Avaliação qualitativa dos sonares interferométricos Edgetech 6205S2 e ping DSP 3DSS para geração de produtos batimétricos

Abstract

Looking for a safe navigation, it is essential to know the depth at which the vessel navigates. These depths are measured and mapped by hydrographic services in several countries whose have navigable waters. In order to facilitate this activity in a standardized and systematic way, the IHO was created, an Organization responsible for instructing and guaranteeing the correct performance of hydrography. It is responsible for publication S-44, which governs and dictates standards to be followed for the execution of hydrographic surveys. For this purpose, some equipment can be used, mainly echo sounders and sonar, using proprietary technologies that are notably recognized by the hydrographic community. The most popular, and used on a large scale, is the beamforming technology present in multibeam echo sounders. Another possibility is the use of interferometry, which uses the signal phase difference to estimate depths. Although, this technique is not widely used yet by hydrographic services incorporated around the world, including Brazil. In this dissertation, the operating principles of such equipment were described, so that the full potential of the data studied later could be understood. However, the final objective of this dissertation was to analyze such data, both bathymetric and bottom imaging, from two equipments available on the market: the EdgeTech 6205s2 and the Ping DSP 3DSS, both known as interferometric sonars. These data were analyzed in qualitative and quantitative ways to verify the possibility of using them for production/updating nautical charts. In this sense, the programs Caris Hips and SonarWiz were used to process the bathymetric data and imaging, respectively, fulfilling all the flow required for a correct analysis. After this meticulous analysis of the results, both reached the expected level according to the S-44 orders achieved, all examined areas reached at least special order and, one specifically, exclusive order. The result was compared to the images and some notable points could be identified concomitantly.