FarSounder 500 Operation Manual Download Page 17

Operation Manual

FarSounder, Inc.

F31552 (Rev. 3.8.0)

Page 17 of 69

to connect to a network switch before connecting to the user interface computer, a standard Ethernet patch
cable may be used. It is not recommended that the Power Module share a network switch with other high-
bandwidth network devices. See section on Network Connections for more information.

Connection Type

On Power Module

Mating Connectors

Power

IEC-320-C14 inlet socket

IEC-320-C13 connector plug

Transducer Module

BNC,  RJ-45,  terminal  blocks  for  stranded
wire

BNC, RJ-45, discrete wires

Network

RJ-45 socket

RJ-45 plug

Table 3. External Connections to Power Module

Indicator Lights

There are seven indicator LED's on the front of the Power Module casing. From left to right they are: TX
Off, Fault, Ctrl A, Ctrl B, Ping, Bank 1, Bank 2. (Older versions of the Power Module may not include the
TX Off or Fault indicators.)

1. TX Off - Indicates that the power amplifier is deactivated. This can be set by the slider switch on the

front panel (rack mount version) or internally (bulkhead mount version) and used for testing the unit
while in dry-dock.

2. FAULT  -  Indicates  that  a  transmit  signal  triggering  error  occurred.  Triggering  errors  are  generally

introduced by electrical interference along the cable. Such errors are generally handled by the Power
Module and do not indicate a problem. This LED is used for troubleshooting purposes.

3. CTRL  A,  CTRL  B  -  Indicates  internal  Power  Module  logic  states.  These  are  used  for  debugging

purposes only and have no user application. The state of these LED's may change from time to time
depending upon the particular mode setting of the sonar system. Once the Transducer Module has
booted, these indicators will blink until the user interface communicates with the Transducer Module.

4. PING - Flashes every time the sonar transmits a ping.

5. BANK  1,  BANK  2  -  Indicates  power  amplifier  capacitor  banks  are  changed.  These  indicators  may

remain lighted for a short period of time after the unit is powered down.

Installation

The Power Module can be installed in any dry location within 100 feet of the Transducer Module. There
are no user interface components on the Power Module other than a power switch. This means that even
though it has blinking lights, it does not need to be located in a convenient to access location.

Warning

Make sure the Power Module is switched off before connecting to the Transducer Module.

Warning

The Power Module is not water tight and should not be located in an area with condensation.

1.4. Network Connections

FarSounder's sonar systems operate on a standard Ethernet network using TCP/IP protocol layers. Due to
the high bandwidth needs of the FarSounder systems, the network must be capable of 1 Gbps connectivity.

Summary of Contents for 500

Page 1: ...farsounder com www farsounder com Copyright 2002 2017 FarSounder Inc FarSounder is committed to providing the best quality and performance possible with our products As part of this policy all informa...

Page 2: ...35 4 2 Connecting NMEA Devices 35 4 3 System Settings Options 37 4 4 Chart Setup 38 5 The 3D Sonar Display 39 5 1 Overview 39 5 2 3D Volumetric Standard View 39 5 3 Profile View 40 5 4 Forward Lookin...

Page 3: ...Wake Interference 62 4 Sea State Limitations 63 5 Vessel Speed Limitations 64 D Maintenance 65 1 Overview 65 2 Every 3 Months 65 3 Every 6 Months 65 E Troubleshooting 66 1 Overview 66 2 Power Module...

Page 4: ...Transducer Module Connection Cable This cable is a custom designed to connect a FarSounder Transducer Module to a FarSounder Power Module The wet end connector can be connected dry or underwater The...

Page 5: ...not to damage the internal conductors Remove the Power Module cover to access the inside The current model has four screws at the corners of the access panel Disconnect the ribbon cable attached to th...

Page 6: ...d mount Power Module Figure 3 Example termination inside rack mount Power Module Terminating the Cat 5e Cable Standard T568B wiring should be used for the Cat 5e cable coming out of the Transducer Mod...

Page 7: ...p terminating the coax cable Recommended Tools Listed below are the tools that FarSounder uses though many equivalent tools exist Description Use Manufacturer MFR Part Number Rotary Cable Stripper Rem...

Page 8: ...fits into the correct receptacle Note that the 12 gauge conductors fit very snug into the terminal strip block Make sure that the strands of the conductor are not separated Otherwise it will be diffi...

Page 9: ...of the cable using an Amphenol 97 3106A 24 7P Circular Connector The cable is supplied with this connector unterminated so that the cable can be run through a conduit that has a smaller diameter than...

Page 10: ...is a structural component only There is no need to connect it to ground Wet End Preparation The wet end of the cable is terminated with a Subconn BH16MSS connector This connector is molded onto the c...

Page 11: ...he connector After greasing fully mate the male and female connector in order to secure optimal distribution of grease on pins and in sockets To confirm that grease has been sufficiently applied de ma...

Page 12: ...Transducer Module Bow mounted Transducer Modules should be installed as far forward and as far below the water as possible on the vessel The black urethane array face should face forward with a clear...

