OFFICER TRAINIG CENTRE

of
Gdynia Maritime University

DP OPERATOR BASIC COURSE

MODULE 8:
Hydroacoustic Position
Reference (HPR)

Copyright © 2008 by Jaroslaw Cydejko

 HPR General Characteristic
Hydroacoustic Position Reference (HPR):
uses the properties of acoustic waves propagated in water to
determine the object position.

Basic parametres measured to obtain position:

distance to reference measured by propagation time of acoustic
signal in the water;
direction to reference measured by time delay in signal
reception observed in two points (at the
baseline edges);

HPR uses active acoustic transmitters on HPR sensors onboard:

seabed as reference: • hydrophones (passive) – reception
• beacons (pingers) – transmit the acoustic of acoustic signal only;
signal without interrogation; pinders can be use • transducers - able to transmit
by many users at the same time; interrogation acoustic signal and
• transponders - transmit the acoustic signal receive acoustic replies.
as the reply to interrogation signal.
 Acoustic Waves Propagation
PERIODICAL CHANGES IN
PROPAGATION MEDIUM DENSITY
ACOUSTIC WAVES
SOURCE

ACOUSTIC
PRESSURE
TIME/DISTANCE

HPR system acoustic waves frequency:

Propagation speed = wavelength x frequency
30 kHz band - general use
Distance = speed x time of delay
10 kHz band - deepwater applications
 Distance measurement principle

• For HPR purposes the acoustic

signals are send as pulses.
• Pulse transmittion allows easier
calculations of reply signal delays and
distance measurements.
• Speed of sound need to be known to TRANSDUCER
A L
convert the signal propagation delay
SIG N t 2
to distance measure. P LY
im e – N A L
RE vel t SIG
Tra TING – t 1
O GA time TOTAL DELAY TIME = t1 + t2
R
T ER ravel
IN T

TRANSPONDER 2 x Distance = TOTAL DELAY TIME x sound velocity

 Angle measurement principle
d= baseline length

Baseline

Depending on system type the baseline

could be in the order of meteres or centimeters.
For 30 kHz in water wavelength = 5 cm.
For centimeter baselines the phase difference is measured.
 Acoustic signal refraction (ray bending)
Any wave is the subject of refraction (bending), when travels through medium,
where the propagation velocity changes.

c1<c2 c1>c2

LAYER 1
LAYER 1
LAYER 2
LAYER 2
VELOCITY

In sea water sound velocity increases

with salinity and temperature. All that
causes the bending of the signal path when
traveling from surface to seabed.
TEMPERATURE
Acoustic signal refraction (ray bending)
Ray bending:
• creates „blind sectors”;
• implements errors in
BLIND distance measurements;
SECTOR • implements errors in
angle measurements.
When the vessel referencing
with HPR is performed the

WATER DEPTH
taking into calculation the
ray bending is not crutial
unless the propagation
conditions are changing
over time (fixed offset).

Sound velocity profiles has

To be considered when
absolute positions are
determined for surveying.
SOUND VELOCITY
 HPR positioning methods

• baseline 50 –2000 m; • baseline 50 –200 m; • baseline < 10 cm;

• minimum 3 transponders • 1 transponder or beacon • 1 transponder on seabed;
on seabed; on seabed; • 1 transducers with micro-
• transponders in known • minimum 3 transducers or sensors onboard;
positions hydrophones onboard
 Long Baseline System (LBL)

R4
TRANSDUCER

R1
R3
R2

EACH TRANSPONDER
ON DIFFERENT CHANNEL
System measures the range to transponders that are at known point on the seafloor.
If the absolute coordinates are not required, the local calibration may be enough
i.e. only the distances (baselines) between transponders has to be known.
System measures only ranges (not angles). 3 ranges from known points give the position.

• measures independent of ship motion; • requires the multiple transponders deployed;

• high accuracy (best if vessel on top of • requires calibration for new location;
array) • usaully has a slower update rate then other
• single transduser on ship; methods (several replies before position
• with 4 transponders the system can update)
recognize drifting transponder
 Short Baseline System (SBL)
RS
DUSE
RAN
S • position measured with respect to
ES or T
ROP
HON vessel – good VRU and gyro
YD
H required to ensure accuracy;
• hydrophones calibration required

Y
on installation only;
LL
NA
• multiple solution lead to improved
O
TI
OP

accuracy;
BEACON or • usually more then three
TRANSPONDER
hydrophones required to have
The baseline is created between transducers/hydrophones redundancy (thruster wash);
located along/across ship’s hull. The time difference in pulse • works with single or multiple
reception at two point is measured to obtain an angle. beacons;
Pinger mode (Passive): • baseline restricted by ship’s size;
• passive hydrophones and beacon sending continously • deteriorates more than LBL as
pulses are used; weather becomes marginal;
• only signal angles are measured; depth has to be known; • accuracy depends on baseline
Transponder mode (Active): length; longer baseline - better
• reply transponders allow to measure the range; depth do accuracy;
not have to be known.
 Super Short Baseline System (SSBL)

TRANSDUCER

RANGE
&
ANGLE

TRANSPONDER

Measures range and angle from the vessel mounted single transducer to a transponder on the
seafloor. The minimum three acoustic sensors are located accross one transducer head
creating supershort baseline (less than 10 cm). Interrogation and reply is required to measure
the range. The angle of an arrival acoustic signal is measured by phase comparison of
received acoustic pulses observed simultanously in two sensors.
Super Short Baseline System (SSBL)
• No onsite calibration required,
• One transponder, one transducer;
• System very convenient for vessels
frequently changing location;
• Same transducer can work for LBL and
SSBL;
• accuracy depends on good VRU accuracy
and calibration;
• accuracy depends on water depth and
transducer characteristics (beam width);
• accuracy quoted as 1% of slant range;
• if the water depth known, such an input to
the system can improve positioning
accuracy („Z-lock” option) – helpful,
when large horizontal angles are involved
(distance to transponder greater than
about twice the water depth);
HPR Systems Manufactures and System Types
 Kongsberg Simrad HiPAP

