Simrad EK15 - Basic Information about Calibration; Transducer Maintenance

SimradEK15
Basicinformationaboutcalibration
InordertomaintaintheaccuracyprovidedbytheSimradEK15andthatisrequiredfor
scienticapplications,itmustbecalibrated.
CalibrationisalsoaveryefcienttooltoverifythattheSimradEK15systemisfully
operational.
Duringcalibrationareferencetargetwithknowntargetstrengthisloweredintothesound
beam,andthemeasuredtargetstrengthiscomparedwiththeknowntargetstrength.Ifit
isnecessarytoadjusttheEK15,thisisdoneautomaticallybythecalibrationsoftware.
SincetheEK15isdigitalrightfromthereceiverfrontend,noanaloguegainadjustment
isrequired.
Westronglyrecommendthatthiscalibrationisdonewiththeacousticbeampointing
verticallyinopenwater.Thisisbestaccomplishedfromananchoredboatinanarea
withhomogenouswater;nothermalorsalinitylayers,andnocurrent.Thedepthmustbe
minimum5meters.
Observethededicatedprocedureforsinglebeamcalibration.
Important
Ifyoulaterchoosetouninstallatransducer,thetransceivermustbecalibratedonemore
time.However,youmayreenterthemeasuredtargetstrength(TS)fromaprevious
calibration,aswellasthereferencetargetstrengthforthecalibrationsphereyouused.
IfyouhaveaEK15systemwithseveraltransceivers,youmustcalibrateonebyone.
MakesurethatyousetallothertransceiverstoPassiveintheNormalOperationdialog
box.
Transducermaintenance
Dependingontheenvironmentalconditionswherethevesseloperates,foulingmustbe
removedfromtimetotime.Failingtodosowilldegradetheechosounderperformance.
Useasoftpieceofwoodandremovethefoulingcarefully.Afterwards,useaveryne
gradeemerypaper.
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