100th Deep Water Multibeam Order
Kongsberg Maritime is proud to announce that its 100th deep-water multibeam Echo Sounder system has been ordered and will be delivered in November 2009 to the U.S. Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO). The contract, for delivery of a sophisticated EM 122 (1° x 1°) is part of the Multibeam Sonar System upgrade program for the U.S. Navy T-AGS 60 class survey vessels.
Located at Stennis Space Center near the Mississippi coast, NAVOCEANO and is responsible for acquiring and analyzing global ocean and littoral data. NAVOCEANO’s six unique T-AGS 60 class oceanographic survey ships were specifically designed and constructed to provide multipurpose oceanographic capabilities in coastal and deep-ocean areas, and already operate using Kongsberg Maritime hydrographic equipment. Onboard, surveyors are equipped with the necessary tools that allow them to conduct operations concerning physical, chemical and biological oceanography; multi-discipline environmental investigations; ocean engineering and marine acoustics; marine geology and geophysics; and bathymetric, hydrographic, gravimetric and magnetometric surveying.
“We are delighted to have hit our 100th deep-water multibeam order,” says Helge Uhlen, Product Sales Manager, Hydroacoustic dept., Kongsberg Maritime. “Kongsberg Maritime has been a supplier of Echo Sounders for more than 60 years. We introduced our first multibeam Echo Sounder in 1986 and have since been recognized as a dependable supplier of multibeam systems. All of our systems have quickly earned reputations for reliability and outstanding performance.”
Compared to the 1997 12 kHz EM 120, the new EM 122 for NAVOCEANO has up to four times the resolution in terms of sounding density and over twice the number of detections per swath. The new technology also doubles the alongtrack sounding density through implementation of multi-ping with two swaths per ping to ensure a constant spacing of the swath alongtrack and 100% bottom coverage even with a 0.5° system. The latest generation also implements long FM chirps to ensure coverage of over 30 km. From customer acceptance tests it has been proven that the system can achieve swath coverage of more than 40 km under favorable conditions.