ECHO SOUNDER

SUBMITTED BY:
MARINO
BSMT
WHAT IS AN ECHO SOUNDER?

HOW DOES IT WORK?

WHAT ARE THE COMPONENTS OF AN EC

SOUNDER?

WHAT ARE THE ERRORS OF AND ECHO

SOUNDER?
 ECHO SOUNDER

An Echo Sounder is a type of SONAR (Sound Navigation And

Ranging) a piece of equipment, especially on a ship, that uses sound 
waves to discover water 
depth or the position of an object in the water

It is used to determine the depth of the water or seabed below the

bottom of the ship. This type of electronic navigational aid transmits
a sound wave into the water and reflecting back to the source when it
hit the seabed or detecting object. This equipment uses time by
measuring how long the sound echoes travel from the transducer at
the bottom of the ship and bounce back.
 PRINCIPLES: HOW IT WORKS
It works on the principle of transmitting
sound waves from ship’s bottom and then
measuring the time taken for the echo to
be returned from sea. If the velocity of
sound in water is known the time will be
proportional to the distance travelled.
The time taken by the waves to travel to
and from the seabed is measured and
depth can be determined, by the formula
Distance=Velocity x Time/2
Principle of the echo sounder. A short pulse of sound vibration is produced at
A, reflected by the sea-bed at C, and received at B. The depth d, is proportional
to the measured time interval between transmission and reception
COMPONENTS OF AN ECHO SOUNDER
 COMPONENTS OF ECHO
SOUNDER
• 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.
CONTROLS
• An echo sounder will normally have the following controls:
• Range Switch – to select the range between which the depth is be checked e.g.  0- 50 m, 1 – 100 m, 100 – 200 m etc. 
Always check the lowest range first before shifting to a higher range.
• Unit selector switch – to select the unit feet, fathoms or meter as required.
• Gain switch – to be adjusted such that the clearest echo line is recorded on the paper.
• Paper speed control – to select the speed of the paper – usually two speeds available.
• Zero Adjustment or Draught setting control – the echo sounder will normally display the depth below the keel.  This
switch can be used to feed the ship’s draught such that the echo sounder will display the total sea depth.  This switch is
also used to adjust the start of the transmission of the sound pulse to be in line with the zero of the scale in use.
• Fix or event marker – this button is used to draw a line on the paper as a mark to indicate certain time e.g. passing a
navigational mark, when a position is plotted on the chart etc.
• Transducer changeover switch – in case vessel has more than one switch e.g. forward and aft transducer.
• Dimmer – to illuminate the display as required.

Digital display. Here the
depth is displayed digitally
(in figures) in metres
TYPES OF DISPLAY
Paper Recorders. With a paper
recorder a mark is burned on a
roll of paper indicating the depth
at regular intervals. With this
display a chart of the bottom is
produced.
Video Display. With this display a similar
picture is produced as that of the paper
recorder. One can either have it in
monochrome (shades of one colour) or in
full colour. The colour option allows the
operator to determine the nature of the
bottom.
ERRORS OF THE ECHO
SOUNDER
1. The velocity of propagation in water the velocity of
acoustic wave changes if temperature, salinity or
pressure changes and since velocity is not correct, the
depth recorded
will be inaccurate.
2. Stylus speed error: the stylus is rotating with a certain
constant speed and the speed of the stylus that the time is
taken for the stylus to travel from top to bottom is
exactly equal to that for an acoustic pulse to travel twice
the distance of the range selected. Due to the fluctuation
in the voltage, the speed of the stylus motor changes
hence the depth recorded will be inaccurate. It should be
checked periodically and adjusted as per the instruction
is given in the manual.

3. Multipath echoes: the echo may be reflected a number