A new generation of multibeam sweeping echosounder for surveying-ATLAS FANSWEEP 20

A new development in the multibeam echosounder technology is presented. The shallow water survey system ATLAS FANSWEEP 20/ATLAS HYDROMAP represents the new standard in shallow water multibeam sweeping echosounder technology. The application of new signal and data processing capabilities enable this successor of the well known ATLAS FANSWEEP to provide significantly higher image and bathymetry resolution. An important criterion for the applicability of multibeam sweeping echosounder is the survey productivity of the system configuration. A measure of this productivity can be given by the size of the area which can be surveyed in 10 hours using the maximum possible coverage at a speed of 6 knots (class 1: survey speed limited to 6 knots in accordance with "Hydrographic Manual EM 0-2-1003") at a depth of 10 meters. The value for the ATLAS FANSWEEP 20 is 45.27 square kilometres (this corresponds to a theoretical surveying performance of 1257 m/sup 2//s) and is thus up to 8 times higher than the productivity of conventional multibeam sweeping echosounders.