Multibeam monitoring of a 5,000-hectare land reclamation area with a HydroBoat 1200

Parts of the area are shallower than 0.5 m, so the survey needed high precision in very shallow water. The equipment had to travel overland and be ready quickly without being taken apart, the same area had to be surveyed again and again to track progress, and the crew wanted simple operation with as little kit as possible.

• Setup took about five minutes: power on the HydroBoat 1200, fit the HydroBeam M2, connect the base-station correction link, then create the project and the survey task on the Android controller.
• The operator used the Auto-SPIN and Auto-Survey features, so no survey routes had to be planned by hand, and watched the data arrive live on the controller.
• Data was stored on the boat and copied to a computer on an external drive. Noise was removed in SLHydroBeam Processing and the result was exported as .xyz and .las files.

• SatLab reports that the results met IHO Special Order accuracy requirements; it says detailed accuracy checks were to be added later.
• The new data agreed with the data the client already held, and the project passed acceptance.
• On the training day two areas were surveyed, with no acquisition problems reported.
• The client described the way of working as highly efficient, simple to learn and well suited to the project.

HydroBoat 1200 with the HydroBeam M2 multibeam echosounder and SLHydro USV software on an Android controller. SatLab states that the HydroBoat 1200 can run multibeam surveys in roughly 0.2 to 200 m of water. We supply and support the HydroBoat 1200 in India, with installation, operator training and service from Pune.

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