High Frequency Band Acoustic Positioning Equipment - Its Evolution and Integration with Other Systems

The requirement for survey quality subsea measurements originated in the offshore construction industry. Advances in research sensor and processing technology have extended this need to numerous other scientific disciplines. This paper describes the characteristics of Oceano´s 54-108 kHz acoustic ranging hardware and its evolution. System configurations are described for integrated long and short baseline modes plus variable secondary baseline techniques. Data is included which demonstrates range accuracy, noise immunity and computed position results. A developmental system is also introduced which combines geodetic/acoustic navigation with a complete multi-sensor, multi-task acquisition software. This software offers a convenient analysis format which can manipulate the data on an integrated basis.