Page 13: ...t end connector should not be left unconnected while wet or underwater for extended periods of time A Connection Cable End Cap F24557 is supplied as standard for use during transport installation and...

Page 14: ...ion of the Transducer Module is very important There is a protrusion on the black urethane face on the front of the unit that should be at the 12 o clock position The connector on the rear of the Tran...

Page 15: ...ill not dissolve destroy or otherwise harm the urethane since it is likely that some paint will touch the edge of the urethane array face 1 3 Power Module The Power Module for FarSounder s current pro...

Page 16: ...Transducer Module Connection Cable entry into rack mount Power Module The Power Module is powered by either 110 120 or 220 240 VAC Total power consumption for the unit is approximately 100 watts conti...

Page 17: ...rs are generally handled by the Power Module and do not indicate a problem This LED is used for troubleshooting purposes 3 CTRL A CTRL B Indicates internal Power Module logic states These are used for...

Page 18: ...apter using a standard Ethernet crossover cable When connecting the sonar to multiple user interfaces the Power Module should be connected a network switch Each of the user interfaces then connect to...

Page 19: ...eded for FarSounder operation DNS not needed for FarSounder operation 1 5 SonaSoft Software SonaSoft is FarSounder s processing and display software This software communicates directly with the sonar...

Page 20: ...en USB dongle During the software installation process the user is offered the option to run the C MAP Setup Wizard This includes installation of the eToken drivers chart database and chart data licen...

Page 21: ...most recent C MAP chart data place it in a local folder on your machine we recommend C cmap_databases Then click the Register manually button in the C MAP Chart Manger window Figure 22 Figure 22 Clic...

Page 22: ...license number is generated for a specific database and C MAP eToken If you already have a C MAP eToken dongle the dongle ID number must be provided to C MAP If not dongles can be purchased from FarS...

Page 23: ...25 The Add License Manually dialog box It is necessary to apply each license separately To apply a license for a particular Zone or Area select the Zone or Area from the Available Areas Datasets list...

Page 24: ...n to choose Software Modules and click Add manually Figure 26 The Add License Manually dialog box From this window choose V3CATMGR Import S57 from the list of modules Then copy the license number into...

Page 25: ...here will be the information about previously added permits as well as the option to add delete permits Select Add permits and add the corresponding permits for the S 63 charts Click Re authenticate P...

Page 26: ...st as they offer radar overlay they also offer FarSounder sonar overlay In this mode SonaSoft is also configured as a network sonar server It still performs all of the sonar processing and can still b...

Page 27: ...m In order to run the sonar the Power Module and Transducer Module must be connected and turned on the Power Module must be on the same network as the SonaSoft host computer and SonaSoft must be runni...

Page 28: ...As with any shipboard electronic systems it is highly recommended that both the user interface computer and the FarSounder Power Module be powered through a UPS 2 2 Minimum Requirements for FS 3DT Fa...

Page 29: ...e much smaller The user can interact with the workspace through the following actions Managing the Sidebar Workspace Resizing the Sidebar Using the Application Buttons 3 2 Managing the Sidebar Workspa...

Page 30: ...e bottom border To resize a sidebar window click on the resizer bar and drag with the mouse while holding down the left mouse button Swapping Sidebar and Main Workspace Displays The Swap with Main Wor...

Page 31: ...ghting conditions The software supports Day Dusk Night and Red color themes A theme may be selected by clicking on a theme from the list Sonar Status The sonar status indicator looks like a series of...

Page 32: ...rts are configured under the Configuration Manager s NMEA Settings menu The second indicator shows that the Sonar Processor is properly configured and is in the middle of processing a ping The third i...

Page 33: ...in the SonaSoft install directory and restarting SonaSoft Formatting of each entry in hotkey ini is as follows Lines prepended with a are ignored and can be used for comments action modifer keys For e...

Page 34: ...h to fourth shortest range if available setprocrange5 switch to fifth shortest range if available Available Global Actions depthscaleshallow open the number pad to define the shallow end of the depth...

Page 35: ...tabilization True Target Motion The SonaSoft software has been designed to accept information from external sensors via standard NMEA 0183 sentences SonaSoft connects to these NMEA sensors via the hos...

Page 36: ...t to listen on Available COM ports will be listed in the COM port list NMEA Message Selection At the bottom of this window there are six rows of drop down selectors where the NMEA messages to be used...

Page 37: ...yards meters kilometers miles statute miles nautical cables System Speed Units The units selected from this drop down box are used for speed measurements throughout various displays and setting contro...

Page 38: ...pdate button Figure 36 Sensor Layout Configurator 4 4 Chart Setup The SonaSoft Chart Display offers chart plotting capabilities with a real time overlay of all in water targets The display supports Pr...

Page 39: ...waves and other transient clutter If a target is tracked across multiple pings but is not detected on a subsequent ping the target is shown on the screen at the predicted location based on previous t...

Page 40: ...the Profile Selector The Profile Selector denotes the angle along which a 2D depth profile ahead of the vessel is shown in the Profile View The number at the end of the profile selector denotes the be...

