Omniscan 450 Compact

Omniscan Compact Features

The Omniscan 450 Compact brings some new features to the Omniscan family. The “Compact” has 3 external ports and an internal Ethernet switch so you can daisy chain up to 2 additional ethernet devices while using only a single vehicle Ethernet port.

Alternatively, one of the extra ports may be used to house a variety of pressure/temperature sensors. The last new feature is an externally visible LED for power indication and other diagnostic functions.

Omniscan and SonarView

The Omniscan family (FS, SS, Compact) all feature a fixed, single, narrow, tall “fan beam.”  Omniscan works with SonarView to “mosaic” the return from 1000’s of these beam echos to convert vehicle motion into an image.

As the ROV or surface vessel moves, SonarView “paints” the image of the scanned area of the sea floor giving excellent situational awareness in the murkiest conditions. In the case of a surface vessel with GPS or an ROV with DVL, scanning is translational as well as rotational.

Doppler Motion Tracking

For underwater vehicles without positioning information, Omniscan’s patent pending Doppler Motion Tracking can be used for translational information in the direction of the beam. Using a pair of Omniscan 450FS units, one forward and one 90 degrees to either side, full 2d motion tracking is available. Position hold is also enabled with the appropriate ROV integration.

Operator Scanning

Using Omniscan 450 on an ROV, the scanning is under the direct control of the ROV driver so that they can focus on specific areas of interest rather than waiting for a mechanical scanning sonar to slowly come around to sweep the particular sector they want to see. Using the “Heading Up” mode in SonarView makes this manual scanning very intuitive and provides excellent situational awareness.