Z-Boat Platform Improvements and Integrations

Development of the Teledyne OceanScience Z-Boat platform and integration of new systems are continuing at a rapid pace.

A new boat type has been developed for the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Upgrades and improvements include the capability for the boat to be fully submerged by waves and an improved antenna mount design. An interchangeable sea chest has been developed that enables fast and easy swap out of different standard sonars including the Teledyne Odom MB1, MB2, 200 & 200/33 kHz transducers, and Teledyne RDI ADCPs.

The versatile Z-Boat provides a rugged and reliable platform for the deploying many sensor types in coastal, river and inland waterway locations:

• Teledyne Odom CV100H and CV100DF single beam echo sounders. Development is complete and this integration is available as a standard product
• Teledyne Odom MB1. A lightweight aluminium version of the MB1 has been developed complete with a TSS DMS5-25 Inertial Measurement Unit integrated into the MB1 head. A Hemisphere dual antenna GPS heading unit is also integrated into the MB1 Real Time Assembly (RTA). Processing power on the boat includes a solid state PC has been used to run CARIS Onboard, MB1 Image and Hypack software. This system has been demonstrated at US Hydro, Ocean Business and Shallow Survey. A production version will soon be available for order.
• Teledyne Odom MB2. Integration of the MB2 is in progress with testing to check the performance of the Z-Boat with the MB2 payload. A complete MB2 integration is expected to be available in 2016.