Equinox

Supplier:: EIVA
Product no :: E.SF.EQX

Improve area coverage rates for UXO (unexploded ordnance) surveys, MCM (mine-countermeasures) and hydrographic operations

Equinox is an integrated, towed multi-aperture sidescan sonar solution offering unrivalled stability, position accuracy and high-resolution, real-time results.

Combining EIVA’s ScanFish 3D remotely operated towed vehicle (ROTV) and NaviSuite Kuda survey software with Sonardyne’s SPRINT INS, Mini-Ranger 2 USBL and Wavefront’s Solstice multi-aperture sonar (MAS), Equinox is the perfect choice for UXO and site surveys pre-installation of renewable energy sites.

This integrated total solution leverages industry-leading commercial off-the-shelf components

The stable ScanFish ROTV platform tows the Equinox payload at a fixed height from the seabed, ensuring optimal performance of the Solstice multi-aperture sonar. This sonar not only delivers imagery of the highest quality possible from sidescan sonar, but also overcomes challenges typically associated with shallow water and high currents. Never miss any details again with crystal clear data swaths that grant you unrivalled imagery for your surveys.

In NaviSuite Kuda Pro + Processing survey software, this high-quality data is processed and visualised in real-time – ensuring actionable insights are at your fingertips. NaviSuite’s mission planning capabilities can improve survey area coverage though automated horizontal runline planning. Furthermore, you can choose an optional add-on NaviPac Pro licence to unlock a ScanFish autopilot flight mode: Vessel-Aided Follow Terrain, which uses a DTM, rather than the altimeter on your ScanFish, as input for creating real-time vertical runlines – achieving earlier warnings, thereby smoother obstacle avoidance and data collection.

Equinox offers several advantages, including that it…

Surveys more ground in a single pass; effective area coverage rate (ACR) of up to 1.6 km²/hour
Has an along track resolution of 0.15°; best in class delivering maximum detection rates
Improves your situational awareness by co-locating sidescan and bathymetry data display
Provides real-time motion compensation and positioning accuracies better than 1 m DRMS
Automatically follows terrain and avoids obstacles

Equinox is mission-ready for vessels or unmanned surface vessels (USV) delivering unexploded ordnance (UXO), archaeological, salvage, Search, Classify and Map (SCM) and hydrographic operations. The system can be configured further based on your operation needs.

Please note: Pricing is according to which sensors you choose to equip on the ScanFish Equinox. Reach out to discuss what setup best meets your needs and get a quote.

This product is subject to export control, which may delay/hinder delivery to some countries, and may be subject to restrictions if re-exported.

This product is also available for rent

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Cutting a long survey story short: What you get
Diving further into the details of how Equinox will improve your UXO (unexploded ordnance) surveys, MCM (mine-countermeasures) and hydrographic operations.
Learn more
Cutting a long survey story short: What you get
Diving further into the details of how Equinox will improve your UXO (unexploded ordnance) surveys, MCM (mine-countermeasures) and hydrographic operations

Keep sensors at the sweet spot
… with the robust, stable ScanFish ROTV platform’s 3D steering capability keeping your ROTV at a fixed height from the seafloor – this trusted ROTV is used for UXO surveys around the world
Easy mobilisation and maintenance
… thanks to a total weight of 220 kg in air. This solution uses proven components that can be easily maintained.
Training opportunities
… through existing training programmes EIVA provides for the community of existing users, such as ScanFish operator courses

Afford stunningly accurate visualisations
… since unlike towed Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) systems, Equinox offers an affordable lower-logistics alternative still capable of providing high area coverage rates
Accurate geo-referencing
… by combining leading navigation and positioning using Sonardyne’s Mini-Ranger 2 USBL and SPRINT INS, imaging data is geo-referenced with an accuracy that’s unrivalled for these types of applications at this price
Easy survey planning
… by using NaviSuite Kuda software to define your sailing route and runlines – which is as simple as selecting the area you would like to survey

Review data while it is being gathered (so it can be used in the next stage of the survey)
… by monitoring NaviSuite Kuda’s real-time data displays during operations – the software continuously updates the vessel and ScanFish 3D position data, as well as processing and visualising Solstice data
Visualise and analyse data
… with real-time geo-rectified waterfalls, mosaics and DTM maps – as well as user interface tools to mark and process objects, including automatic target recognition (ATR) using AI
Significant payload capacity
… with the large capacity of the ScanFish ROTV, as well as room in the fibre cable to include additional payload sensors such as gap fillers
Components and optional extras
ScanFish ROTV platform integrated with industry-leading commercial off-the-shelf components.
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Components and optional extras of the Equinox system solution
This integrated total solution leverages industry-leading commercial off-the-shelf components listed below...
EIVA ScanFish Rocio 3D multi-purpose ROTV system
with the ScanFish fibre-optic option, ScanFish Flight control software, NaviSuite Kuda Pro + Processing – Annual subscription, NaviSuite & Solstice PC and Equinox brackets for ScanFish

