Explanation of Terms 
Beam angle: The angle that sound waves spread out from the transducer.    Sound waves 
spread out in a conical manner taking the center of the bottom surface of the transducer at 
the apex of the cone. 
Bubbling: The phenomenon where the image of the seabed is interrupted due to air bubbles 
caused by the ship's hull or the propeller during a voyage. 
IMO: abbreviation for the International Maritime Organization. 
MED: abbreviation for the Marine Equipment Directive.    This is the directive for marine 
equipment in Europe.    This directive unifies format approval standards implemented 
separately by each European. 
NMEA0183: formats for the National Marine Electronics Association.    NMEA0183 is the 
format used when sending or receiving depth, position, water temperature, ship speed and 
other information between marine equipment.   
STC: Sensitivity Time Control is used for reduce shallow water clutter.    Shallow seabed 
echo is strong and deep seabed echo is weak.    So, the STC controls the sensitivity to 
normalize seabed echo for precision seabed tracking. 
Transducer: Device that emits ultrasonic waves in water and receives the signals reflected 
off the seabed.    This is equivalent to an antenna on a radio.   
UTC: abbreviation for the Universal Time Coordinated. 
Explanation of Terms  viii