Abstract

In support of Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Office of Coast Survey collects meaningful acoustic backscatter as a ancillary product of its navigational charting mission. Many of NOAA’s field units have Reson 7000 series multibeam echosounders which have been shown to have decidedly non-linear response characteristics under certain high signal conditions. This non-linear behavior significantly increases the complexity of the radiometric corrections required to make use of backscatter under a variety of processing paradigms. Avoiding operating these systems in the non-linear operational domain is a simpler approach. However, the onset of non-linear behavior is not a simple function of the output signal level but instead depends on a number of tunable settings. Here we present a method for both determining the onset of non-linear behavior in any installed Reson 7000 series sonar and monitoring the system during real-time acquisition to ensure the system is operating in a linear fashion. In general this information improves the operator’s understanding of the system status and can lead to additional post processing advantages.

Department

Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping

Publication Date

5-2012

Journal Title

Canadian Hydrographic Conference

Conference Date

May 15 - May 17, 2012

Publisher Place

Niagara Falls, Canada

Publisher

Canadian Hydrographic Association

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

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