Hydro-Acoustic Positioning (USBL & LBL) Flashcards
What is the general principle of hydro-acoustic positioning?
The position of a towed vehicle (or surface vessel) can be positioned relative to a network of acoustic beacons on the seabed whose positions are known
What global demand is leading to increased development of hydro-acoustic positioning systems?
Deep Water Operations
Give 5 industries that use hydro-acoustic positioning
- Offshore
- Search and Recovery
- Ocean Science
- Defence
- Civil Engineering
What are the 3 main hydro-acoustic positioning systems?
- USBL
- LBL
- LUSBL
What is a Beacon?
An active device that sends out continues signals. It is placed on the seabed or an ROV and each one has a unique frequency
What is a Transponder?
An active and passive device, which can receive and transmit. It transmits different frequencies to the interrogation frequency
What is another name for an Intelligent Transponder?
Transceiver
What is a Transceiver?
A device that transmits and receives acoustic pulses and interrogates other intelligent transponders. They have the ability to change frequencies, to avoid interference and may also have environmental sensors for accurately setting SV
What is the Baseline?
The distance between two transponders or between a transport and transceiver
If you have 3 baselines, what can you use to determine position?
Trigonometry
What needs to be determined on a regular basis when using hydro-acoustic positioning?
Sound Velocity
What is LBL?
Long Baseline
What is USBL?
Ultrashort Baseline
What is LUSBL?
Long and Ultrashort Baseline
What is the typically sized baseline for LBL?
100s-1000s of metres
What is the typically sized baseline for USBL?
cm’s
LBL arrays can be used to position what type of subsea vehicle?
ROVs
Why are the 3 seabed transponders used in LBL?
To give an unambiguous 3D Position
How does LBL work?
Seabed transponders at known locations are interrogated by a common interrogation signal and each transponder replies on an individual reply signal to the interrogating vessel