Chesapeake Times
Technical Review, Issue 10
July 2022
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A software program, at its most basic level is made up of lots of 0’s and 1’s. SonarWiz is no exception. But put a 1 in front of a 0, or vice versa, the program fails. Even with all the testing we do, we occasionally miss something. In the programming world, we call them bugs. Clients tell us about them, and we fix them. There’s even a joke about the process: A software tester walks into a bar. Then runs into a bar. He orders a beer, orders 2 beers, maybe 999 beers. The tester orders some chicken wings. Everything is perfect. Someone else walks into the bar, asks for the bathroom, and the place goes up in flames.
Moral: the tester tries all possibilities that they could think of. Except for the one that fails. Murphy Law, perhaps. The good news is the firetruck is down the block and ready to go at the first sign of smoke. And the fire is put out with a software patch. (I took the liberty of that analogy, as our programmers are the firemen in this story). If you run across any issue, let us know. We’ll move the one in front of the zero and get the bug out.
At Chesapeake, our plan is to have two general releases in Q3. The first will be 7.9.5, expected out by the end of July. Our new Geodesy engine will be added, to ensure full capability of new datums and coordinate systems our clients are using for their work. In addition, there are new device drivers, an update to the project folder display, a new method for the coverage reports using the plan view drawing mode, and more. The newsletter will highlight some of these changes. Once released, the User Guide will go through all the changes and methods for running the program. Later in Q3, in version 7.9.6, there are plans for a CSF update, to advance our drawing speed and I/O throughput and to make use of virtual machines and the Cloud more efficient.
As we begin the second half of 2022, I continue to see the industry build momentum, with new survey tools, new clients in the survey arena and new sensors from manufacturers. Perhaps we convinced ourselves that two years ago was a blip in the survey world, and the excitement and innovation that has been around for years is now back and better. I hope so. More folks are getting out to meetings and conferences, and the calendar is filled once again. Don’t forget to add to your plans the annual Chesapeake Winter training, December 6-8 in Wilmington, NC. Our website has more information on our travels and conferences and our training events.
For many, summertime is the break folks take from work. However, not so much for our industry. Good weather and longer days are the ideal conditions for surveying. Calm seas help too. We can take our break later this year. Perhaps in Turks and Caicos. Or Wilmington, NC, especially in December.
Enjoy the Summer
- Harold Orlinsky, General Manager
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New Features and Technical Notes
Real Time SS and SBP Navigation Improvements ... Christopher Favreau, CTO
Switching Sonarwiz Geodesy to PROJ ..................... Jonathan Fleetwood, Engineer
Adjusting Sensor Heading for Magnetic Declination ..David Finlayson, Chief Scientist
Updated Project Folder in SonarWiz ........................ Harold Orlinsky, General Manager
Nearly Headless SonarWiz ....................................... Patrick Zynda, Support Engineer
2022 Training Opportunities .......................................Ashley Chan, Sales/Marketing
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Real Time Side Scan and Sub-bottom Navigation Improvements |
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Improvements in SonarWiz sometimes occur mostly under the hood. These changes alter the way SonarWiz works without changing the way SonarWiz presents itself to the user. This article details some important changes to how SonarWiz works internally regarding real time navigation data.
After requests from our customers and CTI support staff we scheduled improvements for development for SonarWiz V7.09.03. When we first started the development effort we did a code review. It showed us that most of the pieces were available, we just needed to connect the pieces together. We also found that we could benefit from some code cleanup and simplification in this area of SonarWiz. The main goal of this development effort would be to give SonarWiz the ability to record the original position data along with the modified sonar position. It was also important to tie this into all the post-processing file properties that are available for viewing and adjusting the sonar position... Read full article
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Real time layback settings |
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Post–processing layback settings |
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Switching SonarWiz Geodesy to PROJ |
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For many years now, the geodesy system in SonarWiz and related utilities has been based on an open source library called CS-Map. Associated with the Open Source Geospatial Foundation (osgeo.org), CS-Map provides functionality that allows for coordinate transformations between combinations of geodetic and grid positions. SonarWiz depends on this functionality to import data recorded with latitude/longitude positioning, among other things.... Read full article
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Adjusting Sensor Heading for Magnetic Declination |
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Recently, a client reported that their sidescan data did not properly overlap when projecting the sonar imagery using either the sensor or course made good (CMG) setting---the two heading options available in SonarWiz. In the end, it turned out that the sidescan compass had not been adjusted for magnetic declination. Once we applied the appropriate correction in SonarWiz, the data snapped into alignment and the client was happy. I realized while working though this ticket that some people do not understand how the heading projection options in SonarWiz work. I was also surprised that the way I was taught to compute the declination of a survey area is going extinct.
Projection Settings In SonarWiz
SonarWiz projects sidescan beams perpendicular to fish heading. There are two options for determining the heading of the fish: (1) Course made good (CMG) - this assumes the fish heading follows the course of the vessel through the water, and (2) Sensor heading - this uses the fish heading recorded in the ping records...
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Updated Project Folder in SonarWiz |
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In the next release of SonarWiz, you’ll see a few changes to the Project Explorer. The first is the addition of a new folder, specifically for LiDAR data files. In the past, these were listed under bathymetry, and the new folder will provide the user a better way to distinguish these two data types. Last year, an option was added to create two files when running a multibeam and Lidar sensor simultaneously. This change continues that work for keeping these files separated, allowing the user to focus on just one sensor as needed. |
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The second change to the Project window will be more apparent for all users. When SonarWiz launches, the modules on the license are checked for operation. This is already seen when icons, such as one for Acquisition, would not be visible when using just an Office license. Others may be greyed out, as not available. In the next release, the section for the Project Explorer takes on a similar rule. Folders that are not used for the license type, will be hidden.
For instance, no bathymetry or sub bottom folders will be present when the user is just running a sidescan license. It’s a bit of house cleaning, and to allow the focus on the sonar type in use during operation... Read full article
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“Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?” Although I do not believe Hermione Granger ever had a need to use SonarWiz, we here at CTI have been asking the same question. As our ever-evolving industry (like most others) require increasingly more automation and headless solutions, we have begun to implement more and more automatic options for the SonarWiz workflow but similarly to Sir Nicholas, they are still nearly headless. The problem we needed to solve was how to take the user interaction out of the following steps in the workflow: Recording Data – Import – Bottom Tracking – Gains - Export |
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Our first stage in this endeavor started with options to copy processing from one file or project to another which I am sure most of our users are familiar with, tools like the Copy Processing Results and Make Others Like This. One of our customers then requested we take it one step further: I have tested and verified parameters for bottom tracking, gains, and GeoTIFFs for this survey, I want these applied to any files I import into the project.... Read full article
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Upcoming SonarWiz Training Opportunities |
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Join us for upcoming SonarWiz Trainings in Houston, TX and Wilmington, NC to learn the latest updates to SonarWiz! We also offer custom on-site training, either virutal or in person. |
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This short course will be co-hosted with SES and will take place in Houston this Sept 13-14 covering sidescan and sub-bottom features and tips |
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Our Annual Workshop will take place this December at Cape Fear Community College. It will cover both theory and hands on use for all the modules in SonarWiz. Our partners will also attend, with tabletop displays and equipment onboard vessels
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