YSI SonTek RiverSurveyor System Manual Download Page 83

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SonTek/YSI Inc

RiverSurveyor System Manual (May 1, 2007)

Section 6. Preparing the System for a Survey

This section provides an overview of how to prepare a RiverSurveyor system for data collection.
The following topics are covered in Section 6.

•

Selecting the Right Measurement Platform

– What are the guidelines for the type of vessel I

should use for taking measurements?

•

Mounting the RiverSurveyor ADP to the Vessel

•

Setting up the RiverCat

•

Selecting a Measurement Cross-Section

– How do I select the best location to make my

measurement?

•

How to Make Good Measurements from a Moving Vessel

– How do I operate the vessel

(moving platform) during a RiverSurveyor measurement?

•

Selecting RiverSurveyor Settings

Summary of Contents for SonTek RiverSurveyor

Page 1: ...lectronic medium or machine readable form without prior consent in writing from SonTek YSI Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this manual However SonTek YSI makes no warranties with respect to this documentation and disclaims any implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose SonTek YSI shall not be liable for any errors or for incidental or consequent...

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Page 3: ...the manufacturing process The warranty does not cover shortcomings that are due to the design nor does it cover any form of incidental damage as a result of errors in the measurements If your system is not functioning properly first try to identify the source of the problem If addi tional support is required we encourage you to contact us immediately and we will work to re solve the problem as qui...

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Page 5: ... of this manual was pro vided to you on the distribution disk RiverSurveyor pdf The use of this PDF file requires you to have the Adobe Acrobat Reader software installed on your computer This software is freely available from Adobe at http www adobe com This RiverSurveyor pdf file is also used as the Help file within the RiverSurveyor software pro gram If you install RiverSurveyor on your computer...

Page 6: ...or email Business hours are 8 00 a m to 5 00 p m Pacific Standard Time Monday through Friday Phone 858 546 8327 Fax 858 546 8150 Email inquiry sontek com General information sales sontek com Sales information support sontek com Support information Web http www sontek com See our web site for information concerning new products and software firmware upgrades ...

Page 7: ...es and Considerations 15 3 1 RiverSurveyor System Types 15 3 1 1 RiverSurveyor Standard System 17 3 1 2 RiverSurveyor Mini System 18 3 1 3 RiverCat Integrated Catamaran System 19 3 2 Doppler Instruments and Current Profiling 20 3 2 1 What is an Acoustic Doppler Profiler ADP 20 3 2 2 What is current profiling 20 3 2 3 What parameters are associated with current profiling 21 Profiling Range 21 Blank...

Page 8: ...n of Precision 36 Magnetic Declination 36 3 5 Echo Sounders 37 3 5 1 What is an Echo Sounder 37 3 5 2 How do Echo Sounders work 37 3 5 3 How do Echo Sounders work with RiverSurveyor 37 3 5 4 How do I set up an Echo Sounder in RiverSurveyor 38 3 6 Automatic Transducer Mounting Depth Sensor 40 3 6 1 What is the Automatic Transducer Mounting Depth Sensor 40 3 6 2 How does the ATMDS work 40 3 6 3 How ...

Page 9: ...ful to me in the field 52 Section 4 RiverSurveyor Applications 53 4 1 Stream River Gauging and RiverSurveyor Discharge Measurements 55 4 1 1 What do Stream Gauging and Discharge mean 55 4 1 2 What are the considerations in making a discharge measurement 55 4 1 3 How does RiverSurveyor make instantaneous discharge measurements 56 4 2 Computer Modeling and Verification 58 4 2 1 Does RiverSurveyor wo...

Page 10: ...ral Overview of RiverSurveyor System Settings 81 6 6 2 File Naming System and Recording Filename 82 6 6 3 Averaging Interval 83 6 6 4 Magnetic Declination 83 6 6 5 Water Salinity 83 6 6 6 Transducer Depth Mounting Depth 83 6 6 7 Profiling Range Number of Cells Cell Size and Blanking Distance 84 6 6 8 Coordinate System 86 6 6 9 Bottom Track 86 6 6 10 Shallow Water Operation 86 6 6 11 Recorder 86 6 ...

Page 11: ...rl N 104 Close Ctrl F4 104 Print Ctrl P 105 Print Preview 105 Print Setup 105 Discharge Summary Ctrl Y 105 Export 106 Configuration 107 Screen Colors 108 1 2 3 4 recent files 108 Exit 108 7 3 2 View Menu 109 Number of Profiles Displayed 109 Data Quality Scale 109 Contour Depth Scale 109 Legend Scale 109 Profile Scale 109 Display X Axis as 109 Profile Graph Variable 109 Toolbars 110 Data Display 11...

Page 12: ...27 7 7 3 Viewing and Analyzing the Data Set 128 7 7 4 Workspaces and File Settings 129 7 8 Discharge Measurement Summary 129 7 8 1 Creating the Discharge Measurement Summary 130 7 8 2 Working with the Discharge Measurement Summary 132 7 8 3 Printing the Discharge Measurement Summary 132 7 8 4 Sample Procedure for Creating a Discharge Measurement Summary 132 7 9 Data Export 133 7 9 1 Batch Data Fil...

Page 13: ...ystem Hardware Parameters 163 E 6 Step 6 Review Setup Parameters 164 E 7 Step 7 Velocity Contour Window 164 E 8 Step 8 Data Quality Window Bar Chart time series parameter displays 164 E 9 Step 9 Discharge Calculation 165 E 10 Step 10 Edge Estimates 165 E 11 Step 11 GPS and Echo Sounder 165 E 12 Step 12 Configuration Calibration and Quality Assurance 165 E 13 Step 13 Velocity Profile Extrapolation ...

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Page 15: ...r system after you receive it During the unpacking process you should Check the shipping container and its contents for obvious damage Verify you have received all the expected items This can be done using the Packing List that accompanied the shipping container However interpreting the Packing List is not al ways obvious e g some listed items like the compass tilt sensor are inside the sealed pre...

Page 16: ...ystem Manual you will need to have a copy of the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed on your computer If necessary you can download a free copy of this reader from http www adobe com _ The PDF version of the manual makes it easy for you use the hypertext links and search features contained within the document to quickly find topics of interest Note If you will be using the Serial to USB Adapter cable w...

Page 17: ...Use clean power e g filtered no spikes _ Run some simple tests see 1 5 1 4 2 Interconnection Procedure Mini ADP RiverSurveyor System _ Locate the Probe Cable for the Mini ADP RiverSurveyor system Figure 1 2 and connect the cable s keyed 16 pin wet mateable connector to the ADP Caution When mating the connector to the ADP push the connector with enough force to overcome the resistance of the wet ma...

Page 18: ...ri able power supply etc be aware that the ADP requires a 12 to 24 VDC power supply to operate Do not exceed the 26 VDC maximum or damage to the electronics will occur Use clean power e g filtered no spikes _ Press the power switch PWR and verify its indicator light turns on _ Run some simple tests see 1 5 1 4 3 Interconnection Procedure RiverCat System _ The interconnection of a RiverCat system v...

Page 19: ...shortcut may contain a release number for example SonUtils4 _ If necessary set up the Communications parameters within SonUtils typically COM1 Baud Rate 9600 mode Figure 1 3 If you need more information about setting the communica tions parameters use Help SonUtils Help and refer to the section on Communications _ If necessary set the Input Type to Command mode Note At this point we only want to t...

Page 20: ...t show how your system is configured Show Configuration Lists the ADP hardware configuration Example show conf HARDWARE CONFIGURATION PARAMETERS Sensor serial M001 Sensor type kHz 500 Number of beams 3 Beam Geometry 3_BEAMS Slant angle deg 25 0 Orientation DOWN Compass Tilt sensor YES Recorder sensor YES Temperature sensor YES Pressure sensor NO PressOffset dbar 0 000000 PressScale dbar count 1 00...

