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Articles

1995: Vol. LXXII, No. 2

Depth and Position Error Budgets for Mulitbeam Echosounding

Submitted
July 30, 2015
Published
2015-05-20

Abstract

Depth error budgets are commonplace for single-beam echosounders, but less so for their multibeam counterparts. Position error budgets for single-beam echosounders are seldom prepared, relying rather, on the positioning system accuracy specifications. Multibeam echosounders (MBES), in addition to having their own measurement errors, have errors resulting from the measurement inaccuracies of the additional sensors, which are needed in order to compute the depth and position of each sounding. This paper presents the general equations that relate measured quantities from all sensors to reduced depths and positions using MBES systems. The error equations are derived from these, using the method of propagation of errors. A simple model for sound speed profile errors is derived, and an empirical method for estimating sounder range and beam angle errors is presented. Total error budgets for depth and position are summarized and presented using small angle approximations.