Cerulean Support Page
Frequent Asked Questions
ROV Locator
Yes, you can purchase the Transmitter and Receiver separately. Go and visit or Online-Store and select either of these two product items.
You can purchase the Cerulean ROV mounting bracket, or if you want to construct the part, you can download the sheet metal bracket drawing here.
You can download the ROV Locator manual here.
Yes, but the computations need to be done separately. Use the ROVL’s slant range and the external depth sensor’s depth estimate to compute the horizontal range. See also the math examples in the user manual.
No. The reason has to do with automatic gain control, which is needed to improve angular accuracy.
The Receiver can be given an average sound speed, which it will store in non-volatile memory. The factory-default default speed of sound is 1484 m/s.
For slant range accuracy, as noted in the user manual, we recommend calibrating for clock drift when initially putting the system into service and about every three months after that. If this is done, we expect a typical slant range accuracy drift of under 2m/hour. If you know the average speed of sound in your water body, you can get a slight improvement in accuracy by loading that value into the Receiver.
The ROVL application is not intended to be a workhorse user interface or operating tool. It is meant as a basic tool to test your system components and get familiar with them. For everyday system operation, we recommend using our QGroundControl plug-in found on this link.
Yes, the ROVL IMU data is used to compensate for the vessel’s roll and pitch movement.
Perhaps, but putting the pinger on the ROV is preferred for maximum range. The reason for this is that ROV thrusters tend to be electrically noisy, so if the USBL receive head is on the ROV, it has less sensitivity due to the increased electrical noise environment.
The main ROVL software and the Companion App can not be running at the same time.
For a distance of 100 meters, position accuracy should be planned on +/- 2% of distance.
CeruleanTracker is a Windows application that works with multiple Cerulean Software sonar products, including the Cerulean ROV Locator and the Cerulean DVL-75. It replaces the ROV Locator Windows App, the DVL Console App, and the Cerulean Companion interface to the Blue Robotics ROV Companion software.
Cerulean Tracker seamlessly connects Cerulean DVL-75 and ROV Locator to QGroundControl.
Most customers connect power and ground to the ROVL Tx unit and leave the serial data lines floating. Some ROVs are noisier than others, and in the noisy units, the ROVL TX picks up noise on the serial receive line and interprets it as commands. After enough time, the ROVL Tx gets a pattern it interprets as a request to reboot, and it does so, which causes loss of distance sync.
Solution
Connect the serial receive wire (green wire) in the ROVL TX power/data cable to power ground (connect the green wire to the same place you connected the black wire). Leave the serial send wire (the white wire) unconnected (i.e., floating).
If you don’t see what you are looking for here, visit our Forum and let our community help you with your questions.
Omniscan Doppler Motion Tracking FAQ
Yes, when Doppler Motion Tracking is enabled, imaging ping rate is reduced by half. Doppler Motion Tracking can be enabled and disabled with a toggle on the Omniscan Device Controls panel in SonarView.
Omniscan Doppler speed measurements are not as accurate as a DVL due to the ambiguity of the angle of the reflected signal. Nevertheless, it is accurate enough to give excellent situational awareness as SonarView renders the mosaic of the scanned environment.
Using only 2 channels (as opposed to a full DVL which would have at least 3 or 4), there can be a slow drift in position hold mode (typically 1-2 meter/minute).
