CEE HydroSystems launches new echo sounder survey system

CEE HydroSystems has released a new single beam echo sounder survey system designed for shallow water unmanned surface vehicle (USV) survey applications, using both commercially available and one-off custom manufactured vessels.

The CEESCOPE-USV is a waterproof echo sounder, GNSS and broadband radio telemetry package that can be installed on remotely-operated crafts. It is a self-contained unit requiring no interface with the USV.

The CEESCOPE-USV uses real time broadband radio telemetry, detailed 20-hertz dual frequency soundings, up to 20 hertz RTK GNSS and a 3,200 sample per ping digital echogram, which are available on shore via the CEE-LINK radio base station. Using software packages such as HYPACK and Eye4Software Hydromagic data from the CEESCOPE-USV telemetry link, the operator can steer the USV along the survey line like in any manned boat survey.

“By removing the requirement for the vehicle to also handle data telemetry, total system costs may be reduced, and the separation of the instrument and vehicle electronics offers advantages for obtaining clean data, our main concern as an instrument manufacturer,” says Adrian McDonald, CEE Hydrosystems. “By giving surveyors a complete data package designed for USV surveying, we have made it a little easier for firms to create their own USV designs as they no longer have to worry about how to handle their data. Additionally, users wishing to add real time video or side scan capability to their USV simply plug the data output from these devices into the CEESCOPE-USV and those data are relayed to the shore with the GNSS and bathymetry data. Similarly, navigation data may be exported from the CEESCOPE-USV to vehicle control systems if needed, such as for waypoint guidance.”