Solstice multi-aperture sonar
with Equinox sonar pod for ScanFish

Mini-Ranger 2 with WSM 6+ and charger
Trimble precision heading GPS equipment
incl optional extras

Mini-Ranger 2 & SPRINT PC
SPRINT 500 INS
Nortek DVL1000
Valeport MiniSVS
Fiber box for termination
Extra subsea MUX for ScanFish
incl cables

OceanEnviro 8.6 winch
Winch cable, fiber/electrical
750 m

Tow cable
Choose from a variety of faired cable options to further reduce drag of your ROTV system

Optional extras – according to daily rates
ScanFish & NaviSuite mobilisation support & onsite training
Solstice mobilisation support & onsite training
User-friendly control and monitoring software solution
All ScanFish models come with the ScanFish Flight software, which is an easy-to-use software system allowing for control and monitoring of the ROTV.
See it in action
User-friendly control and monitoring software solution
All ScanFish models come with the ScanFish Flight software, which is an easy-to-use software system allowing for control and monitoring of the ROTV.

Controlling the ROTV's movements in ScanFish III Flight software
Only a minimum of training is required to prepare the crew to operate the ROTV, which means you will be ready to set sail within a short period of time. Moreover, there is no risk of wasting time on difficulties resulting from a complicated software user interface.
Via the intuitive interface of ScanFish Flight, you are in complete control of the position of the ROTV by defining its height compared to the seabed. At the same time, you can monitor its position in the water, and an alert panel will warn you of any irregularities.

ScanFish III Flight in action
On-site calibration
A pre-flight feature allows for testing and calibration of the ScanFish ROTV on-site prior to deployment, promising you the highest possible performance and data quality.
Recording of flight data
Acquired ROTV data can be analysed by means of a flight recording feature. It enables you to play back all flights and, for example, quickly locate the cause of any irregularities, thus enhancing the quality of your results and saving survey time.
Automatic control of winch
ScanFish Flight can be set up to control the winch towing the ScanFish ROTV, thereby ensuring an optimal cable length adjusted to the movements of the ROTV. This is especially relevant for the ScanFish Rocio models.
Robust product with a long service life
The practical design of the ScanFish models makes them so robust that they can be deployed in rough weather.
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Robust product with a long service life
Quality materials and easily replaced wear parts characterise the ScanFish range and contribute to a high ROI through a long service life
The practical design of the ScanFish models makes them so robust that they can be deployed in rough weather. This saves time as the risk of downtime is vastly reduced. Two side plates with bars, which also function as handles, protect the body and facilitate handling, thus reducing the risks posed to the ROTV in the water and ensuring the safety of the crew during deployment and recovery.
Autonomy tools
Perform autonomous operations with tools to automate your survey every step of the way – from survey route planning to remote controlled, autopilot operations.
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Features enabling autonomous operations
NaviSuite Kuda enables autonomous operations with tools to automate your survey every step of the way – from survey route planning to remote controlled, autopilot operations. Dive into how…
Automatic survey route planning tools
Ensure efficient coverage during surveys with tools for survey route planning. These intuitive tools help ensure your survey is performed optimally – through highly customisable and automated route planning.
Onboard automatic route planning during surveys
Conditions such as the weather can influence your coverage during a survey. In order to adapt to such factors, you can use the Coverage Assist tool, which plans runlines in real-time during the survey. Each time it creates a runline, it considers the previous surveyed line, as well as the optimal route for turning. This saves you time as it makes decisions onboard the vessel in real-time.

Autopilot route planning by defining a boundary
The vehicle route can be automatically created before a survey, based on a boundary. If your vessel has an NMEA autopilot, you can export route plans from NaviSuite to the onboard piloting system.
You can design the lawn mower type pattern depending on the desired spacing and orientation. You can also create an exclusion zone within the boundary.