Page 21: ... system you should see a display similar to the following test ADP SYSTEM TEST CPU ROM OK CPU RAM OK DSP RAM OK DSP COMPUTATIONS OK RECORDER OK COMPASS OK _ Now we will run a short deployment to ensure the transmit and receive circuitry is function ing First we need to enter some parameters to tell the ADP how long to ping i e how fast to collect and display data Note that the parameters we are ab...

Page 22: ...2 0 0 0 5 59 79 47 111 53 22 0 0 0 6 42 15 1 88 55 25 0 0 0 7 12 23 25 85 83 25 0 0 0 8 22 96 27 160 50 38 0 0 0 9 9 5 0 94 34 18 0 0 0 10 40 89 4 39 104 43 0 0 0 _ To stop the ADP data collection process click Break or press Alt B to send the initializa tion i e wake up command to the ADP You should see a copyright initialization message similar to the one shown in Figure 1 3 Now press Enter Note...

Page 23: ...play a listing of any files that are currently stored on the recorder if any The number of bytes used and the number of bytes free will also be displayed _ That s it We ve finished running the simple tests as a way of ensuring that the system has survived the shipping procedure You can now power down and disconnect the system Or if you are an experienced user you can begin the process of setting u...

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Page 25: ...ystem itself provides unparalleled ease of use and accuracy with the so phistication needed to handle some of the most complicated environmental conditions that can be encountered in the field Beginning users will find data collection and analysis a fairly simple task while advanced users will benefit from the flexible processing and analytical tools that are provided One of the major benefits of ...

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Page 27: ...ome with the following features and items An Acoustic Doppler Profiler Bottom tracking circuitry enabled Compass tilt sensor installed A CD ROM containing the RiverSurveyor software The Acoustic Doppler Profiler ADP is the fundamental part of every RiverSurveyor system The ADP is the instrument that collects the water current velocity information ADPs are available in different frequencies Table 3...

Page 28: ...Depth max Available Configurations 250 kHz 5 180 m 2 20 m 1 5 m 200 m Standard only 500 kHz 3 120 m 1 12 m 1 0 m 135 m Standard only 1 0 MHz 1 2 40 m 0 25 5 m 0 7 m 40 m Standard only 1 5 MHz 0 9 25 m 0 25 4 m 0 4 m 30 m All three 3 0 MHz 0 6 6 m 0 15 2 m 0 2 m 10 m All three Table 3 1 Summary of RiverSurveyor Specifications and Configurations ...

Page 29: ...r and serial communication cable 24 volt DC power supply 110 220 VAC input required RiverSurveyor acquisition and post processing software Section 7 Tool kit Typical options available for the RiverSurveyor Standard system include Pressure sensor Internal recorder Internal or external battery packs 40 inch fiberglass trimaran hulls and integrated radio telemetry Inflatable kayak Typical operating c...

Page 30: ...he RiverSurveyor Mini system includes A small 10 cm 4 in diameter transducer head i e mini ADP with internal com pass pitch roll sensor Splash proof non submersible box containing all the processing electronics 10 m high frequency cable sensor to processor 24 volt DC power supply 110 220 VAC input required RiverSurveyor acquisition and post processing software Section 7 Tool kit and Pelican carryi...

Page 31: ...ulls only cables radio modem batter ies toolbox and antennas A GPS interface is available for use with the RiverCat most commonly used at survey sites where there is a moving bottom The GPS is connected directly to the ADP which transmits both the GPS data string and the water current velocity data through the radio modem This type of ADP GPS integration allows for the use of just one radio modem ...

Page 32: ...RiverSurveyor systems must always use ENU coordinates 3 2 2 What is current profiling As mentioned above 3 2 1 ADPs measure water current velocities along each of the trans ducer beams and transform these velocities into Cartesian XYZ or Earth ENU coordinates The beams are divided into discrete increments or cells also known as range cells or depth cells of a specific length The ADP will record th...

Page 33: ...ll size is used 4 m it may appear that the system has a profiling range of 400 m However the maxi mum profiling range for this system frequency is 25 m see Table 3 1 RiverSurveyor systems limit the maximum profiling range to a pre defined maximum so this is usually not a concern Blanking Distance All ADPs have an area immediately in front of the transducers called the blanking distance commonly ab...

Page 34: ...N Number of the cell Cell 1 is the cell closest to the ADP CS Cell size Number of Cells The number of data collection points to be recorded is determined by the user selected number of cells commonly abbreviated as NC or Ncells Data for up to 100 cells can be collected typical values for this parameter are between 10 and 30 cells The total profiling range of the system to the end of the last cell ...

Page 35: ... 1 2 3 axis XYZ direction east north up Signal strength one value for each cell of each transducer beam Signal strength is a measure of the magnitude of the acoustic reflection from the scatterers in the water Standard deviation one for each cell of each velocity component Standard deviation data can be recorded in three different coordinate systems beam 1 2 3 axis XYZ direction east north up Note...

Page 36: ...k feature comes standard with RiverSurveyor systems 3 3 2 How does bottom track work As the ADP profiles 3 2 2 it transmits a series of short pulses to measure the relative water speed In a RiverSurveyor system or a standard ADP system with the bottom track option en abled the ADP also transmits a series of long pulses that are designed to estimate the velocity of the ADP over ground i e vessel sp...

Page 37: ...ogram does this automatically Velocity Coordinate System set to Bottom Track Within the RiverSurveyor program bottom track information speed and direction will be shown in the tabular Track display The individual depth to the bottom as detected by each of the transducer beams and the mean depth for all beams is also displayed This is a useful tool be cause significant changes in the slope or botto...

Page 38: ...g range and the maximum bottom track depth for each of the different RiverSur veyor system frequencies Vessel Navigation When operating from a moving platform such as a boat erratic course changes during the aver aging interval may cause inaccurate vessel velocity vectors Generally the best discharge and velocity measurements are made when vessel course and speed remain constant over the entire me...

Page 39: ...ly across to the opposite riverbank After you have reached the opposite bank continue recording data and travel back at the same speed to the marker located at the starting point of your measurement If the DMG is significantly greater than zero and the ship track screen shows the vessel upstream of the original starting point it is possible that the riverbed is moving In this case it is best to re...

Page 40: ...ck course is the same as GC except that bottom track is used as the track reference in stead of GPS GC BC is the angle in degrees be tween these two lines Figure 3 11 Ideally this value should be close to zero as both reference systems are tracking the course of the same vessel If GC BC is more than a few degrees it is possi ble that the river has a moving bottom at that loca tion If the value is ...

Page 41: ...sive system Depending on your data quality requirements the accuracy provided by a DGPS system may be needed when using this method to measure river discharge see 3 4 7 GPS and DGPS Accuracy Note Throughout this manual and the RiverSurveyor program we use the abbrevia tion GPS to mean both types of global positioning systems GPS and DGPS Where necessary we differentiate between the terms i e 3 4 2...

Page 42: ... of travel of the vessel and marks the water current profile data from the ADP with an exact loca tion During data post processing this has the added benefit of allowing you to analyze specific sites of interest The use of GPS with RiverSurveyor makes it ideal for bathymetric surveying When measuring velocities from a moving vessel the ADP is measuring the total vector sum of the water current vel...

Page 43: ... as bathymetric profiling or discharge computation it is necessary to use either bottom track or an echo sounder in combination with GPS Bottom track is a relative position system e g my current position is 5 m North of my po sition 10 seconds ago GPS is an absolute position system e g my current position is X2 Latitude and Y2 Longitude and my last position was X1 Latitude and X1 Longitude There f...

Page 44: ... being surveyed Many times this value can be found near the compass rose of high quality survey maps or determined from software programs designed to compute this value based on latitude longi tude and date see Glossary listing for details GPS Settings After resolving the issues described above you can connect your GPS serial cable to your com puter Remember which serial port you use as you will n...

