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New Zealand marine company Electronic Navigation (ENL) has made its first export into China after signing a major deal with a Fortune 500 Chinese state engineering company to use its innovative seafloor profiling equipment. The Kiwi innovation, called the Wassp Multibeam is making waves internationally for its remarkable ability to map the seafloor and water column for surveyors, marine professionals and commercial fishermen. This is the first time the Wassp multibeam has been fitted to this type of dredging vessel, which is a 120 metre, 14 thousand tonne suction hopper dredger built in January 2010. The dredger is located on the Yangtze River delta in the Shanghai Harbour. “Our technology is being used to track the sea floor in dirty silt laden water for dredging operations on the Yangtze River delta. So not only is this our first sale into China, it is also the first time the product has been successfully used for dredging purposes. The market for surveying, dredging and marine construction in China holds great potential for increased Wassp sales. This is the first of more than 15 orders into China this year and follows a number of trips by our staff providing technology presentations and trial programmes to major Chinese corporations.” China Communication Construction, which is listed on the Hong Kong stock exchange and participates in state level engineering construction projects, owns the vessel on the Yangtze. China Communication Construction was included in the “Global 500” by Fortune Magazine in July 2008. It has been involved in the design and construction of a significant number of large and medium-sized ports and navigation channels along China’s coast and inland rivers as well as infrastructure construction projects such as major first-class expressways, mega bridges and tunnels in China. The Wassp provides real time profiling of the dredging location at a wide 120-degree swath from port to starboard, accurately profiling the seafloor and water column. The swath is comprised of 112 dynamic beams, which are stabilised with the addition of a motion sensor. The Wassp’s multibeam sonar is superior to conventional single beam sounders and can operate in turbid water caused by dredging activity, provide realtime 3D images of dredge scars and provides sea floor hardness identification.

Oceanography students at the University of Rhode Island have been busy utilising the latest in WASSP Multibeam technology as part of their research studies.  The students who are specialising in marine robotics, remote sensing and mapping have recently started using a WASSP S3 Multibeam system as part of a project to survey inland ponds and coastal estuaries.   The students have deployed the WASSP Multibeam system aboard a specially developed autonomous kayak. “We hope to accomplish a few things with the WASSP Multibeam in a number of projects,” says University of Rhode Island PHD student and researcher, Kristopher Krasnosky. “Our unmanned vehicle is an autonomous kayak that can be deployed out of the bed of a pickup truck. We use it to collect environmental data and conduct bathymetric surveys. We also use it as a test platform for new autonomy algorithms.  “Currently we have a project to survey inland ponds and coastal estuaries. Our kayak is going to be the main workhorse for that project.”  During initial trials, the WASSP multibeam was able to profile ripples on the estuary floor up to 15cm in distance apart. Krasnosky is also using the WASSP system as part of his PhD dissertation. “I am using gaussian process regression (GPR), a computationally heavy bathymetry processing technique, to aid in autonomous survey path planning in real time. GPR also enhances the effective resolution of the finished multibeam map.  This allows us to pull even more resolution out of the WASSP maps.” Becoming the go-to system for the worlds hydrograhic survey industry, the WASSP S3 is purpose-built for survey and mapping and has been designed with the entry level market in mind: budget, operational needs, and future technology roll-out. Scanning a 120 degrees swath port to starboard and using 224 beams, WASSP S3 can deliver accurate, high quality data in even the most demanding marine environments. By using advanced signal processing, you get a complete picture of seafloor bathymetry with ease. The S3 is one of the worlds most cost-effective professional survey and mapping multibeam sonar solutions.   “We decided to go with he WASSP system because it was the right balance of price to performance for our project.  The other big selling point was the Linux API that the WASSP developers provided,” says Chris Roman, Ph.D. Professor of Oceanography University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography. “It is critical for our work that we can read the data from the device in real time. We passed over several other systems (especially in this price range) because we simply could not interface with them the way we wished.”   Increasingly, WASSP Multibeam systems are being used by more research and scientific agencies, with WASSP Global Sales & Marketing Manager Rufus Whiteford saying it’s the flexibility of the WASSP system that makes it an easy and cost effective platform for organisations to use. “We’re very pleased to see WASSP being used as a very serious tool for scientific and academic research. It speaks volumes about the credibility of our product and the flexibility of our interface,” says Whiteford.

WASSP Multibeam has announced the release of two new firmware updates, CDX 4.0 and DRX 6.0, for its S Series multibeam sonar systems designed for the survey market, including dredging, dive site profiling, wreck hunting and many other survey activities. These updates will add a number of new functions to WASSP systems currently in use and, in most cases, can be installed by the user free-of-charge. A new Compensation Control adjusts for sea temperature and salinity, ensuring that the seafloor remains flat irrespective of different absorption losses in the water column. Whether using CDX or a third-party Hydro Survey software suite, the firmware update will include, the new Volumetric Strength option, added to the existing Target Strength mode, enables concentration on seafloor targets whilst filtering out smaller water column targets. A greatly improved mapping algorithm significantly enhances mapping and tracking in shallow waters with a depth of less than 5m. A new Multiresolution Database with automatic, depth-adjustment, best resolution mapping which can be used in all depths and to which existing databases can be uploaded. GSF data can now be exported including backscatter data (with relevant licenses) and a greatly improved mapping algorithm to reduce Roll errors by using best data, both new and historic. A video demonstrating the system updates is available here. WASSP Multibeam screen imagery from the previous generation software The new and improved WASSP Multibeam mapping from the new firmware update. Gif file demonstrating the difference between the two generations of firmware.