During the Shallow Survey 2015 conference held in Plymouth, UK, Teledyne and CARIS showcased the latest capabilities in autonomous survey operations with a live demonstration. Teledyne equipped a Z-Boat Unmanned Surface Vehicle (USV) with a MB1 multibeam sonar, and installed the latest version of the CARIS Onboard software directly on the platform.

CARIS Onboard is a near real-time processing software program that automates the processing workflow for bathymetry and imagery data. Especially suited to remote operations utilizing autonomous or unmanned platforms, CARIS Onboard produces user-configurable data products that can be transmitted to the operator to ensure quality control and allow early visualization of seafloor characteristics.

By providing this data in near real-time, rather than waiting for recovery and subsequent post-processing, the surveyor has significantly enhanced command and control of remote assets in various communications bandwidth scenarios.  In addition, the surveyor is able to reduce the overall Ping-to-Chart time as data is being processed concurrently with acquisition.

For this demonstration the Z-boat was given a survey line plan and deployed in the Mississippi River at Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The CARIS Onboard software ran on the platform, automatically processing the acquired multibeam data. The resulting processed line files were then used to generate a raster image of the bathymetry in the survey area. These raster files were viewed in the CARIS stand at Shallow Survey in Plymouth, some 4,500 miles away.

Throughout the demonstration the team in Plymouth could also monitor the survey processing through a web page.

For further information on CARIS Onboard please visit us at http://www.caris.com/onboard.