Page 45: ...Stop Bits External GPS only The default settings are 8 and 1 respectively however some systems may use different settings Enable Disable Internal GPS Internal GPS only Use this setting to turn on off the Internal GPS on a RiverCat system The default setting is ON Magnetic Declination The magnetic declination can be read directly from some GPS strings For more information see Compass Alignment and ...

Page 46: ...er than the geographic North Pole The angular difference between these two directions is called magnetic declination also known as variation magnetic variation or compass variation Mag netic declination varies both across the earth s surface and over time Note that the magnetic dec lination must always be set correctly when referencing measurements using GPS There are two ways that the magnetic de...

Page 47: ...lly limited to operations close to a reference sta tion 100 km and are not available for remote inland or remote coastal areas Multipath Error Multipath error is caused by reflected signals from surfaces near the receiver that can either in terfere with or be mistaken for the signal that follows the straight line path from the satellite Multipath error is difficult to detect and sometimes hard to ...

Page 48: ...oduce valid results Number of Invalid Satellites Each time the Number of Satellites falls below four for a single profile the Number of Invalid Satellites will increment by one The Number of Invalid Satellites will be displayed in red for any value greater than zero Number of Satellite Changes Each time the number of visible satellites changes the Number of Satellite Changes will incre ment by one...

Page 49: ...nd depth However echo sounders used with RiverSurveyor systems are typically operated in relatively shallow depths less than 200 m so depth will have negligible effects 3 5 3 How do Echo Sounders work with RiverSurveyor Echo sounders provide depth information to RiverSurveyor However since RiverSurveyor sys tems already receive the depth of water below the ADP using bottom track why would you need...

Page 50: ... stern You can now connect your echo sounder serial cable to your computer Remember which serial port you use as you will need this information in the RiverSurveyor program The echo sounder input into the RiverSurveyor is set up via the Systems dialog box Figure 3 15 The Systems dialog box can be displayed by selecting Communications Systems or by clicking the Systems icon on the toolbar See 7 3 3...

Page 51: ...k your cables communication settings and the echo sounder unit Troubleshooting This option runs a troubleshooting program in case you are unable to get valid data from your echo sounder unit It offers possible problem sources and solutions Custom String Use to select the output string identifier and position of the depth parameter that will be used to determine the depth measured by the echo sound...

Page 52: ... sensor measures the transducer depth at a rate of once every second 1 Hz 3 6 3 How does the ATMDS work with RiverSurveyor The ATMDS is designed to be used before a measurement set begins to determine the transducer depth below the water surface It is best used when the ADP platform typically a boat is in calm water or drifting with the current i e the water speed relative to the transducer is nea...

Page 53: ...les of depth based on the zeroed pressure sensor readings The fol lowing description outlines the procedure to zero the pressure transducer and to determine the transducer depth automatically To enable the ATMDS feature For Transducer Depth Method select Automatic The Transducer Depth box will become disabled and the Set button will become active Click Set The Measure Transducer dialog box Figure ...

Page 54: ...ick Set Transducer Depth To reject the measurement reclick Start to repeat the 20 second sample as needed until a reasonable measurement is achieved and then click Set Transducer Depth The measured transducer depth will now be displayed in the Transducer Depth box Both the pressure sensor and transducer depth calibration processes are automatically logged to files for later reference Figure 3 18 M...

Page 55: ... user input data e g edge distances are not stored to the internal recorder s files If you choose to use the internal recorder option it is good practice to download all your stored files from the recorder and then format i e erase the recorder to maximize its ca pacity before starting survey site measurements This can be done using the Recorder mod ule within SonTek s SonUtils program 3 7 3 How d...

Page 56: ...ata rela tive to the movement of the vessel i e if the vessel pitches forward the compass will report the ADP pitching forward also Heading is a rotation around the Z axis pitch is a rotation around the Y axis and roll is a rotation around the X axis 3 8 2 How does the Compass Tilt Sensor work with RiverSurveyor To collect accurate compass data in RiverSurveyor the compass must first be calibrated...

Page 57: ...ass tilt information in both real time during data collection and post processing This information heading pitch and roll is shown in the Sensor Data tabular display View Data Display Show Sensor Display 3 8 3 What is Magnetic Declination Note that calibration of the internal compass and setting the magnetic declination in your ADP are critical for accurate current velocity and discharge measureme...

Page 58: ... the ADP For rotations in this coordinate system Heading is defined as a rotation about the Z axis Pitch is defined as a rotation about the Y axis Roll is defined as a rotation about the X axis On the ADP s transducer head you will find either an indented dot mini ADPs or an arrow with an X marked next to it standard ADPs This dot arrow Figure 3 23 shows the direction of the X axis in the XYZ coor...

Page 59: ...isadvan tages to using either bottom track or GPS as the track reference Bottom track 3 3 is a relative position system e g my current position is 5 m North of my position 5 seconds ago Advantages lower uncertainty at tracks 1000 m Disadvan tages moving riverbeds excessive depths compass misalignments If conditions permit bottom track should always be your first choice GPS 3 4 is an absolute posit...

Page 60: ... the water velocity measured by the ADP GPS capabilities are a RiverSurveyor option ADP This option will show the raw velocities measured by the ADP without removing the vessel velocity This option is typically used for diagnostics when there may be some mag netic or other interference to the system All RiverSurveyor systems have this option By default bottom track will be selected as the velocity...

Page 61: ... use the echo sounder for depth measurements such as when there is a high concentration of suspended sediments or when the bottom of the river is not clearly defined 3 3 5 Moving Bed One of the benefits of using RiverSurveyor is that the depth reference can be changed at any time during post processing or when the system is not collecting data by clicking Use Echo Sounder for depth measurements on...

Page 62: ...imum relative to the vessel water speed of less than 1 0 m s Figure 3 24 shows a portion of the contour graph In this example the shallow water cell was used when water depth was less than about 1 0 m The shallow water cell turned off automati cally for the remaining profiles 3 11 3 Where should I use Shallow Water Operation with RiverSurveyor Shallow water operation has the greatest benefit when ...

Page 63: ...ng ancillary equipment is essential for making a field measurement with any of the RiverSurveyor systems Laptop computer Data collection using the RiverSurveyor software requires a computer to run the system and to record the data A laptop computer is the best option vs a desktop computer as they are a more portable and less susceptible to water or physical damage If possible one of the more rugge...

Page 64: ...found in 6 2 The RiverCat system 3 1 3 is a relatively self contained system The amount of overhead in setting up and collecting data is generally lower than with the other systems The following items are essential for RiverCat systems Towlines ropes Ropes are needed to tow the RiverCat system from one side of the river to the other or to pull the system across from a suspended platform or bridge ...

Page 65: ...you are interested in more extensive explanations we would suggest that you attend one of our training courses held throughout the year The U S Geological Survey also conducts similar training courses specific to their applications If you are interested in attending a hands on training session please contact us The following topics are covered in Section 4 Section 4 1 Stream River Gauging and Rive...

Page 66: ... Dam Figure 4 3 RiverSurveyor discharge measurements using the tagline method on Gila Gravity main canal Yuma Arizona Figure 4 4 RiverCat discharge measurement using a two person bank to bank towing method on the Tietê River Foz do Iguaçu Brazil Figure 4 5 RiverCat discharge measurements using a towed kayak method on the Snake River Idaho ...

Page 67: ...of clarification continuous discharge computed for a river is based on a rating curve Instantaneous discharge measurements are dis charge measurements collected at discrete points and are used to develop the discharge rating for the stream gauging station location The U S Geological Survey Water Supply Paper WSP 2175 Vol 1 2 by Rantz 1982 provides an excellent description of the most common tech n...

Page 68: ...t are unmeasured by the ADP The first unmeasured layer is located at the water surface the distance from the water sur face to the top of the first cell The second unmeasured layer runs along the bottom from the last valid cell to the riverbed Note In many cases two other unmeasured areas exist each riverbank However estimates can generally be made for these areas in the RiverSurveyor program The ...

