Knudsen Echosounder
Knudsen Engineering Limited
10 Industrial Road
Perth, Ontario
Canada, K7H 3P2
support@knudsenengineering.com
Introduction
The Thompson is equiped with a Knudsen 3260 and a 320BR which provides high performance bathymetric survey and sub-bottom profiling capability. The system configuration is extremely flexible and can be easily modified to accommodate the specific needs of individual customers.
Knudsen Chirp 3260 (external link)
The echo sounder is not a stand alone instrument. It is used in conjunction with the below transducers and managed through a PC.
R/V Thompson Configuration:
The Knudsen 3260 and 320BR on the R/V Thompson is configured for 3.5 KHz operation at 10 KW and 12 KHz operation at 2 KW, as well as a 12 KHz pinger mode of operation.
Data Formats
Data is recorded in several formats,: SEG-Y (.sgy), Knudsen Engineering binary (.keb) a propietary format and ASCII header data (.kea). Be sure to confirm with your MarTech what format you want recorded and if looking for SEG-Y, be sure you know if you are recording "raw", "filtered" or "detected".
Knudsen data is available onboard the vessel at \\indian\ftp\ship-data\knudsen Only available on ship
TR-109 (3.5 KHz Transducer)
The TR-109 is a 3.5 KHz transducer suitable for bathymetric and sub-bottom profiling applications. These transducers are assembled into an array of multiple elements to provide added power capability and achieve desired beam patterns. The transducer is rated at 200 watts continuous power and has a nominal impedance of 125 ohms. The 3.5 KHz transducer on the R/V Thompson is an array of 12 series/parallel wired TR-109 elements.
TC-12/34 (12.0/34 KHz Transducer)
The TC-12/34 is a dual frequency transducer capable of both 12 and 34 KHz operation suitable for bathymetric survey applications. It is rated at a maximum power level of 2000 watts at 12 KHz and 500 watts at 34 KHz.
Note: the Knudsen 3260/320BR system on the R/V THOMPSON does not support 34 KHz operation.
Hardcopy Devices
The Knudsen 3260 and 320BR is capable of interfacing to a variety of industry standard hardcopy devices. Currently, the Thompson has two EPC 9800 thermal grayscale plotters with a display area of 19.84 inches and with a 200 dpi resolution. These plotters currently only operate with the older style 320BR.
Please inform your MarTech well ahead of time if you wish to use the thermal plotter.
Tools
Several tools are available for viewing and using Knudsen data after it as been recorded.
Standard seismic processing programs, including ProMAX, Kingdom Suite or SIOseis can be sued for processing/viewing SEG-Y data. These are not available from University of Washington.
Knudsen Engineering makes a free software available called Post Survey for viewing binary files. Unfortunately, there are two versions of Post Survey. Version 2.52 is available for processing 3260 data, but cannot open 320BR data. Version 1.60 can only be used to open 320BR data. Your Martech can provide you with the correct version of the software upon request.
Post survey can be used to create bitmaps for printing and can provide metadata including gain and power settings.
Some have had success with a free software called SeiSee for viewing chirp and other seismic SEG-Y files.
Questions? Brandi Murphy
Return to TGT Science Information
