed close
to the seafloor, but fish position is
generally less accurate.
HYPACK
Hull-mounted systems with better
position are only suitable for shallow
water.

A side scan “towfish”

A hull-mounted side scan

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Sidescan in HYPACK

• Load raw side scan data – HSX, HS2, XTF, JSF, SDF, or CM2 files
• Adjust bottom tracking, smooth heading
• Create mosaic of the data

63
Magnetometers

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How a Marine Magnetometer works

How does the instrument work? According to WHOI….

Marine magnetometers can be scalar, measuring the total strength of the magnetic field; or vector,
resolving the magnetic field into the vectors of strength, inclination ( 0° at the equator and 90° at
magnetic poles) and declination (the angle the magnetic field makes with geographic north).

Marine magnetometers contain a chamber filled with a liquid rich in hydrogen atoms, like kerosene
or methanol. Electrons dissolved in the liquid are excited by a radio frequency (RF) power source
and pass on their energy to the hydrogen atoms’ nuclei (protons), altering their spin states. The
transfer of energy from electrons to the protons in the hydrogen atoms is called the “Overhauser
Effect” (after the American physicist Albert Overhauser who discovered it in the early 1950s) and
the magnetometers that use the effect are called “Overhauser Magnetometers.”

Once the protons are spinning, the RF power is removed, and the protons spiral back to their
original alignment with the total geomagnetic field. The frequency of their spiraling, or
“precession,” is measured with a coil, and is dependent on a known constant, the “gyromagnetic
ratio,” and the total geomagnetic field. Thus, if the frequency is measured, and the constant is
known, the total geomagnetic field can be calculated.

http://www.whoi.edu/page.do?pid=8415&tid=7342&cid=14847

65
Magnetometer Survey Concerns

It is important to
understand how the range
to the object affects the
expected gamma reading.

When searching for a

known object, target
interrogation begins with
an understanding of the
expected gamma.

0M 15M 20M 30M 50M

Offset 0M 7.5 M 10 M 15 M 25 M
Gamma 277.78 67.72 37.38 14.23 3.53

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Variables that Affect a Magnetometer Survey

International
Geomagnetic
Reference Field
(IGRF)

A standard
mathematical
description of the
Earth's main
magnetic field and its
secular variation.

This is the magnetic

field generated by the
Earth’s inner core.
Geomagnetic Storms

Everyday the earth

is bombarded with
magnetic impulses
from the sun.

These magnetic
storms affect the
gamma readings of
the magnetometer.

The intensity and

duration of a
Geomagnetic Storm
can range from
seconds to hours.
Magnetometer Survey Planning

Magnetic intensity prediction graph for

pure iron. ( Source: Breiner 1999b:9)

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Monitoring Background

The INTERMAGNET organization is a group that monitors the changes in the

magnetic readings due to outside interference. The Diurnal changes in the
gamma reading are recorded at a site with a known gamma signature. This
recording is available for download. The recorded variations can be used with
the HYPACK recorded files to clean the interference out of the survey.
Magnetometer Data in HYPACK

The display shows the gamma readings at two

scales simultaneously or individually.
10 nT 100 nT
This allows for a target that jumps off the total
visible scale of the lower scale ( blue ) graph to
be monitored by the larger scale ( red ) graph.
Magnetometer in HYPACK

The MAGEDIT program allows the

user to apply IGRF or Shore based
corrections.

Targets are stored in the Target

Database.

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Sub-Bottom Profilers

73
Introduction to Sub-Bottom Profiling

• SBP systems are single-channel instruments used for shallow

reflection seismic profiling.

• SBP’s operate at different transmit frequencies.

• The interpreted data from these SBP systems includes the

thickness and qualitative sediment characteristics.
• Uses:
• Engineering and geotechnical site surveys
• Renewable energy surveys
• Dredging studies
• Mineral exploration
• Habitat mapping projects

74
Principles of Sub-Bottom Profiling

• Divided into two types:

• Energy source and receiver combined as in a transducer, or
• Separate sound source & receiver (hydrophone array)
• Sound energy transmitted into the water is reflected from the
seabed and the sub-surface sediment layers.
• The reflected energy intensity depends on the different densities
of the sediments.

75
Types of Sub-Bottom Profilers

Acoustic characteristics of commonly used sub-bottom profiling systems. The

depth of penetration is related to the frequency, source energy & nature of the
seabed geology.
OPERATING SOURCE & RECEIVE TYPICAL TYPICAL DEPTH OF MOUNT
SYSTEM
FREQUENCY ARRAY RESOLUTION PENETRATION CONFIGURATION
Swept frequency Vessel mounted or
Chirp 2 - 16 kHz 0.05 – 0.1 m 5 – 50 m
transducer sub-towed
Vessel mounted or
Parametric SBP 2 - 22 kHz Parametric transducer 0.05 – 0.1 m 5 – 30 m
sub-towed
Combined piezo-
Vessel mounted or
Pinger 2 - 12 kHz transducer/ 0.2 m 10 – 50 m
sub-towed
transceiver
Bubble Pulser 0.4 kHz Plate & towed array 0.3 - .0.5 m 20 – 100 m Surface catamaran
Boomer 0.3 - 6 kHz Plate & towed array 0.2 - 0.5 m 20 – 150 m Surface catamaran
Spark electrodes & Surface catamaran or
Sparker 0.2 – 3 kHz 0.3 – 1 m 30 – 750 m
towed array sub-towed
Mini-Airgun 0.1 – 3 kHz Airgun & towed array 0.5 – 1 m 30 – 200 m Towed

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 Installation & Towing Configuration Recommendations

• Mounting a sub-bottom profiler and towing the source & hydrophone array
correctly are critical to acquiring a noise-free dataset.
• In vessel mounted systems, it is important that the transducers are mounted
away from areas of potential noise or turbulence.
• With a surface towed systems, it is a good idea to have the source and the
receive array separated by the aerated propeller wash.

77
Sub Bottom in HYPACK

In SURVEY the
sub-bottom profiling
data is viewed in
the Scrolling Data
Window.

78
January 2020

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