Exercise No.

01 Echo Sounder
1.

Short pulses of sound vibrations are transmitted from the bottom of the ship to the
seabed. These sound waves are reflected back by the seabed and the time taken from
transmission to reception of the reflected sound waves is measured. Since the speed
of sound in water is 1500 m/sec, the depth of the sea bed is calculated which will be
half the distance travelled by the sound waves.

2. Basically an echo sounder has following components:

Transducer to generate the sound vibrations and also receive the reflected
sound vibration.

Pulse generator to produce electrical oscillations for the transmitting

transducer.
Amplifier to amplify the weak electrical oscillations that has been generated
by the receiving transducer on reception of the reflected sound vibration.
Recorder - for measuring and indicating depth.

3. The received echoes are converted into electrical signal by the receiving transducer
and after passing through the different stages of the receiver, the current is supplied to
stylus which burns out the coating of the thin layer of aluminium powder and
produces the black mark on the paper indicating the depth of seabed.

4. Types of tranducer
Electrostrictive transducer
This type makes use of the special properties of crystals (e.g. crystals of bariumtitanate and lead zirconate). If an alternating voltage is applied to the opposite faces of
a flat piece of one of the above materials, the crystal will expand and contract, and
hence vibrate creating sound waves for as long as the vibrations continue. The process
is reversible, i.e. when varying pressure from a returning echo, is applied to the
opposite faces, an alternating voltage is generated across the faces and the same can
be further amplified and used to activate an indicator.

Piezoelectric resonator
This type of transducer makes use of the flexible qualities of a crystal slice. If the
ceramic crystal slice is mounted so that it is able to flex at its natural resonant
frequency, acoustic oscillations can be produced. The action is again reciprocal. If the
ceramic crystal slice is mounted at its corners only, and is caused to flex by an
external force, a small p.d. will be developed across the ends of the element.
However, a ceramic crystal slice used in this way is subject to the same mechanical
laws as have previously been stated. The higher the frequency of oscillation, the
thinner the slice needs to be and the greater the risk of fracture due to external stress
or overdriving. For these reasons, piezoelectric resonators are rarely used at sea.
Magnetostrictive transducers
In this type, the use is made of the magneto-striction effect which is a phenomenon
whereby magnetization of ferromagnetic materials produce a small change in their
dimensions, and conversely the application of mechanical stresses such as weak
pressure vibrations, as from an echo to them, produce magnetic changes in them; e.g.
a nickel bar when placed in the direction of or strength of the magnetic field. If the
nickel bar is placed in a coil with an alternating current flowing through it (a
solenoid), the varying current and magnetic field will cause the ends of the bar to
vibrate and hence create a sound wave. This is what happens when the transducer is
transmitting.

5. Magnetostrictive transducers are extremely robust which makes them ideal for use
in large vessels where heavy sea pounding could destroy an unprotected
electrostrictive type. They are extensively used with depth sounding apparatus
because at the low frequencies used they can be constructed to an acceptable size and
will handle the large power requirement of a deep sounding system. However,
magnetic losses increase with frequency, and above 100 kHz the efficiency of
magnetostrictive transducers falls to below the normal 40%. Above this frequency
electrostrictive transducers are normally used.
6. Navigational Echo Sounder MODEL FE-700
Principle of operation
The FE-700 uses ultrasonic pulses to detect the seabed and other underwater objects.
The display unit contains all basic electric circuits and logic processor. Electrical
pulses are converted into acoustical energy in the transducer fitted on the ships hull.
The processor measures the time of pulses traveling between the seabed and
transducer and displays the water depths in the graphical form or other forms.
The transducers have a specific beam width with respect to their working frequency,
50 kHz or 200 kHz. The high frequency has a narrow beamwidth and is immune to
aeration when the ship is going astern or in rough weather. The low frequency has a
wide beamwidth and more powerful sounding capability.
Specifications
Transmit frequency
Output power
Beam width
Basic display range

50 kHz, 200 kHz, or 50/200 kHz alternating transmit

600 Wrms
50B-6B (50 kHz): 35*, 200B-8B (200 kHz): 6*

Accuracy
Minimum range
Draft
Pulse repetition rate

+/- 2.5% on any range

0.5 m (200 kHz), 2.0 m (50 kHz)
0 to 30 m in 0.1 m steps, default 0 m

Operation Controls
All operation of the FE-700 is carried out with the controls on the front panel of the
display unit. Rotary controls respond immediately to your command but some touch
keys require the successive operation.

