Pavel,
How close are you (time frame) to having an operational tested unit that will be for sale to the public?
Regards
Todd Sparkes
Hi Todd
We are aiming for the June to July time frame, this would be an initial production run of 10 or 20 units of the sonar block. Depending on how fast they sell the next production run could be 100 systems. The main bottleneck in production is the transducer. the electronics and housings can be made as fast as bread 
We will see what we can do about a rotator for a 120 deg scan, this could be as simple as an underwater servo, without a slip ring, and a flexible cable to the sonar. If somebody else has a inexpensive underwater servo for sale we could use almost any underwater rotator.
I plan to send out the initial sonar electronics for the sonar block sometime next week, and plan to start testing sometime near the end of May.
Since the design and construction is very strongly based on a simplified version of our professional angle of arrival sector scan that we have been testing for over 2 years we are confident that by end of July we should have units for sale.
I checked our ceramic inventory and we have 300 kHz bars, but we have to order the higher frequencies of 675 kHz. Usually there is a 8 week lead time on the ceramics. Our electronics will run with any frequency from 100 kHz to 1 MHz. Our in house test version will be 300 kHz (since we have the ceramics), depending on the results from 300 kHz we may have to wait for the 675 kHz bars to arrive for the version that we plan to sell. It sounds like for the ROV applications higher frequency is the way to go since resolution is more important than long range.
I plan to post some images as soon as I have some results.
Thanks,
Pavel
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If you are near your initial price target, the unit looks promising and can integrate with the rov, you will have a buyer here most likely.
Hi Pavel,
any news on the Sonar please keep us updated.
side checking sonar on a ROV isnāt planned for route, its information is verifiable (ie. reveals to you what the base behind you resembled). Rather, it could be extremely helpful for making high determination sonar mosaics. The issue youāll keep running into is that side sweep requires continuous area (for the most part gave by a GPS). In principle in any event, you may have the capacity to get that from something like the new āsubmerged GPSā framework.
Regards
Nancy
Working @vbuycars, providing Cash For Cars Calabasas.
Hi Pavel,
Any update on your SONAR project?
Thanks,
Ken
Anyone ever tried one of these?
http://www.picotech-ltd.com/PicoFLS-120.html
I sent them a mail for the price. Lets see how their claim to low cost actually isā¦
@etienne For a time I was looking into their MBES system, but never pursued it after Furuno came out with their entry level multibeam. The forward looking one looks interesting, let us know what you hear about with the price!
This one is specifically for ROV and good for 300msw.
What I like about it is you can mount the transmitter and receiver differently depending on what you want to use the sonar for. So basically a 2 in 1ā¦
@kevink - Whatās the advantage of the Furuno over the Garmin Panoptix? (or Lowranceās multibeam for that matter?) They seem pretty similar.
@paul-unterweiser The Furuno DFF-3D and Garmin Panoptix are pretty similar in that they are phased array. Lowrance LSS-3 is a bit different in that its transducer elements are split (I canāt find a diagram at the moment). Basically it has separated elements that receive the acoustic signal at slightly different times and then extrapolates the 3D geometry from that.
Garmin has a bit of a PBG with their QuickDraw Contours, but otherwise the file format canāt be further exported and actually be useful. With Lowrance, no software exists to make good use of the .SL3 file format, only the sidescan can be pulled out.
When the Furuno is hooked into a computer running Timezero v3.3 software, you can record 50 depth points per second and then export that into an XYZ file for importing into a GIS. The software modules cost a bit, but a system still comes under the cost of a WASSP S3 system. So its entry level and works best when you already have the supporting gear installed.
I knew the file format wars was going to be an issue with Garmin and Lowrance, so thatās why we selected Furuno for our boat refit
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hey @kevink
Any photos from any post-processed raw data with timezero software? how about the price of the furuno?
Regards,
LG
Looks like a minimum Furuno system would cost over $6,000USD:
https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Furuno-Dff3d-Multi-Beam-Sonar-F-Navnet-Tztouch-p/furdff3d.htm
https://www.hodgesmarine.com/Furuno-Navnet-Tztouch-Tzt9-9-Multifunction-Displ-p/furtzt9.htm
Oops, sorry for getting this thread off topic, if a mod wants to shift this to a new thread, please do so.
@luisgamez Hereās some video: Discover TZ Professional connected to the Furuno DFF3D - YouTube
I donāt have the new transducer installed yet, so no pictures, but you get the idea.
@paul-unterweiser Thatās probably about right, but there is other supporting equipment to go in the installation as well.
For reference, a WASSP S3 system starts at $15,000USD.
ā¦ plus the cost of the TimeZero software (which Iām guessing isnāt cheap). On the opposite end of the spectrum, thereās āDeeper Proā, which for a couple hundred bucks gets you basic 3D bathymetric mapping:
I just canāt help but be amazed at how much less expensive all this is becoming. Seventeen years ago, when I was working with the University of Hawaiiās SOEST our multibeam sonar cost well over $1million.
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Damn! That is crazy.
ā¦none that can transform a Sonar to subseasonar?..Garmin?.. get a set up and you get the wide scan toā¦ no need for transpoderā¦ yuo see it Allā¦ cum on guys!?.. Anyone?
This one is about 10K.
http://www.tritech.co.uk/product/gemini-720im
Well worth the money if you can afford it.
ā¦any news on this one?