Preliminary results of an S5000 V2 bathymetrie side scan sonar

Abstract

Side scan sonars are increasingly fitted with arrays to perform interferometry in order to provide bottom topography as well as backscatter imagery. Applications range from hydrography to morphologic augmentation of seabed imagery. Accuracy requirements for topographic data vary with intended application, but in general merging the data from multiple survey lines into a single area mosaic requires compensation for transducer motion as well as knowledge of sonar array location. L-3 Communications Klein Associates (Klein) began manufacturing such a system, the Klein S5410, in 1999. It has been successfully employed to produce data of comparable quality to a commercial multibeam system at depths of 8–20 meters (Reference [1]) after significant development effort provided by the Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping at the University of New Hampshire. This paper presents data from a new Klein interferometric side scan sonar, the S5000 V2. It incorporates a number of improvements on the S5410 design, intended to provide an integrated system capable of producing data equivalent to, or better than, the S5410 while easily integrating with standard navigation, motion and environmental sensors, and producing output that is compatible with commercial post processing software. The sonar is designed to be either towed or mounted directly to a survey vessel. Data examined in this paper was collected with the sonar mounted at the bow of a small research vessel.