Page 41: ...f the button is set to active When active the alarm button is depressed Figure 40 Alarm acknowledge button Should the alarm be triggered a warning will sound the 3D Sonar Display window will blink blu...

Page 42: ...include reflections from bubbles in the water column and small bits of debris in the water The alarm hit number specifies the number of pings in a row that a target must be detected within the alarm v...

Page 43: ...or s indicator will read 258 When not selected the indicator will be relative to the bow In all cases the indicator in the 2D View is relative to the bow True Target Motion With True Target Motion ena...

Page 44: ...colored with a smoothly changing array of colors from blue to green to orange to yellow Note Targets where depth cannot be accurately determined i e beyond the sonar s water depth limit are always dr...

Page 45: ...ycle This typically means that you will see the change two pings after adjusting the control since generally when you see an image that needs adjusting there is already another ping processing with th...

Page 46: ...e automatically determines the best detection threshold using adaptive thresholding methods Auto Squelch is the recommended operating mode for detection of in water targets Squelch Control Slider Most...

Page 47: ...atabase from C MAP ENC databases from C MAP S 57 63 charts The Chart Display window provides various chart plotting functionalities such as showing the position of the vessel on the chart zooming in a...

Page 48: ...ates received by the Digital Chart Viewer Otherwise the vessel will move across the chart with each latitude longitude position update Zoom In Clicking this button will zoom in on the scale of the cha...

Page 49: ...is dialog is for experts only while troubleshooting database issues 6 5 Configuration Manager Options In order for this component to work properly NMEA compatible heading and location sensors must be...

Page 50: ...ed as overlays on top of the chart Successive levels of presentation increase the number of elements shown Open C MAP Chart Manager Opens the C MAP chart manager to change the database in view C MAP C...

Page 51: ...the depth of the contour that should not be crossed to avoid grounding of the vessel This contour appears thicker than other contour lines This depth must be between the Shallow and Deep Contours Deep...

Page 52: ...Mapping Overlay depicts the LHM overlay on the chart viewer Color is mapped to depth where the blue and yellow ends of the scale represent a seafloor depth of 20 meters and 2 meters respectively The...

Page 53: ...SB dongle must be installed These can be acquired from FarSounder for a nominal fee C MAP license must be installed This can be purchased through a C MAP dealer or directly from C MAP Latitude and lon...

Page 54: ...und in the chapter entitled Section 4 2 Connecting NMEA Devices Under the the Configuration Manager s NMEA Settings menu the user can specify the type of NMEA message to use For echo sounder depth the...

Page 55: ...with FarSounder When this feature is activated a zip file will be saved to the desktop containing raw sonar data for the last few pings SonaSoft log files and all registry settings used by SonaSoft T...

Page 56: ...nges Water Depth Performance is the ratio between the depth of water below the transducer and the range at which the sea bottom can be mapped As an example if a 2 water depth sonar system is operating...

Page 57: ...ange increases the angle at which the incoming sound wave hits the seafloor becomes shallower At some angle not enough energy is reflected back to the receiver to allow for sea bottom detection and ma...

Page 58: ...5 Reflecting off an in water target beyond bottom mapping range The ability to detect obstacles beyond a sonar s water depth limit is extremely important Vessel operators can detect the edge of rock...

Page 59: ...s all targets the very first time they are detected waiting until their second detection to display them This significantly reduces the number of false detections caused by transient noises such as wa...

Page 60: ...enerally interference is only experienced when the echo sounders on large commercial ships are close to the user s vessel and when the FarSounder is pointed towards the other ship Such interference ap...

Page 61: ...ensuring that their sonars will not cause any harm to any marine life The duty cycles and transmit powers are significantly lower than those of other marine acoustic systems that are commonly accepte...

Page 62: ...ble cloud the more energy from the sonar is disrupted Bubbles are produced by a variety of things such as waves vessel wakes and turbulent current flows around stationary objects like pilings and buoy...

Page 63: ...show a short period of strong energy followed by a period of almost no energy Figure C 4 Wake interference shows an example of the sonar inside a wake The short strong energy seen is the transmit sig...

Page 64: ...eds up to 20 and 25 knots respectively This rating is based upon an ideal installation where vessel induced mechanical vibration noise is not present Some vessels have significant mechanical vibration...

Page 65: ...ived echoes If fouling is present it can be scraped off with a simple paint scraper or the handle of a wooden paintbrush When cleaning the Transducer Module s array face it is important that the ureth...

Page 66: ...n troubleshooting the system Here is a short description of what each LED signals Power Indicates that the Power Module has power Bank 1 Indicates that one of the two large amplifier capacitors is cha...

Page 67: ...able below describes some of the LED indications Please note that the LED State column contains one circle indicator for each LED light Possible values for each indicator are as follows The light is o...

Page 68: ...on or a firmware update Flashing A B A B After powering on the Power Module while waiting for a connection to SonaSoft The Transducer Module is ready for a SonaSoft connection Flashing Simultaneously...

Page 69: ...r the resolution of the currently connected monitor To recalibrate C MAP for the current screen resolution Run the C MAP ruler program It can be found in C Program Files x86 C Map Professional SDK Run...

Reviews: