Sonoptix ECHO RTSP raw stream missing long-range returns beyond ~10 m

Third Party Products Sonar and Acoustics
1

Hi all,

I’m looking for technical assistance with the Sonoptix ECHO RTSP raw stream:

rtsp://<sonar_ip>:8554/raw

We are seeing an issue where the raw RTSP polar video appears to contain usable sonar returns only up to approximately 10 m. Beyond ~10 m, the RTSP raw stream appears to have little or no signal, even though the sonar is configured for a longer range and the browser/WEB display shows returns farther out.

The key point is that this appears to be visible in the raw RTSP recording itself, before any Cartesian conversion or other downstream processing.

Has anyone seen similar behavior with the Sonoptix ECHO RTSP raw stream?

Specifically, I would appreciate guidance on:

  • Whether the RTSP raw stream is expected to contain the full configured sonar range

  • Whether RTSP output depends on a specific firmware version, operating mode, gain/contrast setting, or range configuration

  • Whether there are known differences between the WEB/VIDEO pipeline and the RTSP raw pipeline at longer ranges

  • Whether there are recommended settings for reliable long-range raw RTSP capture

  • Whether this could be related to stream scaling, H.264 encoding, gain handling, or the selected frequency/range mode

Any suggestions for what to check, log, or compare would be very helpful.

Thanks!

2

Hi @Iro, welcome to the Blue Robotics forum :slight_smile:

In-depth technical questions about third party device functionality are likely best directed to the manufacturer, but hopefully someone in the community has tried the configuration you’re testing and can help out. I will also pass this on internally (at Blue Robotics), in case we’ve tried such a setup in internal testing.

I don’t expect the raw stream would provide any less valid data than the WebRTC-based display stream, as that somewhat defeats the purpose of having a raw data option, but it’s also possible I’m misunderstanding the expected setup and output of the feature. @BlueLink_JC is this something you’ve run into before / do you have any insight here?

Per the listed software versions:

  1. the RTSP raw stream was added in 1.4.0,
  2. with a contrast and gain adjustment applied in 1.5.1,
    • it’s possible this means the data is indeed expected to be different to / independent of the web GUI configuration
  3. and a crash fix added in 2.2.2.

Which version are you using, and how have you tried to configure it? That’s likely relevant information to anyone who may be able to help.