Page 69: ...ires post processing to determine discharge This means that by using smaller crews operating with a boat mounted ADP a much larger coverage of the river network can be obtained while minimizing the exposure of personnel to unnecessary risks and hours of post processing In summary using a RiverSurveyor for real time river gauging has the following advantages Reduced crew sizes Reduced time to measu...

Page 70: ...t Single Discharge Measurement A data file containing positional and depth averaged current informa tion will be created using the file name and path you select This file will have the Discharge Data File format described in Appendix B 2 1 4 2 3 How does RiverSurveyor work with 3 D Computer Models For 3 D models initial data comparisons should be against two dimensional data to get a good understa...

Page 71: ...SonTek YSI Inc RiverSurveyor System Manual May 1 2007 59 Figure 4 7 Exporting data from ViewADP ...

Page 72: ...ottom track feature to determine the velocity of the vessel i e the ADP itself over the ground Moving bed is described in detail in 3 3 5 4 3 3 Suspended Sediment The material or sediment that is held in the water column is known as suspended sediment Dop pler systems operate on the principal that there is a sufficient number of particles or scatterers in the water to reflect the acoustic energy t...

Page 73: ...l be distinctly positive and the bottom part of the line will be negative or vice versa If you are performing a discharge measurement in areas of bi directional current flow correct extrapolation of current velocities must be done in the Velocity Profile Extrapolation dialog box Processing Velocity Profile Extrapolation 5 2 2 For bi directional flow conditions select In dependent Top and Bottom Se...

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Page 75: ...iverSurveyor program measures water motion in three dimensions X North Y East Z Up throughout each profile of the water column as it travels from one side of the river to the other As described earlier in 3 2 2 Figure 3 8 shows a general representation of the current profiling and discharge measurement principles As the profile data is received RiverSurveyor also collects data on ADP position dist...

Page 76: ... program computes discharge in the edges based on either a constant slope bank using a ratio interpolation method or a vertical wall Discharge in the top and bottom sec tions is computed based on the velocities in the measured section using either a power law method or constant method These methods are described within 5 1 3 5 1 3 How do I calculate total discharge for the section using RiverSurve...

Page 77: ... during data collection or in post processing it is good practice to enter information as you collect it All information can be revised during post processing however the initial recorded values for the start edge and edge distances will be noted for reference After values are entered for the start and end sections they will be used in the transects unless manually changed by the operator Addition...

Page 78: ...t will be averaged together to make an estimate of the water current velocities along the starting bank The default for the No of profiles to average for edge discharge is typically 1 Vertical Bank Typically used for sheer vertical walls usually man made structures User Estimate A user supplied estimate of the discharge at the starting bank Mean HW Mean Head Water and Mean TW Mean Tail Water These...

Page 79: ...ted discharge for the top area Computed Bottom Discharge The calculated discharge for the bottom area Computed Left Discharge The calculated discharge for the left edge Computed Right Discharge The calculated discharge for the right edge Total Computed Discharge The total discharge for the entire cross section i e the sum of the measured and computed discharge values Calculated Parameters Quality ...

Page 80: ... and below the measured area A power law velocity profile proposed by Chen 1991 and Simpson and Oltmann 1990 is used to calculate these velocities b z z u u 0 5 9 Equation 5 1 Velocity Profile Power Law where u is the velocity at height z measured from the river bottom u is the bottom shear veloc ity z0 is the bottom roughness height and b is a constant equal to 1 6 according to Chen 1991 Equation...

Page 81: ...he velocities in the unmeasured areas The constant b is set to 1 6 i e 0 166667 by default A range of cells instead of the entire profile can be used in the calculation This is of particular importance in the case of stratified flows 4 3 4 where only a select number of the adjacent cells would be representative of the velocities in the unmeasured area Determining the end of the profile Water curre...

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Page 83: ...cting the Right Measurement Platform What are the guidelines for the type of vessel I should use for taking measurements Mounting the RiverSurveyor ADP to the Vessel Setting up the RiverCat Selecting a Measurement Cross Section How do I select the best location to make my measurement How to Make Good Measurements from a Moving Vessel How do I operate the vessel moving platform during a RiverSurvey...

Page 84: ... can quickly become a safety issue The following are two details that should be considered for any moving platform used to collect data with RiverSurveyor Stability The moving platform should be able to cross the river with a minimum amount of pitch roll heave The more stable the platform the less motion the transducers will experience when col lecting data Good stability will help to maintain a h...

Page 85: ...ding our RiverCat 3 1 3 However some users prefer to build and integrate their own tethered platform In any case the platforms are typically in a catamaran two hulls or trimaran three hulls configuration and come equipped with internal radio modems for communication to computer located on the shore 12 24 volt power ADP and electronics hulls aluminum or fiberglass and of course a line floatable use...

Page 86: ...d and quality of the mount ADP boat mounted designs range from a simple assembly of small PVC pipes and joints attached to a wood plank to rugged 2 inch aluminum pipe and joint assemblies mounted to solid aluminum wood braces Figure 6 1 Figure 6 2 Figure 6 3 Typically a simple ADP boat mount is based on the dimensions of the boat e g draft water line width and stability of the gunnels along with a...

Page 87: ...r System Manual May 1 2007 75 Figure 6 2 Bow mounted mini ADP aluminum pipe and fittings aluminum clamp Flathead River Montana Figure 6 3 Side mounted aluminum pipe and fittings retractable aluminum cross pipe Paraná River Brazil ...

Page 88: ...because the bow will have significant pitch compared to the mid ship The transducer depth should be as shallow as possible Depths of 5 to 50 cm are common The pitch roll and boat speed relative to water speed during a measurement need to be considered when setting the transducer depth For example large pitch and roll requires deeper transducer depths to keep the ADP submerged in the water Similarl...

Page 89: ...do I need to consider when selecting a cross section A measurement location should be in an area where The river cross section streambed and flow lines are reasonably uniform low turbulence Flow along the riverbanks is small relative to its mid section Depth changes are relatively gradual Measurement depths are within the specified operating range of the RiverSurveyor ADP While it may be impossibl...

Page 90: ...erate near these obstructions but the data may be questionable River with several channels This will significantly increase the measurement time for total flow Select a section where most of the flow will be concentrated in one main channel The following items provide specific considerations to be made when selecting the best River Surveyor measurement location Maximum Water Depth The main conside...

Page 91: ...d account for the total flow through the measurement site Riv erSurveyor lets you specify a distance to the bank edge The RiverSurveyor program then uses an equation 5 1 3 to compute the flow along the edge assuming a constant triangular or vertical streambed slope Under normal circumstances this procedure will provide a reasonable estimate of the unmeasured flow along the river s edge At times ho...

Page 92: ...ssel should be stationary before beginning or ending a measurement This will enable you to easily determine an accurate distance to the starting and ending riverbanks using ei ther a measuring tape or a laser rangefinder After the boat is stationary at the start data col lection can begin Data collection will end after the vessel is stationary on the opposite riverbank Good prac tice is to collect...

Page 93: ...ed of Sound System Time Calibrate Compass System Configurations and the Configuration Manager Accept or Reject User Setup Parameters 6 6 1 General Overview of RiverSurveyor System Settings RiverSurveyor is a robust system yet very few input parameters are required The system was designed to work for most applications with a minimum of user inputs using a single operating mode We assume you know th...

Page 94: ...cessing Sound Speed Correction 6 6 2 File Naming System and Recording Filename When you click the Record button or press F7 during data collection a data file is created that will contain the recorded raw data As data are collected it is written to this file which will grow in size The file s naming format is set via the File Name Prefix and Use Automatic File Names fields in the User Setup dialog...

