Hello all,
We purchased one from Blue Robotics, we’re still in the process of machining our mount. Just curious of any success stories, it’s hard to find much info on this sensor.
Thanks,
Brad
Hi @rokclimr -
We just helped Ocean Rainforest survey 80 acres in a morning with one!
What sort of information are you looking for? Anything not on the product page, particularly under technical details?
Hi @tony-white
Thank you for responding! We’ll have ours going in the next couple of weeks, I was just hoping to hear about anybody’s success stories/experiences with the unit. There’s just not a ton of user info out there.
Are you feeling good about the data your collecting with the unit? Any issues in using or setup? Are you using with a Blue Boat or custom setup? Ours is going on a custom setup.
Thank you!
Brad
Hi @rokclimr -
What would you consider “user info” - first-person accounts of usage?
The data I’ve collected with the unit in many different tests has always been quite impressive - I even have resolved a structure floating at ~175m depth, in 400m of water! All of our testing has been with BlueBoats only…
The integration guide has been carefully crafted to ensure you have a painless setup and usage experience! Even if you’re using a different boat, as long as you’re running BlueOS and the SonarView extension, or have SonarView running on a reliably connected computer that can reach the sonar’s IP, it should just work!
We’ve sold almost 40 units thus far, not to mention the ones that Cerulean has sold directly to customers - I’ve not heard any performance critiques!
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Tony, that’s quite impressive! We should have ours in the water next week, I appreciate your help.
We are currently using the Surveyor on a Blue Boat with great success. We had some initial issues with the unit, but Cerulean was very quick to help and resolve the issues we had. I collect the data using Sonar View and import it into Hydromagic to clean and process.
With a RTK installed the data is very accurate and reliable and similar in quality to data collected by a Norbit system that is also on site. We’ve found it a cost effective and easy to deploy method of getting reliable bathymetric survey data for dredging.
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@Randomguy22 that’s great to hear! We’ll be using a RTK setup as well. What are you using for heading data for the Surveyor? Are you using a differential GNSS setup or the stock compass? Thanks for chiming in!
Brad
We’re currently using the stock compass and an emlid M2 unit. After setting it up we did some changes on how much the compass effects heading when it’s moving as we are working in close proximity to barges. We had a few extra Trimble marine antennas so we are currently using that as the antenna for the RTK. With the cellular modem kit and NTRIP extension it follows the survey plan exactly.
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When using the Cerulean Surveyor 240-16 on the blueboat through BlueOS, is possible to feed a true heading (HDT) from a directional GNSS (as well as the RTK GGA)?
Hi @Eloi -
Absolutely! To clarify, you’d need to feed those GPS messages to the autopilot, which will use it for navigation, and when queried by SonarView, provide the position and heading information. The BlueBoat FAQ contains instructions on how to set this up:
Any NMEA position stream can be parsed by the Navigator Autopilot. To receive the messages from a network-connected device simply configure the Autopilot parameters GPS_Type to NMEA, Serial2_Protocol to GPS, and verify no other Serial port # protocol is set to GPS. Finally, under Autopilot Firmware, Serial port Configuration, set Serial 2 to: udpin:0.0.0.0:27000. Then direct your UDP NMEA stream to the IP address of the BlueBoat. Note that these NMEA messages are required for navigation: RMC, GGA, VTG, HDT. This approach uses the ArduPilot driver to interpret the NMEA messages - you can also use the NMEA Injector in BlueOS, which has support for fewer messages. If using a serial connection to bring the NMEA position data to the Navigator serial port 3 or 4, set the appropriate Serial# Protocol parameter to GPS and restart the autopilot. NMEA messages should be sent at 10hz or faster.
@Eloi Ours won’t be on a Blueboat, but we will be setting it up with dual RTK GNSS for heading as well. Unfortunately, our unit had a networking issue and had to be returned to Cerulean…hoping to have it back next week.
Outside the BlueOS environment, yes you can still absolutely bring the RTK GNSS heading and position into SonarView.
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