Kongsberg Mesotech’s M3 Bathy System for shallow-water bathymetric applications is now officially designated compliant with IHO S-44, a reference standard for companies engaged in hydrographic surveying, marine engineering or nautical charting.
The IHO compliance consists of various criteria including vertical accuracy and target detection standards. In order to assess IHO-S44 compliance, these criteria were tested during an experiment performed by the Ocean Mapping Group at the University of New Brunswick, Kongsberg informed.
During the testing, which took place in February, 2014, bathymetry data from the M3 was collected in depths ranging from 15 – 40m. The test targets were a series of standard concrete 1m cubes laid along 20m and 40m contours. The results confirmed that the M3 Bathy is capable of achieving bathymetric survey data that meets two orders of IHO standards. Specifically:
– Vertical Accuracy compliance can be met over the full ±60° sector for Order 1 surveys and to at least ±55° for Special Order;
– Special Order target detection (1m cube) is met to 20m and Order 1A target detection (2m cube) is maintained to 40m.
“ This is an important milestone for the M3 Bathy as it continues to penetrate the market of low-cost multibeam echo sounders, ” says Aziah North , Sales Manager, Kongsberg Mesotech. “ Already suitable for a wide range of applications including pipeline profiling survey and subsea inspection the M3 can now be used for high quality IHO S-44 standard shallow water survey, making it an even more diverse tool for the international hydrographic community.”
The core of the M3 Bathy is Kongsberg Mesotech’s M3 Series MultiMode Multibeam Sonar. It provides high-resolution images by combining the rate of conventional multibeam sonar with image quality comparable to that from a single-beam sonar system, making it an option for IHO S-44 compliant survey projects.
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