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Side Scan Sonar Introduction

Presenters Name
Date

Fugro 2013

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SIDESCAN

APPLICATIONS:
Pipeline Inspection
Site Surveys
Wreck Hunting
Environmental & Sediment Classification
ROV Operations
Rig Move Operations

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Sonar Systems

Sidescan Systems

Multi- Beam Systems

Interferometric Systems

SeaMARC (I, II)

MR1 (SEAMAP)
TOBI
EDO
EG&G / EDGETECH
Klein
GLORIA
Seascan (MSTL)
GeoAcoustics
SSI, TAMU, Etc
AMS -120 (DSL)
Datasonics

SIMRAD: EM300, 1000, 3000

HYDROSWEEP:Fansweep
SEABAT: 9001/8101/8102/8125
SEABEAM: Elac/XSE
Odom Echoscan

AMS120 (Woods Hole DSL)

SeaMARC
Ultra Electronics Deepscan

*GeoDAS can be customized to support

any underwater sensor system.

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OVERVIEW OF TERMS

SONAR

Bottom-tracking

Sidescan data

Altitude

Beam-width

Oscilloscope

Ping

Slant Range

Towfish

Ground Range

Waterfall

Imaging Artifacts

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Overall view of sonar survey

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Overall view of sonar survey cont.

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Introduction to Sonar
SONAR

Sound Navigation And Ranging

~What Direction is the target and how far is it.

Early sonars returned single values for range to target,
Sidescan Sonar extends the beam of sound laterally, in a fan,
mapping a swath across the seafloor.

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General Terms and Definitions

Recall: SONAR == SOund Navigation And Ranging

i.e., What direction is the target and how far is it
What direction is the target?
Straight down, out to the side, or somewhere in between.
Without angle measurement, can only know range
How far is the target? Distance = Rate * Time
Speed of Sound in Salt Water = VOS =~ 1500 meters / second
Function of pressure, temperature and salinity
Pulse Length = time (in milliseconds) in which the sonar is actively
transmitting energy
Ping Period = time (in seconds or milliseconds) in which the sonar
is listening for echoes before it pings again.

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Defining a Ping
Each firing of the sonar illuminates an
area on the seafloor - the echoes from
which we record, and call a ping.
The pulse- length and beam-width
define the sonars ability to resolve
items on the ground.
Shorter pulse lengths and narrower
beam patterns give higher resolution.
100% coverage requires that we go
slow, or ping fast, so that no gaps
occur between pings. This implies a
trade- off between survey speed, sonar
range and survey coverage.

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Sonar Placement
Where is the sonar?
Hull mounted or in a Towfish.
Vessel position calculated from a DGPS (hopefully);
and sonar towfish position calculated relative to
vessel, via estimates of offsets, depth, cable-out
and relative bearing to ship (or USBL).

Sidescan towfish

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Sonar Placement cont.

Heres another perspective

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Sidescan & Data Transfer

Lets begin with the sensor

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Next

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Then

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Finally

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In a nutshell

Each ping illuminates an area of the seafloor beneath and perpendicular to the
sensor - the backscatter from which we derive an image of a thin slice of the
seabed. This image is sent to a waterfall display, such as seen in GeoDAS, and
provides a continuous display of pings, forming a scrolling image of the
seafloor.

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Purpose of a Waterfall
What is a waterfall?
The waterfall display is what
appears on the computer
screen via a data acquisition
Software program such as
GeoDAS.
A waterfall display is used
to portray the recorded
sonar pings as a vertically
scrolling image of sequential
scan lines abutted to portray
a continuous image of the
bottom, optionally corrected
for vessel speed.

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Bottom Tracking
What is bottom-tracking?
The process of detecting the arrival time of the first echo from the bottom is known as
bottom-tracking and is mandatory for successful operations.
With an estimate of the sensors height above bottom, or altitude, and the assumption
that the bottom is nominally flat across-track within the coverage of the ping, we can
convert the raw time-domain (slant range) imagery of any target at point P to ground
range images, and represent the actual ground range to the target on the bottom, via
the Pythagoreans Theorem.

GR

SR 2 GR2

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Oscilloscope
Detecting the first return, as shown by the black lines superimposed
on the raw data, gives us the sonars height off seafloor bottom also
know as altitude. GeoDAS uses its own built in oscilloscope to
detect this first return and begin bottom tracking which is important
to properly apply some of the image enhancement routines.

Sonar
echoes
(port and
starboard)
from one
ping
Detection of 1st
return gives alt.

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Bottom Tracking
Given the speed of
sound in water, the
arrival time of each
acoustic backscatter
sample produces a
direct measure of the
range to the reflecting
target. This allows
GeoDAS to track the
seafloor bottom (this
will be discussed
further in the Playback
presentation).
Bottom-tracking is
indicated in GeoDAS
by the red lines in
the bottom-tracking
waterfall and in the
sidescan waterfall.

Bottom-tracking is most helpful in avoiding dredging

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Slant-Range vs. Ground-Range

Slant - Range Imagery:
A raw display
; of sonar data,
object shapes may be distorted

Image without Bottom-Tracking

Ground - Range Imagery:

Requires knowledge of terrain, slope
or the "flat- bottom assumption

Image with Bottom-Tracking applied

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Imaging Artifacts
Uniformity of sidescan imagery is dependent on uniformity of illumination.
Major limits on uniformity are:
Spreading Losses:
Intensity (2R) = Intensity (R) / 4
(1 over R squared rule);
approximate, but reasonably close;
often estimated
Fix these with TVG

Beam -Pattern Variations

(side - lobes):
Illumination by sonar is not perfectly
even; can cause severe image
banding
Fix these with AVG

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REVIEW
SONAR:

acronym for SOund Navigation And Ranging

Sidescan data:

arrive as time series (port & stbd) of echo amplitude

Beam-width:

footprint of the sonar ping on the ground, usually in

degrees.

