New Wave Media

Kongsberg Maritime has introduced a new multibeam echo sounder designed for survey and inspection operations in shallow and medium water depths: the new KONGSBERG EM 712 multibeam echo sounder, the second generation of wideband multibeam for these water depths.

The EM 712 supersedes the EM 710. All users of the EM 710 will be offered an upgrade path, making it easy to integrate the EM 712 into operations.

 

The EM 712 is based on a sophisticated, flexible hardware platform, which enables several performance enhancing features, the manufacturer said. According to Kongsberg, one of the key benefits that the re-engineered system introduces is increased range performance, which is close to double that of the EM 710, resulting in a maximum range of 3,600m and a swath coverage of close to 4,000m. Other advances include low-noise receiver transducers and electronics in addition to a smaller, lighter form factor, enabling more flexible installation on a wider variety of vessels. 

 

Ensuring that the EM 712 can support the same wide range of applications as the system it replaces, it is offered in multiple versions, including a 0.25 x 0.5 degree system for the best range and resolution and a smaller, portable 2 x 2 degree system ideal for use on vessels of opportunity. All models are available as full versions for maximum range performance, or as a shallow range version without FM chirp enabled. Kongsberg Maritime has also developed an entry level model, with reduced depth performance.

 

The first generation of the EM 710, released in 2005, was the first true wideband system and the first multibeam echo sounder to utilise FM chirp as a transmitting pulse. By introducing these and other features the EM 710 started a shift in multibeam development. The EM 712 is a natural progression, which improves on the EM 710 in every way, Kongsberg said.