Page 95: ...ion of the speed of sound A value representative of the local water conditions must be entered manually 6 6 6 Transducer Depth Mounting Depth The depth of the transducer below the waterline is an important consideration when mounting your system While it is critical that the transducer head remain submerged at all times during the measurement it is also important to minimize the amount of unmeasur...

Page 96: ...verSurveyor program calculate the profiling parameters automatically Method 1 Select maximum depth or you can enter the profiling parameters manually Method 2 Input values manually Using Method 1 will automatically set all the profiling range parameters using only the maximum depth across the entire section or area To use Method 1 Figure 6 5 1 Enter the Maximum Depth you expect for this section or...

Page 97: ...ies of transects all at one time Remember it is better to use a larger than expected value see above description 4 When you have determined the most appropriate maximum profiling range for your applica tion enter a value into the Number of Cells field such that the Profiling Range field reflects your settings Refer to the Profiling Range calculation above to assist you in determining the number of...

Page 98: ...recommend you set the Recorder field to Enabled to turn on the internal recorder If your system does not have an internal re corder or if you do not wish to store data to the internal recorder i e you only want to store data to a drive on your computer set the Recorder field to Disabled The Recorder field is on the Advanced Settings tab of the User Setup dialog box Figure 6 6 ADP Configuration Use...

Page 99: ...tem Time in the User Setup dialog box Figure 6 4 ADP Configuration User Setup From this point all collected profile data will be time stamped with the system time After you click Set System Time you have two options Figure 6 7 Match System to Computer Time Sets the instrument s time to be the same as the com puter s time Set System Clock Manually sets the instrument s clock to the values entered i...

Page 100: ...K to confirm your settings RiverSurveyor will check the validity of your entries and then transfer the settings to the ADP A message will be displayed beneath fields that contain invalid entries A Warnings dialog box Figure 6 9 will be displayed if any input variable is in question In the example shown here the Magnetic Declination is currently set to zero This is most likely be cause the user has...

Page 101: ...am Layout What am I looking at RiverSurveyor Menus How do I control the program RiverSurveyor Toolbars and Hotkeys Are there any program shortcuts Waypoints and Navigation How can I track my navigational course How to Collect Data with RiverSurveyor How do I collect data Analyzing and Processing RiverSurveyor Data How do I interpret the data Discharge Measurement Summary How do I create a report D...

Page 102: ...dows based interface that allows you to collect data from your ADP and other sensors such as GPS and echo sounder display this data store it in a file and analyze post process the data The data file can then be reloaded at a later time to analyze the data and evaluate the quality of the measurement Figure 7 1 shows a picture of the primary RiverSurveyor screen 7 1 2 How do I use the RiverSurveyor ...

Page 103: ...or batch processing Display velocity data in beam XYZ or ENU East North Up coordinates Reference velocity data to the ADP bottom track data or GPS data Rotate velocity profiles to a user selected angle Apply edge estimates to discharge calculations in real time and post processing Perform velocity profile extrapolations Adjust scaling factors and change scaling units Zoom in on a selected range of...

Page 104: ...RiverSurveyor System Manual May 1 2007 92 800 MHz or better processor clock speed 64 MB or better available memory 100 MB or better available disk space Monitor capable of 1024 x 768 or better resolution 16 bit color ...

Page 105: ...these components Title Bar Menu Bar and Toolbars Tabular Data Displays Status Bar and Indicators Track Window Data Quality Window Contour Window Contour Legend Profile Window Profile Legend Figure 7 2 RiverSurveyor Screen Layout Components Menu Bar Toolbars Tabular Data Displays Title Bar Status Bar and Indicators Track Window Contour Window DQI Window Contour Legend Profile Window Profile Legend ...

Page 106: ... groups through the View Data Display Data Display menu Profile Data Discharge Data Track Data GPS Data Sensor Data Compass Rose There are three controls i e buttons contained in the title bar of each tabular display data group Parameter Selector The first button starting on the left is for selecting the parameters that will be visible in the se lected data group This control lets you customize th...

Page 107: ...o display this information on screen use View Display Data Show Discharge Data Top Q Shows the total accumulated discharge in the top layer that is estimated by the program Measured Q Shows the accumulated discharge in the area actually measured by the instrument Bottom Q Shows the total accumulated discharge in the bot tom layer that is estimated by the program Left Q Shows the total accumulated ...

Page 108: ...ws the depth averaged water flow direction through the last completed pro file B speed W speed Shows the ratio of boat speed to water speed Track Shows the accumulated total distance the vessel has traveled through the last completed profile for this data set DMG Shows the accumulated distance made good i e the straight line distance 3 3 6 from the point of origin 0 0 coordinates to the location o...

Page 109: ...nit Delta Alt The maximum change in altitude during the transect HDOP Horizontal Dilution of Precision is the degree of uncertainty in the horizontal posi tions latitude and longitude report by the GPS unit Delta HDOP The maximum change in the HDOP during the entire transect A value greater than 1 suggests that GPS data may be unreliable GC BC Shows the angle in degrees of the average GPS course s...

Page 110: ...lay Data Show Compass Rose The compass rose shows vessel heading based on the Track Display selection on the Processing toolbar either BT bot tom track or GPS If BT is selected the reading is taken from the ADP s internal compass 7 2 3 Status Bar and Indicators The Status Bar and Indicators are located at the bottom of the RiverSurveyor screen Figure 7 2 There are three sections Tips display far l...

Page 111: ... a Track Window example where the last profile has lost bottom track the stick is red and points to the northeast The other three profiles show valid bottom track data the sticks are green and point north Each stick shows the direction to which the water is moving The length of the line is based on the magnitude of the speed referenced to the vector legend in the top right of the Track Window The ...

Page 112: ...o few cells See following Note Boat Speed Bs This temporal data should indicate a relatively steady speed with only small changes in magnitude Water Speed Ws This temporal data typically shows lower magnitudes along the start end sections and progressively increasing magnitudes toward the center section of the survey area Boat Water Speed Bs Ws As described in 6 5 it is good practice to keep vesse...

Page 113: ...les Each of the profiles has a fixed width This mode is useful for evaluating lost or bad profiles The total number of profiles is selected by double clicking the Contour Win dow x axis Dynamic Distance Each of the profiles has a width relative to the distance traveled The to tal distance displayed is the total distanced traveled over the entire transect This mode is best used when measuring acros...

Page 114: ...ne represents the cutoff for the valid cells used in discharge calcula tions The calculation of the cutoff for valid cells is determined in the Velocity Profile Ex trapolation dialog box 5 2 2 The display in the Contour Window can be directly related to the areas described in 5 1 Discharge Calculations The top unmeasured area is the white area at the top of the graph The measured area is the area ...

Page 115: ...low markers represent the magni tudes and directions of the total flow for each individual cell in the pro file The white line shows the interpolated velocity profile from the water surface to the bottom This interpolated profile is of particular importance because it shows the velocities that have been computed for the unmeas ured areas Use the Velocity Profile Extrapolation dialog box Process in...

Page 116: ...rection Echo Sounder Settings Velocity Coordinate System SNR Threshold Velocity Reference User Specified Rotation Lock Measurement Window Menu Cascade Tile Arrange Icons 1 2 3 4 open ADP files Help Menu RiverSurveyor Manual About RiverSurveyor 7 3 1 File Menu The File Menu contains the following options Collect Record Data Ctrl R Opens a blank data collection screen or starts data recording if a d...

Page 117: ... session and use the Processing Discharge Computation option to compute the discharge data for each file The Discharge Summary dialog box can then be used to display a summary of discharge data for the listed files Standard Dev Displays the discharge standard deviation for all listed data files Abs Mean Displays the absolute mean for all listed data files Coeff of Variation Displays the coefficien...

Page 118: ... of the discharge at the end of the transect Total discharge Top Discharge Middle Discharge Bottom Discharge Left Dis charge Right Discharge Export The Export menu lets you send the profile discharge data for the current data set to an ASCII text file The details of the data formats are described in 7 9 Options include Discharge Report 7 8 Exports the results of single or multiple data files to a ...

