Introduction
The Qing River (清江), a Yangtze tributary, was transformed by three hydropower dams (Shuibuya 水布垭 - 230m deep, Geheyan 隔河岩, Gaobazhou 高坝洲) built in the 1980’s.
This survey was to demonstrate the swath width capability of the NORBIT WINGHEAD ultra-high resolution multibeam sonar in shallow to mid-water depths.
We selected the deepest inland water body in China to fully demonstrate the advantages of the wide swath angle and to achieve full bank to bank coverage in a single pass.
We used the NORBIT DCT as acquisition software during the survey.
The overall installation took about an hour onboard an ad hoc vessel. The survey was a success as demonstrated by the acquired data in the following pages.
Installation at Qing Jiang Jetty
The WINGHEAD sonar was mounted at the port side of the vessel and both Antenna 1 & Antenna 2 installed at the bow of the vessel. Installation took approximately an hour.
GNSS RTK NTRIP corrections were interfaced to the system in real time, using the NORBIT GUI integrated NTRIP client. Frequency set to auto mode with vessel speed of approximately 3-4 knots and survey depth to a maximum of 190m.
Survey Results
Summary
The ultra-high resolution NORBIT WINGHEAD bathymetry sonar is able to map the river channel from bank to bank in a single pass of high-resolution dataset.
The high performance tightly coupled integrated POSMV OEM Applanix OceanMaster GNSS/INS system, reduced installation errors compared to a traditional setup with multiple standalone sensors.
The NORBIT WINGHEAD sonar is designed for rapid and easy mobilisation, which allowed us to commence our survey within one hour of installation
