Here you can find the answers to many of our most frequently asked questions. If your question is not answered here, please send us an email with your question.
Do I need a GPS or other NMEA sensors?
What is the difference between CASS, FLS, and OAS sonar systems?
Can the sounds levels and frequencies hurt marine life?
How deep does the FS-3 look below the water?
In what sea conditions will the FS-3 work?
Can the FarSounder systems tell the difference between a rock and a whale?
What types of targets can the FS-3 detect?
At what frequency does the FS-3 sonar operate?
How often can the FS-3 system generate a complete picture ahead of the vessel?
Do FarSounder systems have any mechanical parts?
Do I need a GPS or other NMEA sensors?
FarSounder's user interface software (SonaSoft) processes and displays the 3D forward-looking sonar information generated by the sonar. This software does not need any external sensors (other than the FarSounder Sonar Head transducer unit) to generate these images. However, users may optionally chose to connect common NMEA sensors to the user interface computer in order to enhance the user interface experience.
In addition to the 3D sonar display, SonaSoft has displays for Ship's Speed, Ship's Heading, Lat/Lon, and Echo Sounder depth. Additionally, basic chart plotting capabilities are also included in the software. In order to display the afore mentioned ship's status information and locate the ship on the electronic chart, NMEA inputs are required. NMEA info is passed into the software via the user interface computer's COM port. If your computer only has USB, a serial to USB converter can be used. If you wish to read multiple NMEA streams with one COM port, a NMEA multiplexer can be used. Some multiplexers even have a built in USB converter. Though NMEA inputs are not required, we generally recommend using them for a better user interface experience.
What is the difference between CASS, FLS, and OAS sonar systems?
CASS (collision avoidance sonar system), FLS (forward looking sonar), and OAS (obstacle avoidance sonar) are all names which can be used interchangeably when describing a sonar system which looks ahead and is used for navigation. Although there are many products on the market with these names, only FarSounder’s products are capable of creating a complete 3D image ahead of the vessel at navigationally significant ranges with a single ping.
Can the sounds levels and frequencies hurt marine life?
No. We operate at similar sound levels and frequencies as dolphins. In fact, the National Marine Fisheries Service sponsored the development of our technology to non-invasively study whales.
What does Water Depth performance mean? What is the difference between Water Depths and Detection Range?
Water depth performance is how far away (in multiples of the depth of water below the transducer) depth information can be measured. THIS IS THE KEY FOR SHALLOW WATER OPERATION.
Detection Range is how far away a target of a certain size can be DETECTED. But detection is different from localization.
FarSounder can accurately tell you the depth of a target consistently for at least 8 water depths (In practice we have many data sets of 12-18 water depth performance for some bottom types and conditions). Beyond FarSounder's water depth performance capability, if a big target is detected, range and bearing to the target can be calculated and displayed. However, the depth of the target is not neccessarily known.
Just as RADAR doesn't give altitude above the water but can still be a useful tool, detection at beyond water depth capabilities can also be a useful tool.
How deep does the FS-3 look below the water?
The current FS-3 design is limited to 50 meters (~150 feet) maximum depth. This is a design choice that was made because most vessels that have a draft of more than 50 meters are usually called ship wrecks (a little sonar engineer humor). The core technology is very flexible and can be customized to meet your needs if greater than 50 meters depth is required.
In what sea conditions will the FS-3 work?
The current product has been designed to operate even under moderate sea conditions. Of course, in larger wave environments, smaller surface targets will be lost in the surface clutter.
The FS-3 user interface includes a Surface Clutter removal control where the user can specify the clutter removal setting. Reducing surface clutter noise has the cost of missing small surface target detections.
LIKE ANY MARINE ELECTRONICS SENSOR, the FS-3 will not function well under the most extreme conditions. Quantitative results depend upon many factors including: hull mounting method, sea state, vessel speed, water temperature, wind speed, etc. Generally, the deeper the Sonar Head is installed the better the system operates at higher sea states.
Can the FarSounder systems tell the difference between a rock and a whale?
Currently, our technology only performs LOCALIZATION. That is to say, we can tell you WHERE something is. Telling you WHAT something is called CLASSIFICATION. Classification is a technology that we are considering integrating into future products.
In fact, FarSounder has a co-operative research and development agreement (CRADA) with the Naval Undersea Warfare Center (NUWC) for doing just this.
What types of targets can the FS-3 detect?
The FS-3 has been designed to detect targets that are navigation obstacles for vessels from 80-200'. In general, if a boat cares about hitting the object, we can detect it. If the boat does not care about hitting the object, we do not detect it well. For example, we can see navigation buoys but we cannot see most fish well (although the fish may care about being hit by an 80' boat, the 80' boat usually doesn't care).
Of course, FarSounder's core technology is very flexible and easily configurable. We can easily design a custom system to detect objects of almost any size depending upon your needs.
What is angular resolution?
Angular resolution is a property of a receive transducer array and its associated beamformer. Angular resolution is the ability to discern objects at different angles. This is important in separating objects from each other. In general, traditional signal processing techniques are able to generate angular resolutions of approximately 50/L where L is the array’s length in wavelengths. FarSounder is able to generate angular resolutions one to two orders of magnitude better through the use of proprietary processing algorithms.
At what frequency does the FS-3 sonar operate?
FS-3 operates at approximately 60kHz.
How often can the FS-3 system generate a complete picture ahead of the vessel?
Unlike some systems which take up to 90 seconds to complete a large field of view scan ahead of the vessel, the FS-3 generates a high resolution, full field-of-view image once every 1-2 seconds. FarSounder technology is able to give the user a near real-time picture ahead of the vessel.
Do FarSounder systems have any mechanical parts?
No. Our systems are entirely solid state and do not have any moving parts.
Hasn’t sonar technology existed for a long time? How is FarSounder’s technology different than existing technologies and products?
Traditional sonar technology and products are able to generate 1D and 2D images. FarSounder’s approach to sonar is fundamentally different than traditional sonars and is able to generate 3D images in real-time for a large field-of-view ahead of a vessel. We are able to the ship operator a complete picture and deliver the most basic and important piece of information for marine navigation: What is ahead of the vessel.
What is an example of a 1D sonar?
A simple depth-sounder or echo-sounder is a 1D sonar. These systems simply tell the user the depth directly below the sounder. They are not able to warn the user about the rock, submerged shipping container, sandbar, whale, boat, or other obstacle ahead of the vessel. In the very worst of cases, if the sounder is located in the stern of the ship, the bow of the ship may actually be grounded on an obstacle while the sounder continues to tell the operator that there is still water below the keel.
What is an example of a 2D sonar?
Other systems that are called forward looking sonars do actually look forward but they are only able to discern information in 2 dimensions. Generally, they can tell the user that there is an object at a particular bearing and range, but they cannot tell the user if the object is at the surface, in the water column, or on the sea bottom. They simply have one horizontal slice through the water. These systems are unable to tell the user if the object is 5 feet below the surface or 50 feet below the surface. Some 2D systems even go as far as to have a second array giving one vertical slice through the water. However, in this configuration, the vertical slice can only give the user information about the range and depth of an object, it cannot tell the user at what bearing the object is located ahead of the vessel. Even the most advanced 2D system cannot correlate between the vertical and horizontal slice.
home » technology » faqs
43 Jefferson Blvd. - Warwick, RI 02888 - USA t: 401.784.6700 f: 401.784.6708 info@farsounder.com
FarSounder, Inc.