You will need to contact your sonar manufacturers for advice on the required sensors and for that hardware. The requirements are different depending on the application.
As for communication, I found that the easiest way to integrate everything on an autonomous boat was to keep the navigation and sonar systems and communication systems on separate hardware, and to link everything on a virtual network using Zerotier. It looked kind of like this:
Onboard:
- Intel NUC: Hydrography software, remote desktop server, Zerotier address 10.10.10.2
- Flight control Raspberry Pi: Ardupilot, video camera, SSH server, Zerotier Address 10.10.10.3
- Comunication Raspberry Pi: LTE modem, 800 Mhz radio, WiFi radio, Ship’s network router, Zerotier Address 10.10.10.1
Control:
- Laptop/Desktop: Remote Desktop Client, QGroundControl, internet connectivity, Zerotier address 10.10.10.4.
Zerotier was installed on each device and set to run automatically on boot. I could control the boat from any computer with internet access, QGroundControl and a remote desktop client installed. I connected to the sonar computer using Windows Remote Desktop to control and monitor sonar data collection. I kept QGroundControl running in another window to monitor the boat’s navigation and make adjustments as necessary. The third RPi on board just controlled the ship’s physical network, and it was pretty transparent once it was configured.
Other people might have different approaches, but for me, Zerotier was really the special sauce that held everything together.