Indications and Markers

Maintenance
Checking
Regular maintenance is essential for good performance. Checking the items listed in
the table below on a regular basis will keep the equipment in good shape for years to
come.
Cleaning the Display Unit
Dust or dirt on the display unit should be removed with a soft cloth. If desired a
water-moistened cloth may be used. Do not use chemical cleaners; they can remove
paint and marking.
Transducer Maintenance
Marine life on the transducer face will result in a gradual decrease in sensitivity.
Check the transducer face for cleanliness each time the ship is dry-docked. Carefully
remove any marine life with a piece of wood or fine-grade sandpaper.
Display Mode
NAV mode
The depth from the transducer to the seabed bottom clearance) is shown on the screen.
Note BELOW TRANSDUCER appears at the bottom of the screen in this mode.
If the transducer setting is DEPTH BELOW KEEL, BELOW KEEL appears at the
bottom of the screen.

Default is,
Color: Amber
Range: Automatic range switching
Window: 16 minutes
Shallow depth alarm: 20m
NOTE: These parameters can be customized to your preference and the last setting is
used at a next switch-on. This is true on all other modes.
HISTORY mode
This mode provides a mix of Contour and Strata displays. The Contour displays can
be scrolled over the past 24 h while the right side Strata display (layers of different
colors according to reverberation strengths) shows the latest sounding for 5 minutes.
Pressing the [+] or [-] key moves the Contour display forwards or backwards,
respectively.

If the range scales for both the Contour and Strata display must be the same. If they
are not, the message OUT OF RANGE appears.
The update of the contour data may take max one minute. Wait for one minute to
display accurate contour if you change the range scale.
LOGBOOK mode
The LOGBOOK shows time, depth and own shi position in tabular form in a pop-up
window. The logging is selected with the INTERVAL option on the menu among 5 s,
1 min and 2 min.
There are 60 pages and the total memory capacity is 720 points. Page 60/60 is the
latest data and 1/60 is the oldest data. Pressing [-] or [+] key changes the pages.
Note that if DEPTH BELOW KEEL is chosen, DBK also appears together with depth
indication in the DEPTH column.

Depth below keel shown when transducer setting is DEPTH BELOW KEEL.
OS DATA mode
This display mode indicates own ship position, GPS-derived course and speed, and
time and depth in digital form. You can read the data of your particular interest in
large characters. The screen continues to display the sounding data in the background.
Part of graphical indication is visible to the right of data slips.

There are two kinds of OS DATA displays: DATA 1 and DATA 2, as selected on the
system menu DATA 1 is shown in the figure above.

Note: When lat/long data input error occurs in the DATA 1 mode, EPFS ERROR
appears on the screen. (EPFS: Electronic Position-Fixing System such as GPS
receiver)
7. A depth sounder operates by precisely calculating the time taken fro a pulse of
energy to travel to the ocean floor and return, any variation in the velocity of the
acoustic wave from the accepted calibrated speed of 1500
will produce an error
in the indicated depth. The speed of acoustic waves in seawater varies with
temperature, pressure and salinity.