Page 119: ...y s standard rounding format for all parameters displayed in the Discharge Measurement Summary 7 8 Use Multiple Sources for Depth Data enabled When both bottom track and echo sounder depth data are present and one is invalid the other source will be used for depth values Unit System All graphs data displays and export files use the selected unit system Metric Units default Show values in metric un...

Page 120: ... Window 7 2 5 parameters Selected Screen Colors identify threshold levels Values less than the Warning value are displayed in the Good Data color Values between the Warning and Alert values are displayed in the Warning Data color Values greater than the Alert value are displayed in the Alert Data color Choose Metric Units meters m s C or English Units feet ft s F to select the scaling in displays ...

Page 121: ...lected by right clicking the Contour Window X axis Profiles Each profile has a fixed width This option is useful for evaluating lost or bad pro files The total number of profiles is selected by double clicking the Contour Window X axis Dynamic Distance Each of the profiles has a width relative to the distance traveled The to tal distance displayed is the total distance traveled over the entire tra...

Page 122: ...last profile Step Backward one profile and Step Forward one profile Stepping for ward and backward can only be done when the Pause button has first been pressed Table 7 4 also lists the hotkeys that can be used to control playback Show Playback Speed Toolbar Shows hides the Playback Speed toolbar Table 7 5 which lets you play back a data set faster or slower than real time Data Display Used to sho...

Page 123: ... water current velocity from all beams Available only for the Velocity display Direction Shows the average water current direction from all beams Available only for the Velocity display Show Waypoints Ctrl W When selected this option opens the Waypoints dialog box Figure 7 21 Use this option to add edit or delete waypoints To change an entry click on the appropriate field and then edit its en try ...

Page 124: ...perties specific to each system This option also lets you display incoming system data and troubleshoot communications problems Status Gives information as to the current state of the system s connection to the River Surveyor program Disabled The communications parameters for this system have not been configured This item is displayed in gray Click here to check The communications parameters have ...

Page 125: ...eshoot internal GPS communication problems See 3 4 6 for more information on configuring the Internal GPS Echo Sounder Used when a separate echo sounder and cable is used to provide depth in formation in concert with bottom track data The Properties field accesses options to set up additional communications parameters to set the mounting depth of the echo sounder s transducer to display incoming d...

Page 126: ...sts the configuration of the ADP hardware during data collection CPU Software Version Central Processing Unit firmware version DSP Software Version Digital Signal Processor firmware version Board Revision Serial Number of instrument System Frequency Number of Beams 2 3 or 4 beams Beam Geometry 2 3 or 4 beams Slant Angle Angle of beams in relation to housing Sensor Orientation Up down or side looki...

Page 127: ... collection process must first be stopped Full details on selecting your settings and configuring the system before data collection may be found in 6 6 A brief description of each User Setup parameter is given below Additionally you can click on a parameter s field name displayed in blue for an on line help description Basic Settings page File Name Prefix and Use Automatic File Names Used to deter...

Page 128: ...u The Processing Menu contains the following options Velocity Profile Extrapolation Lets you select the method to use to estimate discharge in the top and bottom areas of the profile This is necessary because of data collection difficulties associated with surface and bottom boundaries Details on the extrapolation methods and on how to select the method can be found in 5 2 Discharge Computation Le...

Page 129: ...h in the Contour Window A default value of 3 is used Values below 3 are not recommended and could potentially cause the instrument to read inaccurate velocity values Velocity Reference Lets you select the method in which velocity data will be referenced ADP Bottom Track GPS The appropriate toolbar icon Table 7 2 stays depressed for the selected velocity reference For more information about selecti...

Page 130: ...d style layout Arrange Icons Not implemented 1 2 3 4 open ADP files Brings the selected ADP data files adp to the foreground 7 3 7 Help Menu The Help Menu contains the following options RiverSurveyor Manual Opens the RiverSurveyor Manual RiverSurveyor pdf To view this file electronically you must have the Adobe Acrobat Reader installed which is freely available at http www adobe com About RiverSur...

Page 131: ...n an existing ADP data file Ctrl O Show the Systems dialog box for establishing communications with the ADP External or Internal GPS and Echo Sounder Ctrl S Open the User Setup dialog box to change or view system settings Ctrl U Enable disable the display of pop up help When enabled clicking on various screen locations will display information on key features of the RiverSurveyor program Change Ve...

Page 132: ...le Stop data collection or playback of data files F5 Start data collection or playback of data files F6 If NOT recording data Start recording data to a file F7 If recording data Stop recording data to a file Alt F7 Pause playback of data files F8 Rewind to the start of the file playback only F9 Rewind to profile playback only F10 Forward to profile playback only F11 Full forward to end of file pla...

Page 133: ...arge Report Ctrl U Show the User Setup dialog box Ctrl X Export discharge data file Ctrl Y Show Discharge Summary keypad Increase size of velocity vectors on Track Window keypad Decrease size of velocity vectors on Track Window Spacebar Step forward one profile playback only Backspace Step backward one profile playback only Arrow keys Move the Track Window display F1 Online help F5 Stop data colle...

Page 134: ...me is displayed over the waypoint marker on the Track Window Position Latitude and longitude of the waypoint Comments Any additional information The comments of a waypoint can be viewed by moving the mouse over the waypoint s symbol There are advantages to using waypoints for water current depth surveys and measurement tran sects along significantly long routes Though waypoints can be entered and ...

Page 135: ...lick Add Waypoints on the Controls toolbar A menu will be displayed Select one of the options Waypoint Marker Hazard or Cancel Select Cancel to disable the addition of any waypoints or navigational features Now left click in the Track Window at the desired location To delete a waypoint or navigational feature Right click on the waypoint symbol in the Track Window A pop up menu will appear Select t...

Page 136: ...Setup The User Setup dialog box will be displayed 3 Set ADP parameters a In User Setup enter all the parameters required for your application 6 6 b Set system time c Calibrate the compass d Click OK to transfer your settings to the ADP 4 Collect data a Click Play or press F6 to start data collection i e display but note that this action does not record the data to a file Note This feature starts t...

Page 137: ...charge Display to monitor the number of valid cells in the last few pro files Typically this value Valid Cells will decrease as you get closer to the riverbank Also along a steep riverbank check the signal amplitude in the Profile Window to ensure no beam is reflecting off the riverbank When you are sufficiently close to the riverbank and still have two valid cells stop the vessel e Accurately mea...

Page 138: ...ral parameters for each individual transect the Discharge Summary box shows the com puted Standard Deviation Absolute Mean and Coefficient of Variation for all columns in the table You can also access this dialog box using File Discharge Summary Ctrl Y See 7 3 1 for more information about this dialog box b Stop When you have completed data collection click Stop or press F5 You can now choose to re...

Page 139: ...ad a RiverSurveyor ADP data file adp for analysis and or post processing use the fol lowing steps as a guideline 1 Start the RiverSurveyor program Start Programs SonTek Software RiverSurveyor The program should initialize to the startup screen Figure 7 1 2 To open a data file do one of the following Click the Open button and then locate and open the desired data file Use File Open or press Ctrl O ...

Page 140: ...aster display processing only the last 500 profiles are shown in the Contour Window Example If 503 profiles have been collected only profiles 4 through 503 are displayed However none of the data is lost all profiles 503 in this case are recorded to disk and are available for proc essing playback 6 You are now ready to begin analyzing the data 7 7 3 Viewing and Analyzing the Data Set When you are a...

Page 141: ...t Summary is a formatted report style summary of a series of dis charge measurements selected by the user The Discharge Measurement Summary is designed to provide a report on these measurements in a format specific to each organization Data can be processed in the Summary report both in the field and in the office The associated dialog box Figure 7 38 can be displayed by selecting File Export Disc...