Ping:

all the samples recorded from 1 active transmission

Towfish:

hydrodynamic towbody containing sonar electronics

Waterfall:

display of sequential pings as grayscale images

Bottom-tracking:

the process of detecting the first return (gives the

altitude)

Altitude:

the height of the sonar off the seabed

Oscilloscope:

backscatter sampled by sonar in 1/SAMPLE_RATE

Slant Range:

cross-track resolution is constant in time

Ground Range:

cross-track resolution is constant in space

Image Artifacts:

distortions in sonar data

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LIMITATIONS & ADVANTAGES

Disadvantages:
Cannot give geo-referenced bathymetry data
Difficult to position due to long cable
Semi-Skilled interpretation necessary

Advantages:
Low cost
large area coverage reduces survey time
Natural visual interpretation
Proven Technology

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TOW FISH WITH DECK UNIT

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Basic Sonar Principles

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SONAR SYSTEM ELEMENTS

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TWO WAY TRAVEL TIME

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SWATHE FROM SIDESCAN

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Side Scan Swath

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Spherical Spreading of Sound

Spreading loss
When it hits the sea bottom or surface,
spreading becomes cylindrical

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Absorption of sound
High Frequency Sound

Vibrating molecules
Viscosity of medium
Chemical
Depends on Frequency of
Sound

Low Frequency Sound

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Refraction of Sound
Bending of a sound wave
towards a region of slower
sound speed
Effects on imaging the
bottom

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Reflection of Sound
Deflection of the path of a
sound wave by an object or
by the boundary between
two media
Acoustic properties of the
media boundaries
Similar = less
reflection
Dissimilar = more
reflection

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Scattering of Sound
Scattering affects the
distance sound can travel
Amount of scattering
depends on:
Size of scatter
Wave length of sound

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Noise
Traveling through the sea, an underwater
sound signal becomes delayed, distorted
and weakened, reflecting on boundaries
of underside surface of waves, bottom
and shores, bubbles, suspended
particles and marine life.
Tide, current, temperature variances and
wind also play on a sound's final quality.
Man made noise can also affect the
results

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Time Varying Gain

Time Varying Gain (TVG) is
accurately controlled
amplification (gain) relative
to time after transmission.
Used to correct for
transmission loss.
Gain

Time

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Sonar Equation

EL = SL + TS - 2TL
Where EL (echo level) is the
level of the reflectedsound,
SL (source level) is the level
of the incident sound, TS is
target strength, and 2 TL is
two-way transmission loss
due to spreading and
absorption.

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SOURCE LEVEL

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PULSE LENGTH

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ACROSS TRACK RANGE

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ALONG TRACK RESOLUTION

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HORIZONTAL BEAM PATTERN

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VERTICAL BEAM PATTERN

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BEAM FORMATION

VP/frequency

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NEAR FIELD BEAM FORMATION

Length of array

VP/frequency

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SPREADING, ABSORPTION AND NOISE

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TOWFISH IMAGE

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SIDESCAN RECORD BUILD UP

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CODA SYSTEM

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CODA PIPELINE

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SIDESCAN GEOMETRY

A
C
D

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A
B

A= Surface echo
B = Bottom Echo
C = Target Echo
D = Shadow

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PADDLE STEAMER WRECK

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ICEBERG SCOURS

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MOSAIC

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FREQUENCY ALLOCATION

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100kHZ WRECK

SCHOONER

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100kHZ AIRCRAFT

WELLINGTON BOMBER

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500kHZ WRECK

LIGHTSHIP

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PIPELINE CROSSING

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MINE-HUNTING

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ENGINEERING

Steel rod protruding from

mound evident by its acoustic
shadow

Fill mound on previous sink

hole

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BACKGROUND THRESHOLD

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SEA SURFACE RETURN

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SURFACE INTERFERENCE

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LOWERING TOW-FISH

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WATCH OUT FOR THE BOTTOM!

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WATCH THE ECHO-SOUNDER

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NO SURFACE RETURN

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SEA CLUTTER

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PROJECTIONS & DEPRESSIONS

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TARGET IN WATER COLUMN

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TARGET IN WATER COLUMN

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TARGET ON BOTTOM

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MULTIPLE ECHOS

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MULTIPLE PIPELINE ECHOS

multiple

multiple

Pipeline

Pipeline

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MULTIPLE SEA-BOTTOM

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100kHZ WRECK

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POWER BOAT WAKE

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SAIL BOAT WAKE

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AIR BUBBLES

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SHADOW FROM BUOY

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PIPELINE SUSPENSION

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FISH

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FISH SHOAL

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TARGET AT LONG AND SHORT RANGE

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FIRST WRECK CONTACT

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SECOND WRECK CONTACT

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TYRES ON SEA BED

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WOODEN LADDER

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MISTAKEN WRECK

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SIDE LOBE RETURNS

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CROSSTALK AND DIRECT IMAGE

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CROSSTALK

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SECOND SWEEP

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SECOND SWEEP WRECK

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REFRACTION PROBLEMS
SIDE SCAN SONAR

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REFRACTION IMAGE
Focussing of beams
due to refraction

TOTAL LOSS OF SIGNAL AT

THERMOCLINE

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REFRACTION

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TOWING PITCH

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TOWING PITCH

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TOWFISH YAW

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TOWFISH YAW

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SWEEPING TURN

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DEVIATION FROM COURSE

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DONT DO THIS !

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YOU CAN DO THIS

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LOST TAIL FIN

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Thank You

Fugro 2013

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