8. Ocean water salinity is approximately 3.4% but it does vary extensively throughout
the world. As salinity increases, sonar wave velocity increases producing a shallower
depth indication, although in practice errors due to salinity changes would not be
greater than 0.5%. The error can be ignored except when the vessel transfers from
seawater to fresh water, when the indicated depth will be approximately 3% greater
than the actual depth.
9. A short pulse length improves the quality of the returned echo because
reverberation noise will be less. Reverberation noise is directly proportional to the
signal strength.
10. In addition, the low transmission frequency requirements of an echo sounder
means that such a transducer crystal slice would be excessively thick and require
massive transmitter peak power to cause it to oscillate. The crystal slice is stressed by
a voltage applied across its ends, thus the thicker the crystal slice, the greater is the
power needed to stress it.
11. The RANGE switch selects the size of the active window in the water column.
The active window is the only part of the water column in which the echosounder
operates. It is the portion of the water column which is printed on the hard copy
recorder, and in which the bottom detection software looks for the bottom echo. The
bottom must be in the selected window for the echosounder to function. Eight ranges
are available: 10, 20, 50, 100, 200, 500, 1000, and 2000 metres (or feet or fathoms).

The PHASE switch selects the depth, or location in the water column, of the active
window .The effect of the PHASE switch depends on the current RANGE setting. The
standard software compilation provides a 50% overlap between PHASE settings.
When the PHASE control is set to AUTO, the phase changes are performed
automatically in response to information provided by the primary channel bottom
tracking algorithm. The auto phasing software adjusts the phase setting automatically
to maintain the bottom in the active window. It should be understood that the auto
phasing software is critically dependent on the bottom tracking software - if the
bottom is not being tracked successfully, auto phasing will not work.
12. Because a continuous wave mode requires independent transmitters and
receivers, and two transducer assemblies it is expensive. Also because the transmitter
is firing continually, noise is a particular problem.
13. The pulse duration effectively determines the resolution quality of the equipment.
This, along with the display method used, enables objects close together in the water,
or close to the seabed, to be recorded separately.
14. For a pulse length, the PRF effectively determines the maximum range that can
be indicated. It is a measure of the time interval between pulses when transmission
has ceased and the receiver is awaiting the returned echo.
The maximum indicated range may be determined by using the following formula:
Maximum range indication
(in metres)
Where v=velocity of sound in seawater (1500ms-1) and t=time between pulses in
second. If the PRF is one per second (PRF=60), the maximum depth recorded is
750m. If the PRF is two per second (PRF=120) the maximum depth recorded is 375.
The maximum display range should not be confused with the maximum depth. For
instance, of the PRF is one per second the maximum display range is 750m. If the
water depth is 850m, an echo will be returned after a second pulse has been
transmitted and the range display has been returned to zero. The indicated depth
would now be 100m.
15. One of the problems associated with the operation of the echo-integrator quickly
encountered by the user, is the so-called 'drift problem'. This is caused by inherent
limitations of the analogue circuits involved. Its symptoms are observed as variations
in the integrator output (mm deflections) when no echo-signal is present, ie when
there should be no deviation of the recorder stylus from its zero position over a given
time interval or distance, eg one nautical mile. The level of drift is generally affected
by ambient conditions (temperature and humidity) and it may appear as a negative, or
a positively sloped graph on the recorder. The slope coefficient may remain fairly
constant over long periods of time, but it sometimes has a tendency to cyclic variation
with time, eg diurnal variations.

16. Aeration is undoubtedly the biggest problem encountered when transducers are
wrongly installed. Air bubbles in the water, for whatever reason, will pass close to the
transducer face and act as a reflector of the acoustic energy.
As a vessel cuts through the water, severe turbulence is created. Water containing
huge quantities of air bubbles is forced under and along the hull. The bow wave is
aerated as it is forced above the surface of the sea, along the hull. The wave falls back
into the sea approximately one-third the distance along the length of the vessel fro the
bow. A transducer mounted aft of the position where the bow wave re-enters the sea,
would suffer badly from the problems of aeration. Mounting the transducer ahead of
this point, even in the bulbous bow, would be ideal. It should be remembered,
however, that at some stage maintenance may be required and a position in the
bulbous bow may be inaccessible.
A second source of aeration is that of cavitation. The hull of a vessel is seldom smooth
and any indentations or irregularities in it will cause air bubbles to be produced
leading to aeration of the transducer face. Hull irregularities are impossible to predict
as they are not a feature of the vessels design.
17. In order to reduce the transducer size, and keep a narrow beamwidth, it is
possible to increase the transmission frequency. However, the resulting signal
attenuation negates this change and in practice a compromise must once again be
reached between frequency, transducer size and beamwidth. Figure shows typical
beamwidths for a low frequency (50 kHz) sounder and that of a frequency four times
greater.