Page 142: ...become the default The standard default template is the file Summary Standard htm Station Data Allows the reloading of Summary reports that were previously saved via the Save control on the report Figure 7 39 The original data files are not needed Settings Sets the options and settings to use for all data files that will be processed and displayed in the Summary report Figure 7 39 These settings a...

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Page 144: ...nting the Summary are as follows Header leave blank Footer leave blank Margins left top right bottom 0 2 inch 7 8 4 Sample Procedure for Creating a Discharge Measurement Summary Collect a series of discharge measurement transects typically two pairs of measurements Select File Export Discharge Report Ctrl T Select the discharge measurement data files to be used in the report using the Select Files...

Page 145: ...lders using the batch export Settings Settings View and modify the settings that will be used for processing the data files This option displays the Batch Export Settings dialog box Figure 7 41 that is described below Close Exit this operation and return to the RiverSurveyor interface The Batch Export Settings dialog box Figure 7 41 is used to customize the way the selected data files will be proc...

Page 146: ...d by the batch export method are added to the Discharge Summary as additional records Export files to Select the folder where exported files will be saved Select either to save the exported files to the same folder as raw data or select a specific folder for all files 7 9 2 Export Single Discharge Measurement Export position depth flow and discharge to a labeled and formatted ASCII tabular data fi...

Page 147: ...Surveyor System Manual May 1 2007 135 Section 8 System Maintenance RiverSurveyor maintenance is identical to the maintenance performed on ADPs As such refer to the ADP Operation Manual for a description of ADP maintenance ...

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Page 149: ...S indicator light keeps turning red Some of the GPS parameters seem incorrect or differ greatly from bottom track data Echo Sounder Conditions I cannot communicate with my echo sounder The Echo Sounder indicator light is always gray Track Window Conditions The track display shows erratic jumps when using GPS as the track reference The current vectors in the Track Window do not look correct or show...

Page 150: ...onditions My DQI value is very high There are several spikes in the DQI data Discharge Calculation Conditions Multiple discharge calculations across the same transect do not match Compass Calibration Conditions I cannot get an acceptable result during compass calibration ...

Page 151: ...ports are available on your computer The Status field in the Systems dialog box 7 3 3 for the ADP may display a message that says Invalid Click here for information Clicking on this link will open a troubleshooting dialog box which will describe possible causes and solutions The ADP indicator light is constantly red or keeps turning red This could be either a hardware or software issue that affect...

Page 152: ...ent section RiverSurveyor will take bottom track data from the last good profile and use that data in computations for the profile with the missing invalid bottom track information Reduce vessel speed and avoid making sharp turns with the vessel It is good practice to maintain the vessel at a speed no greater than the current speed though environmental con ditions may preclude this Make sure the w...

Page 153: ...ake sure that the communications settings that you have configured on your GPS receiver are the same as the settings you have entered into the GPS Communication dialog box Sys tem Communication Show GPS Data The GPS indicator light is always gray GPS has not been enabled in the software Enable GPS in the GPS Communication dialog box System Communication Show GPS Data The system keeps losing GPS or...

Page 154: ... site you are measuring may be conducive to multipath errors For more information on multipath errors and other GPS limitations see 3 4 7 What are the limitations of GPS Make sure the tabular GPS Data display 7 2 2 is showing good values The current vectors in the Track Window do not look correct or show the wrong direction The compass may not have been calibrated correctly There may be significan...

Page 155: ...being used See 6 6 4 If necessary calibrate your system s compass See 3 8 2 Compass Calibration Procedure The current vectors in the track display are very short and going in all different directions The Track Window displays very low velocities This is indicative of a site with low or no flow Select a site with a higher flow rate If this is not possible bear in mind that this site will have disch...

Page 156: ... The bottom riverbed is not displayed in the Contour Window The depth of water exceeds the maximum profiling range Increase the profiling range to the maximum depth for this site See 6 6 4 Cavitations air entrained under the transducer head may be occurring Try lowering the system in its mount or reducing vessel speed The system may have come out of the water 9 7 Profile Window Conditions One or m...

Page 157: ...ls of velocity data can be measured The measured current velocities are experiencing high standard deviations Bottom track has been lost Bottom track has been lost see 9 2 GPS or Echo Sounder communication has been lost see 9 3 and 9 4 If possible reduce cell size in User Setup dialog box 7 3 4 so more cells are measured Reduce vessel speed In some cases high DQI values may be unavoidable This typ...

Page 158: ... for both transects Make sure the distance made good DMG is consistent between transects Make sure the transect track did not reverse at any time or change track direction The acceptable error between two to four measurements is typically 2 5 depending on your application 9 10 Compass Calibration Conditions I cannot get an acceptable result during compass calibration You may have not followed the ...

Page 159: ...ure the speed of a vessel e g a boat the RiverCat system relative to the river bottom The vessel speed is then subtracted from the measured water velocity to give the absolute water current profile independent of vessel motion More bottom track specific terminology can be found in 3 3 6 cell The area of water in which data is averaged and collected Also referred to as depth cells or range cells Th...

Page 160: ...lls ping A single estimate of the water velocity profile A ping consists of each transducer sending a short acoustic pulse receiving the reflected signal from the scatterers in the water calculating the along beam velocity pro files and combining the data from all beams and the internal com pass tilt sensor if enabled to compute the velocity profile ping rate The number of pings per second in Hz T...

Page 161: ...d in meters per second or feet per second at the transducer face Sound speed is used to convert the Doppler shift to wa ter velocity Sound speed is calculated either from a user specified tem perature and salinity or from an automatically measured temperature and a user entered salinity temperature A value that indicates the temperature of the water in C or F at the transducer head This value is u...

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Page 163: ...ta file is created when the Record button is clicked during data collection This data file has the extension adp and is in a SonTek proprietary binary format This means that only SonTek software such as ViewADP and RiverSurveyor can read these files B 1 2 Discharge Configuration File cfg This data file contains all the information related to discharge parameters such as the edge dis tances and dis...

Page 164: ...stNorth The distance North or South from the data set s starting point 0 0 coordinates at which this profile was collected Column 7 GPS Latitude If available the GPS latitude for this profile Column 8 GPS Longitude If available the GPS longitude for this profile Column 9 Depth1 The depth to the bottom measured by beam number 1 for this profile Column 10 Depth2 The depth to the bottom measured by b...

Page 165: ...6 23 4 0 13 305 9 0 00 0 1 16 1 11 8 6 26 03 18 55 40 6 40 1 15 8 36 9 0 00000000 0 00000000 4 89 4 89 5 03 0 32 25 7 0 12 317 8 0 00 0 1 16 0 86 9 3 27 03 18 59 43 0 42 5 17 1 38 9 0 00000000 0 00000000 4 86 4 92 5 06 0 48 34 6 0 13 316 3 0 00 0 1 16 1 44 10 5 28 03 19 04 44 9 44 4 18 2 40 5 0 00000000 0 00000000 4 83 4 91 5 05 0 39 32 9 0 11 304 4 0 00 0 1 16 1 04 11 4 29 03 19 10 46 7 46 2 19 1...

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Page 167: ...Appendix C ADP Direct Command Interface The command set used by RiverSurveyor systems is identical to the command set used by all SonTek ADPs As such refer to the ADP Operation Manual for a detailed listing of all direct commands available for use with an ADP ...

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Page 169: ...r the GPS option is installed on your system Base Station Radio Setup Note If you are using the Bluetooth radio modem option skip this section on Base Station Radio Setup and instead follow the instructions in Appendix G Bluetooth Communications 1 Be sure the SonUtils program is installed on your computer 1 3 2 Place the Radio Modem near the computer that will be used for communications 3 Attach t...

