Ultra-High-Resolution Multibeam Mapping from Coastal to Offshore Depths with the NORBIT WINGHEAD X

Introduction.

The NORBIT WINGHEAD X is the latest addition to NORBIT’s family of multibeam echosounders, delivering ultra-high resolution bathymetry and backscatter data. Built on a unified platform, it brings all existing features from the WINGHEAD series into one adaptable system that provides complete operational flexibility. A core configuration is provided as standard, with optional features that can be enabled over time, including:

• 1024 beams
• Dual Swath 2048 beams
• Pitch Stabilisation
• Yaw Stabilisation
• STX scanning
• Backscattering Strength Output

Designed with a maximum operating range of 600m, the system was deployed in Sardinia, Italy, to evaluate its performance across a wide water-depth range, from relatively shallow coastal environments (20m depth) to deeper intermediate zones (100m depth). The objective was to demonstrate the system’s ability to deliver high-resolution data across diverse environments, and to highlight the efficiency benefits of advanced features such as Pitch Stabilisation and Dual Swath.

Equipment Setup

For this case study, the system configuration included:

WINGHEAD X multibeam sonar mounted on a 20m survey vessel.

Integrated GNSS/INS subsystem, providing a full sonar and navigation solution, with the IMU built into the sonar head.

Single cable connecting the wet-end components to the topside unit.

Data acquisition using NORBIT’s DCT software, and real-time visualisation of the raw data using NORBIT’s newly launched web-based 3D point cloud viewer.

Real-Time 3D Point Cloud

While NORBIT’s DCT software provides 2D coverage monitoring and line-planning functions, the 3D point cloud viewer builds on this by delivering a fully interactive perspective with georeferenced 3D bathymetry data displayed live as the data is collected. When used alongside DCT, the 3D point cloud viewer enables faster interpretation and offers an additional layer of real-time quality control.

Since the 3D point cloud viewer runs entirely in a web browser, it also supports remote collaboration, allowing project managers and clients to review live results from anywhere in the world. This makes it easier to validate data, plan follow-up operations, and approve deliverables with confidence.

The ability to explore and measure features directly within the 3D environment also makes it an excellent inspection tool, ideal for assessing structures and subsea assets in real time.

Performance Across Varied Depths

The frequency-agile design of the WINGHEAD X allows operators to adapt the sonar’s performance to the environment, using higher frequencies for detailed mapping in shallow waters, and lower frequencies for efficient coverage in deeper areas while maintaining ultra-wide wide swath coverage.

The swath was electronically steered to capture details up to the waterline on Pan di Zucchero, a natural monument close to the mainland, named due to its resemblance to the Sugar Loaf mountain peak in Rio de Janeiro. This was achieved without changing the physical installation, made possible by NORBIT’s curved array technology, which enables wide steering angles and full coverage flexibility.

The deeper areas mapped reveal a complex, rocky terrain covering a 0.5x1.5km² area, while the corresponding backscatter data, collected simultaneously, reveals intensity changes where the seabed composition changes from rocky to softer sediments.

The results demonstrate that a single system can be used to effectively map a wide depth range, producing multiple data type outputs, offering operators one system rather than multiple specialised units.

Efficiency Gains with Dual Swath

The WINGHEAD X supports Dual Swath as an optional feature, producing 2048 beams per ping. This offers two potential benefits for the operator:

• Sounding density can be doubled, which is useful in applications with strict sounding density requirements.
• The survey speed can be increased while maintaining the same sounding density as single swath, allowing surveys to be completed faster.

The real-time gridded data in DCT, coloured by sounding density, shows 15 soundings per grid cell (blue) with single swath mode and 1024 beams at 50m water depth. By comparison, Dual Swath with 2048 beams increases the along-track data density and provides an average of 30 soundings per grid cell (green), doubling the total number of soundings.

Uniform Sounding Density with Active Motion Stabilisation

The WINGHEAD X supports active Roll Stabilisation as a standard feature, along with Pitch and Yaw Stabilisation as optional features. Without Pitch Stabilisation, variable sounding density in the along-track direction is observed as the vessel pitches up and down, which is reflected on the real time gridded data in NORBIT’s DCT software, where some regions are oversampled (red grid cells) and some regions are under sampled (blue grid cells) during each pitch cycle.

With Pitch Stabilisation enabled, the transmit beam is steered dynamically in response to vessel pitch motion, providing uniform sounding density and  consistent coverage, which allows smaller bin sizes and more reliable target detection.

Shallow Water Performance

A shallow water area was surveyed at 20-30m depth range, revealing a mixture of softer sediments and harder materials. The bathymetry data reveals small depressions and relief features, while the corresponding backscatter data shows a distinct change in the sonar signal response between the bottom types.

The example demonstrates that the same system configuration can capture fine nearshore detail without re-tuning or changing the hardware setup.

Conclusions

The WINGHEAD X demonstrated consistent, high-quality performance across a wide depth range from 20m to 100m, efficiently covering both nearshore and offshore environments with the same hardware configuration. The results confirm that a single multibeam system can deliver high-resolution data in diverse conditions without re-installation or major reconfiguration, maximising survey productivity.

Optional software features such as Pitch Stabilisation and Dual Swath were shown to provide clear operational advantages, enhancing sounding density, maintaining uniform coverage in dynamic sea states, and improving overall efficiency. These capabilities can be activated through licensing to unlock advanced functionality without any hardware changes or downtime, offering users an adaptable and future-proof system.

Compact and lightweight, the WINGHEAD X is equally suited for rapid pole-mounted deployment on vessels of opportunity or permanent hull-mounted installations on dedicated survey platforms. This flexibility, combined with its proven data quality, range performance, and productivity benefits, makes the WINGHEAD X a versatile solution for a wide spectrum of hydrographic applications.