New generation of POS a Boost for hydrographic surveying

摘要

During the mid-1990s the arrival of the multibeam echosounder and the requirement for extremely accurate orientation data garnered much attention from the manufacturers of marine positioning systems. The event motivated positioning system engineers to develop and ultimately re-invent GPS aided inertial navigation systems (INS) for hydrographic surveying. The new INS systems, utilising position and orientation technology (POS), significantly increased hydrographic survey productivity. The INS acted as an enabling technology for swath bathymetry and provided unparallelled positioning accuracy to the multibeam echosounder. Since that initial impetus, a new generation of POS has become available, bringing with it further advantages for the hydrographic surveying community.