Page 170: ... RiverCat Electrical Connections 1 Attach the ADP head to RiverCat electronics assembly cable to the largest silver connector labeled ADP on the RiverCat electronics assembly Attach the other end of this cable to the ADP head and tighten the locking sleeve completely 2 If system is equipped with GPS attach the GPS antenna cable black cable with two small silver connectors to the GPS Antenna Attach...

Page 171: ... modem is transmit ting If the indicator is steady red the electronics assembly modem cannot locate or com municate with the workstation modem In this event please verify that the workstation modem is connected to the workstation and has power supplied If the indicator is not lit please contact SonTek support for assistance in trouble shooting the instrument Receive The Receive indicator flashes r...

Page 172: ...all jumper dummy plugs or connectors installed in order to be water resistant The cables are not weight supporting and should not be used to lift the RiverCat Any exces sive force to the connector to cable interfaces can cause connector leakage and lead to po tential RiverCat system damage Use extreme caution while handling the RiverCat out of water Point loads on the transduc ers may cause perman...

Page 173: ...d the limits of this window so that the full set of data can be viewed using the zoom out button and the arrow keys You may also need to adjust the length of the current velocity vectors so they are clearly visible Change the track reference 3 10 1 from Bottom Track to GPS if applicable Look for variations in the vessel course and distance The GC BC and D BT D GPS parameters in the GPS Data tabula...

Page 174: ...esponses should be similar in shape and magnitude for each beam Do any of the signal amplitude profiles appear to be consistently or intermittently lower than the others This may be an indication of air entrainment or the transducer coming out of the water Variation in the shape of the signal may be due to the beams hitting underwater objects such as large boulders submerged piling and trees or ot...

Page 175: ...ut the entire measurement Avg Heading Is the average heading for the transect realistic How does it compare with the boat track Does it stay relatively constant throughout the measurement Avg Pitch Avg Roll Is the average pitch and roll for the transect realistic Are they rela tively constant Significant changes in pitch and roll or if the average pitch or roll is greater than 5 degrees could intr...

Page 176: ... by a band of zero velocity that runs across the Contour Window Does the graph make sense Generally higher wa ter current speeds are found in deeper areas or near the center of the channel Select Velocity for Display and Direction for the Component on the Contour Control Box Veloc ity Direction will be displayed above the Contour Window Look for an area of water that is traveling in the reverse 18...

Page 177: ... best represent the edge conditions Typically it is recommended you average together the first three and last three profiles to com pute the edge discharges This parameter can be set in the window that pops up at the start end of each measurement Also this requires that the boat be held steady in the same position during the three profiles Has the file been sub sectioned If so why and was the reas...

Page 178: ...s for all the discharge measurements Are measured discharges within a 5 Coefficient of Variation COV if appropriate Were reciprocal transect pairs obtained Left to right and right to left with discharges within 5 of the mean if appropriate Check the following parameters for consistency Total area Widths Edge Distances Top Bottom and Edge Discharges Measured discharges middle SW Ping reference Yes ...

Page 179: ...ents Add any general comments to both the Discharge Report and to the Data Quality Review sheet for completeness These comments may elaborate on any of the items above or make general ob servations as to both the quality and reliability of each data set and the measurement as a whole ...

Page 180: ...ack reference Reasonable track distance Reasonable DMG Number of valid cells great than 2 Water temperature realistic temperature should be very stable Average heading realistic Average pitch and roll realistic Salinity correct 0 ppt freshwater 34 5 salt sea water Correct ADP transducer depth review pressure and depth calibration files Correct echo sounder depth if applicable System voltage betwee...

Page 181: ...y calibrated review compass calibration file Was an Echo Sounder used If so was a bar check or similar method used to calibrate echo sounder 12 Calibration and QA Log Files Check GPS statistics log file Check pressure sensor calibration log file if applicable Check compass calibration file Check echo sounder log file if applicable Check configuration file Check waypoints file 13 Velocity Profile E...

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Page 183: ...5 The data from the flow measurement device are entered into FlowPack 6 FlowPack matches the RiverSurveyor FlowTracker s measurements with the installed cur rent meter s simultaneous measurements This creates a series of records of discharge stage and measured velocity at different times 7 FlowPack correlates and analyzes this data to determine the best form of the relationship be tween the veloci...

Page 184: ...SonTek YSI Inc RiverSurveyor System Manual May 1 2007 172 Figure F 1 FlowPack Discharge Rating Report ...

Page 185: ...DP system Since the connection essentially is accessing a serial port no specific Blue tooth driver is needed A CD has been provided with the necessary driver information for serial to USB users No ADP software or firmware revisions are required to work with the Bluetooth The Bluetooth telemetry feature comes standard as a part of the RiverSurveyor Mini ADP sys tem and the RiverCat system 3 0 1 5 ...

Page 186: ...io modem is connected directly to a communication port without the USB adapter The USB adapter is optional depending on the type of ports available to the user Figure G 3 The electronics assembly at left is inte grated with the Bluetooth radio and the 5 5 dBi antenna The antenna is connected to the Bluetooth radio The two red illuminated LEDs indicate a good connection Bluetooth Radio Modem with U...

Page 187: ...dapter to connect the radio into another available USB port With the RiverSurveyor operating from its battery power turn on the RiverSurveyor i e push the POWER button Now set the radio s power switch to ON After the two radios are powered the laptop radio will establish communications with the RiverSurveyor s radio and begin to operate automatically If the connection is successful the RiverSurvey...

Page 188: ...r If Win dows does not automatically recognize the adapter you may need to load the drivers located on the RiverSurveyor CD The RiverSurveyor system cannot accept a BREAK command over the airwaves A BREAK is generally used to awaken a system that has gone into sleep mode For RiverSurveyor RiverCat systems the AutoSleep command should be set to NO You may be able to awaken a system by sending a seq...

Page 189: ...g distance 16 21 147 bluetooth communications 173 Boat Dir 96 Boat Speed 96 Bottom 69 Bottom Q 95 bottom track limitations 26 bottom track 147 Bottom Track 86 bottom track data 23 bottom track depth 16 bottom track overview 24 C cable probe 5 Calc Depth 96 Calibrate Compass 87 calibration compass 45 cartesian coordinates 149 catamaran system 19 cell 147 cell location 147 cell size 16 22 147 cells ...

Page 190: ... 100 152 E earth coordinates 46 echo sounder overview 37 edges 64 ENU 148 enu coordinates 46 ENU coordinates 46 ES Depth 96 estimating top bottom water velocities 68 Exit File Menu 108 Export File Menu 106 export data 133 extrapolation velocity profile 68 F features 15 feedback reader v File Menu 104 1 2 3 4 108 Close 104 Collect Record Data 104 Configuration 107 Discharge Summary 105 Exit 108 Exp...

Page 191: ...Toolbar 110 Playback Toolbar 110 Power Fit 69 preparing system for survey 71 pressure data 23 pressure sensor 40 Print File Menu 105 Print Preview File Menu 105 Print Setup File Menu 105 probe cable 5 Processing Menu Discharge Computation 116 Echo Sounder Settings 117 Lock Measurement 117 SNR Threshold 117 Sound Speed Correction 116 User Specified Rotation 117 Velocity Coordinate System 117 Veloci...

Page 192: ...rack Data 96 temperature data 23 Temperature Mode 86 temperature settings 86 test command 9 test simple system 7 tilt compass sensor 44 title bar 94 Toolbar Controls 120 Playback 120 Playback Speed 120 Processing 119 Standard 119 toolbars 94 Top 69 Top Q 95 Total Area 95 Total Computed Discharge 67 Total Measured Discharge 67 Total Q 95 Total Width 67 Track 96 Track Data tabular display 96 track l...

Page 193: ...SonTek YSI Inc RiverSurveyor System Manual May 1 2007 181 Window Menu 1 2 3 4 118 Arrange Icons 118 Cascade 118 Tile 118 workspaces 129 X XYZ 149 xyz coordinates 46 XYZ coordinates 46 ...

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