Norway

Vol. 226 No. 4

Software package processes high-density, multi-beam echo sounder data sets

The CUBE (Combined Uncertainty and Bathymetric Estimator) terrain modeling package is now an option to the SIS processing software offered by Kongsberg Maritime AS. Developed by Brian Calder of University New Hampshire, CUBE is a combined terrain modeling, data cleaning and data reduction software for use as a processing tool for high-density, multi-beam, echo sounder data sets.

CUBE software functions as a tool to speed up and automate processing of data sets evaluated by hydrographic surveyors.

CUBE will estimate the depth at predefined grid node points, making use of all available soundings in the vicinity of the node. The output of the process is a set of depth values at grid node locations, rather than “approved soundings,” and it performs a radical reduction of the amount of data needed to represent a seabed surface that has been surveyed by a high-resolution instrument, such as the EM 3002.

The processing is highly automated, and the overall processing time required for high-density data sets can be reduced by a factor of up to 40. In cases where CUBE detects severe misalignments between two survey lines, two results will be reported, and it will be up to the hydrographic surveyor to decide what to do.

CUBE creates a best-fit surface with a guide to how well the package thinks it has achieved the desired result. The uncertainty value guides the hydrographic surveyor to those areas where the software thinks that the result is questionable and needs further validation. The basic difference between this approach and previous methods is that the software algorithm does not delete any soundings.

Furthermore, a hydrographic surveyor edits a surface instead of soundings. He can also visualize the soundings to improve the decision-making process. Once the correct surface is determined, soundings are then deleted, as a function of standard deviation off the surface.