What are some other ways that multibeam sonar sensors vary?
Most of the variation in multibeam sensors lies with the quality of the system components, robustness, and intuitiveness of the collection software and skills of the technicians operating the system. Perhaps the most critical element of a multibeam system is the quality of the IMU. High-quality units are stable, reliable, and record precise measurements at rapid sampling rates. In addition, transducers and systems may vary on range of frequencies they can collect and analyze. How does the frequency of the transducer influence the type of data I will collect? With the same amount of power, lower frequency acoustic signals travel farther in water than higher frequency signals. Therefore, transducers with lower frequency are better for mapping in deeper water. Higher frequencies suffer more attenuation in the water column and are thus better suited for shallower areas. The size of features that can be detected is dependent on the frequency of the system, so while they don’t penetrate the
