Use Ping360 scanning sonar as a passive sonar for range and bearing

Blue Robotics Products Ping Sonar Devices
1

Hello,
Is there any possibility to use the Ping360 scanning sonar as a passive sonar to detect range and bearing to a transponder for positioning. Has anyone tried something like this ?
Thanks
Gary

2

Hi Gary,

Thanks for the message! We’ve never tried anything like this. It would take some internal software changes but it’s possible. Correct me if I’m wrong - you want to listen at each angle but not transmit anything? You would need a transponder that sends signals at the same frequency around 750 kHz.

What mission do you have for this?

-Rusty

3

Hi Rusty,
Good to hear that it is possible.
Yes, need the 750khz transmitter to be taken out of Ping360 so it can be placed externally, and the Ping360 software to detect the bearing and range to the transmitter. I would like to have my AUV model to home into a specific point on a moving target.
Regards.

4

Hi Gary,

Okay. I think this would be challenging and would require a lot of changes to the Ping360. I think a better solution to this might be to use a USBL positioning system. There’s a new product from Cerulean Sonar that would accomplish that with a relatively small unit. The transmitter would go on your target and the receiver would go on your AUV.

-Rusty

5

Thanks for the information Rusty. Will look it up.
Best regards.