Acoustic Imaging Summer Newsletter 2016

To kick off the summer holiday season, read on for a summary of 2016 as seen through the eyes of our Managing Director, Dr Douglas Bergersen;

2016 was another very successful and engaging year for Acoustic Imaging, and we thank all our clients for their business and queries as well as our employees for their continued commitment to collaborate liberally, learn freely and spread knowledge willingly. We work in an ever-changing industry and enjoy the challenges posed by both projects and the environment.

On the software front, we’ve seen substantial improvements and new features added to the QPS, Chesapeake, and Applanix product lines. For QPS, Qimera is gaining traction in the hydrographic world and FMMidwater is becoming an important tool for processing/analysing water column data. For Chesapeake, SonarWiz continues to be a powerful sidescan sonar and subbottom profiler / seismic data processing package whilst adding considerable capabilities on the bathymetry processing front. Certainly an intriguing upgrade path for existing owners / users. Applanix has recently released POSPac MMS with PP-RTX integration, further eliminating the need for establishing a land-based infrastructure for any given project.

On the hardware front, we’ve seen pronounced interest in our SES-2000 subbottom profilers for a variety of uses ranging from environmental to engineering to dredging. With two systems based in Australia, we can offer support for projects on either coast with minimal shipping costs. We’ve also added SIG to our reseller pool and have purchased a SIG Pulse S1 power supply with a pair of multi-tip sparker electrode sources for seismic operations in Australia. Local data examples will be forthcoming in 2017. Our dual head R2Sonic 2020 system continues to see use along with our POS MV Wavemaster and Surfmaster units. The rapidly decreasing size of the Applanix inertial systems whilst retaining full data logging capabilities is an exciting advancement for the survey industry, especially as USV’s become a more practical tool for coastal and offshore projects. Multi-frequency logging of backscatter data from R2Sonic systems also could prove interesting for advancing automated seabed characterisation techniques.

On the employee front, Acoustic Imaging welcomed Lindsay Gee into our team. Lindsay is playing a key role in our business development strategy, as well as acting as a vital link in our expanding US operations. One of our achievements in 2016 was acceptance into the UNH CCOM Industrial Associates Program and we look forward to further collaboration with that group throughout 2017. Karen Graham, Statistician and In-sales Support Manager, is another asset added to the company and many of you will be hearing more from her in the forthcoming year.

Next year, Acoustic Imaging will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. Twenty years as an independent employee-owned Australian private company. Time passes quickly when you are having fun and part of our enjoyment is attributable to our clients. We look forward to seeing you in the new year and partaking in the challenges that lie ahead. Wishing all a safe and relaxing holiday period!

Six of the Best of 2016:

• Most Interesting Project: AI’s Lindsay Gee visualising seeps as part of the research team on MV Nautilus. Read more.
• Most exciting Partnership: AI’s acceptance as a UNH CCOM Industrial Partner.
• Most frequently asked question. What is sub-bottom profiling?
• Most exciting win for women in STEM: Work experience student, Zoe from Abbotsleigh Girls School, Sydney. Zoe’s movie ‘A week with Acoustic Imaging’.
• Favourite sponsorship: Acoustic Imaging is proud to support the Indigenous Literacy Foundation.

Seven Upcoming Events in 2017:• January 1, world-wide: Leap second day. Remember to add 1 second to the GPS to UTC offset in QINSy.
• January 18, Fremantle: Acoustic Imaging Technology Demonstration – Edgetech 6205 MPES. Register here.
• January 19, Perth: AHS WAR Meeting – Analysis of demonstration data from Edgetech 6205, POSMV-POSPac-RTX.
• April 4-6, Southampton, UK: Ocean Business.
• Mid-2017, venues around Australia: AI graduate level marine geophysical field course. Apply here.
• June 21-23, Cairns : AI is presenting a paper and sponsoring with QPS at Coasts and Ports 2017.
• Nov-Dec, AI annual Applanix and QPS courses around Australia.