18. False echoes would be displayed as false indications on the chart and would be
easily recognized. However, such echoes would produce instantaneous erroneous
readings on the digital counter display that would not be so easily recognized. To
prevent this happening echoes are stored in a data store on the processing board and
only valid echoes will produce a reading on the display. Valid echoes are those that
have indicated the same depth for two consecutive sounding cycles. The data store,
therefore, consists of a two-stage counter which holds each echo for one sounding
cycle and compares it with the next echo before the depth is displayed on the digital
display.
Each time transmission takes place the counters are reset to zero before being enabled.
This is not evident on the display because the data output from the counters is taken

via a latch that has to be enabled before data transfer can take place. Thus the counters
are continually changing but the display data will only change when the latches have
been enabled (when the depth changes). If an echo is received during the counting
process, the output is stopped, and the output latches enabled by a pulse from the data
store. The new depth is now displayed on the indicator and the counters are reset at
the start of the next transmission pulse.
19 .Error Associated With Echo-Sounder.
1. Stylus Speed Error.
This is occurred due to the changes in the speed of the Stylus.
2. Velocity of Propagation Error
The velocity of Acoustic waves vary according to temperature, Pressure, or Salinity
Changes.
The Salinity and Temperature have a large effect on the Acoustic Waves.
3. Multiple echoes
It is occurred because the Acoustic waves travels a number of times between the
bottom of the ship and Sea bed. Phasing Facility must be used to eliminate multiple
echoes, Eco Sounder must be started at lowest scale.
4. Zero Line Adjustment Error
The Zero Line indicator must be correct to get the correct depth.
5. Pythagoras Error
This error is coursed when two transducer is fitted, The cause of error is related to
Spacing between the Transmitting Transducer and Receiving Transducer.
6. Thermal and density Layers.
The Faint Layer caused due to the return of the waves in each Ocean Layers. These
Layers are formed due to the Different Salinity and temperature. It Appears on the
Graph between Zero and Actual Depth.
20. Acoustic energy is radiated vertically downwards from the transducer in the form
of a beam of energy. As figure shows the main beam is central to the transducer face
and shorter sidelobes are also produced. The beamwidth must not be excessively
narrow otherwise echoes may be missed, particularly in heavy weather when the
vessel is rolling. A low PRF combined with a fast ship speed can in some cases lead to
the vessel running away from an echo that could well be missed. In general,
beamwidths measured at the half-power points (-3dB), used for depth sounding
apparatus are between 15 degrees and 25 degrees. To obtain this relatively narrow
beamwidth, the transducer needs to be constructed with a size equal to many
wavelengths of the frequency in use. This fact dictates that the transducer will be
physically large for the lower acoustic frequencies used in depth sounding.

21. .An echo-sounder transmits a pulse of sound directly downwards from the bottom

of the ship. The pulse of sound travels down through the water, bounces off the sea
bed and then travels upwards until the reflection is heard by the echo-sounder. The
echo-sounder times how long the pulse of sound takes to travel to the sea bed and
back up to the ship. The depth of the water can be calculated using the formula:
distance = time/2 x speed of sound in water

Bottom reverberation. This depends upon the nature of the seabed. Slid seabeds, such
as hard rock, will produce greater scattering of the beam than silt or sandy seabeds