I am using the BlueRov2 to develop sonar based SLAM and I’m looking to create very detailed maps. With plans to make it autonomous eventually.
I was interested in integrating all of Blue robotics available sonars onto one BlueRov2. So far I have a DVL125m, Sonoptix multi-beam, Ping Echosounder and Ping360. I saw the Cerulean omniscan 450 FS was just released with 2d motion tracking which looks great for imaging but not so much for autonomous navigation. Is there anything limiting me from using all of these Sonars + DVL together? None operate on the same frequency so I wouldn’t expect to much noise.
Are there any recommended solutions for getting more holes for the wetlink penetrators? I think I need just two more if I add the 2 Cerulean Omniscans.
Hi @Aknawby -
Welcome to the forums.
There isn’t a great need to have all the sonar types on one vehicle, because some do the same job as each other!
The DVL125 gives you altitude, for a farther range than the Ping echosounder - so no need for it (Ping would be redundant)
The Ping360 gives you awareness out to 50m with the vehicle staying put, but the Omniscan FS scans out to 200m with the motion of the vehicle. This if you want to do SLAM, I’d say the Omniscan FS is going to give you the best data for it. The Ping360 will produce similar results, but at a shorter range, and a bit coarser - it is best suited to localization in tank structures in some cases.
If you use two Omniscan FS, you will get a low-performance DVL result via the doppler tracking - so really two of those would do the job of both the DVL125 and the Ping, + a bit of the Ping360.
With your Sonoptix, you get the fastest updating image - best suited to SLAM or general object detection.
Generally, my recommendation would be to focus on only one or two sonar types, and not throw everything on one vehicle! If you do need to combine things to use fewer penetrators, a small 2" enclosure holding an ethernet switch would let you connect the Ping360, DVL, Sonoptix, and Omniscan FS to it, and run a single ethernet cable from there to your main electronics enclosure (to connect to another ethernet switch there.)
I think my only concern with using the Omniscan FS instead of the ping360 is needing to manually rotate and risk of entanglement with the tether. However, I’d assume with 6DOF its relatively easy to move forward while rotating back and forth to scan.
I also misread read the Omniscan page about 2d motion tracking, I mistakenly thought two omniscans + DVL was required for motion tracking. Thanks for clarifying
Does the 5L watertight box fit in the payload skid of the BlueROV, It’s overkill for holding an ethernet switch but I have plans for eventually adding an on-board GPU
If you do decide to go with the Omniscan, I’ll just point out the Omniscan 450 “Compact” model. It’s just like the Omniscan 450 FS, but in a different form factor and incorporates an internal Ethernet switch. Also slightly reduced range but we’re seeing well over 100m. Bringing it up because you can connect up to 2 downstream devices from the Omniscan Compact while using only a single pass through to your main enclosure.