Dual System
HPR System Configuration

Various types of transducer heads can be used

Single
System

Transducer has to be lowered below keel

HPR Transducer Principle of Operation
 Transducer Head Types (classical solutions)
Tracking Narrow Beam
Transducer

Operation areas of various

transducers types

Medium Beam
 HiPAP Transducers
(High Precision Acoustic Positioning)
Dynamic Beam Forming

HiPAP 500:
• 241 receiving elements
on the sphere;
• 10 deg dynamic beam
within 200 deg sector
HiPAP 350:
• 46 receiving elements;
• 15 deg dynamic beam
within 120 deg sector
Transponder Types
MPT – Multifunction Positioning Transponder
SPT – SSBL Positioning Transponder
RPT – ROV Positioning Transponder
MST - Mini SSBL Transponder
 Transponder - Methods of deployment
Transponder, when fitted to ROV can work Transponders can be
in responder mode i.e. interrogation goes through cable, deployed to seabed on
only replies are transmited through water tripods or with anchor
and floating collar.

TRANSDUCER

S
N AL R
SIG E
L Y W AT
-
REP UGH
RO
TH
ROV RESPONDER
 Transponder Symbols Meaning

For example: „MPT 319 DTR”

 Transponder Beam Characteristic

Standard types (1000 m)

SPT
Deepwater types (3000 m) The SSBL Positioning Transponder
(SPT) can only operate in Super-Short
MPT
Base Line (SSBL). However, the SPT
The Multifunction Positioning Transponder (MPT)
also supports telemetry capabilities and
can be operated in both Super-Short Base Line
functionality.
(SSBL) and Long Base Line (LBL) modes.
The SPT may be upgraded to MPT.
All required telemetry functionality is built-in.
 Transponder channels
The transponder channel are defined to enable HPR 300 series channels (old system)
the usage of several transponder
simulatanously without interferences.

When positioning a transponder is triggered

with one of two acoustic pulses from the
transducer onboard the vessel.

Each transponder channel is asigned with a

interrogation and reply frequencies.

The transponder requires the exact

frequency/frequencies to be received and
detected before replying. The HPR onboard is
listening for transponder reply on frequency
asigned to the transponder’s channel.

HPR 300 series transponders are

interogated with one pulse and have
only 14 channels
HPR 400 series frequences allocation Transponder channels
Every channel is described by two digits:25,54 etc.
HPR 400 system interrogates transponder with two
pulses of frequencies allocated for the digits in the
channel number. The transponder reply is determined
by the second interrogation pulse. When the first
Interrogation pulse is an odd number (o) the reply is
250 Hz higher than it is ahen the pulse is
an even number (e).
Example:
Channel B25:
(2) Interrogation (first pulse)– 21500 Hz
(5) Interrogation (second pulse)– 23000 Hz
(even/5) Reply– 30500 Hz
NO FREQ. CLASHES WITHIN ONE SYSTEM,
BUT 2 VESSELS HAS TO ESTABLISH CHANNELS

HPR 400 series transponders are

interogated with two pulse,
56 channels are defined.
APOS – HPR Operator Station
APOS allow
operator to:
• activate transponders;
• set TP Tx power;
• set transducer Rx gain;
• define interrogation
rate;
• observe TP position on
screen;
• define TP mode: fixed,
mobile or responder;
• define transduser
mode:
narrow, medium, wide,
narrow wanted etc.
• check battery status;
• read date from
telemetry (depth,
inclination etc.).
 HPR Errors

The main sources of noise

affecting HPR are:
• thruster noise;
• enviromnetal noises (waves);
Not always the 100% pitch of thrusters
is the most problematic. Thrusters at
lower pitch can generate noise with
30 kHz frequences closer to HPR spectrum
HPR Errors due to pitch and roll

Accurate and correctly calibrated

VRU and gyro are crutial for
HPR accuracy (SBL and USBL).

The VRU and gyro are feeding HPR

directlly. In most cases DP system
receive HPR position converted to
vessel’s origio (no more offsets to be
applied, DP offsets for HPR – 0,0,0)
 HPR Accuracy
HPR accuracy depands
on the system category
used for positioning.
In most cases it is
expressed as % of the
slant range.

HiPAP 500:
- 0.2% of range
HiPAP 350:
- 0.3 % of range

Older systems (e.g.HPR400)

depends of the beam width
Noise, raybending, VRU, gyro inaccuracies can used for positionig:
reduce the accuracy. - narrow beam – 1% of range
- wide beam – 3% of range
 HPR Transponders Deployment
NOW IN 5 HOURS TIME

TID OD
E
O
FL
WIN
FOR D
EC
AS
TO T GOOD AREA
BA
CK FOR
TO
WE TRANSPONDER
ST
DEPLOYMENT
TRANSDUCER
GOOD AREA TRANSDUCER
FOR
TRANSPONDER
DEPLOYMENT

ND
WI

EBB
TIDE
OPERATOR MUST SELECT THE TRANSPONDER DEPLOYMENT LOCATION
WITH CARE TO AVOID THRUSTER NOISE AND AERATION BOTH AT
PRESENT AND IN THE FORSEEABLE FUTURE