Autopilot total solution for safe and optimised surveys
To ensure centimetre precision line-keeping and safer operations, you can equip your vessel with the NaviSuite Kuda – Autopilot. This autopilot enables extensive USV control in NaviSuite Kuda, for example precise line-keeping in sharp turns and a hold position capability, as well as allowing you to monitor your thrusters and easily switch between manual and automated steering.
In addition, this total solution provides many precise vehicle control features. Users can for example increase safety of autopilot operations – by defining emergency stop settings, as well as quickly taking manual control. Users can also improve the quality of data by adjusting the vehicle’s speed (while the survey is running on autopilot) if real-time collected data shows that the speed should be changed, for example decreasing the speed due to seeing holes in the real-time QC displays of collected data.

Remote control from anywhere in the world
NaviSuite software enables you to operate control systems from anywhere in the world.

Remote control even at low bandwidth
One of the challenges to remote control is low data bandwidth. With NaviSuite you can overcome this in several ways…
Live data compression
You can compress survey data in many ways to ensure uninterrupted signal. NaviSuite compression tools work on multi-beam echosounder, sidescan, laser and forward-looking sonar data.

The settings you can adjust include Along, which allows you to skip scans. As well as Across, which reduces the points across the scan, and analyses points with respect to depth change to then keep more points where there are areas of change.
Pre-plan autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) operations
NaviSuite lets you remotely control an AUV without requiring constant connection. You can send small mission updates to your AUV, requiring only one good link moment to input your instructions – for example to go at a certain depth, pitch and heading. This capability means that no matter if the connection fails, the AUV will follow the directions you input in your latest mission update.
Avoid obstacles more smoothly than ever
This autopilot flight mode uses your vessel’s echo sounder data as an early warning system to avoid obstacles while keeping sensors stable.
See it in action
Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode
Avoid obstacles more smoothly than ever through automated real-time calculations – this flight mode uses your vessel’s echo sounder data as an early warning system to avoid obstacles while keeping sensors stable.

Video showing the ScanFish Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode in action, making the ScanFish avoid steep obstacles on the seabed more smoothly than it would have if it were using only the ScanFish altimeter sensor for obstacle avoidance – thereby achieving stability for optimal sensor performance
The ScanFish Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode optimises your vertical runlines based on a DTM (online and/or pre-surveyed). The main advantages are…
It ensures smooth obstacle avoidance, so your data collection isn’t disturbed by any sudden movements of the ROTV, which could otherwise occur if there is a large, steep obstacle, such as a boulder. This is because the altimeter sensor onboard the ScanFish would register the obstacle when closer to it, causing the ScanFish to move quickly out of the way to avoid it. On the other hand, with the Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode, the ScanFish can react ahead of time thanks to an early warning from the DTM, and therefore you have the option to make it do avoid obstacles more smoothly over time.
You minimise risks to your ROTV by not only reliably predicting obstacles and avoiding them (as the ScanFish ROTV already does) but also customising how you avoid them, so your ScanFish ROTV’s vertical steering is tailored to your specific ROTV configuration (with this new mode, you can customise the area in which obstacles are avoided and the slope with which the ROTV avoids them.

The area highlighted in yellow is the corridor in which objects are considered relevant obstacles to be avoided using the Vessel-Aided Terrain Follow mode – and the two yellow spheres below the ScanFish model show the correction to the vertical route
Stay safe with a failsafe
This new steering mode is doubly designed to avoid any harm to your ScanFish. The EIVA team has equipped it with a failsafe function for the unlikely case of a malfunction in the setup causing your ScanFish to receive erroneous data from the synthetic altimeter calculated by NaviPac. An error in the synthetic altimeter can occur for example if you are using a pre-surveyed DTM which is outdated, as a new obstacle has appeared since then. In such a case, the priority will always be given to the minimum height registered by the ROTV altimeter mounted on your ScanFish.
Easy integration with your ScanFish ROTV
This automated steering mode is available for all ScanFish systems. In addition to your vessel and any model of ScanFish ROTV, this steering mode uses the following components…
Multi-beam echo sounder on the vessel which is towing the ScanFish (optional as you can alternatively use pre-surveyed DTMs):
Acquires seabed data to create a real-time DTM
NaviSuite Kuda Pro, EIVA’s hydrographic survey software solution (alternatively, if using a pre-surveyed DTM, you can use NaviPac Pro or NaviPac Single User):
Collects multi-beam echo sounder data and creates a DTM in real time – or displays a historical DTM
Calculates your ROTV’s optimal vertical route based on the DTM and your settings for obstacle avoidance
Inputs synthetic altimeter values to your ScanFish Flight software so you follow this route