The HydroBox HD™ is a portable, low power, high-resolution, and water-resistant marine hydrographic
echosounding instrument capable of delivering cm resolution for bottom depth measurements. When
used with SyQwest’s survey grade transducers the instrument provides depth measurement accuracy that
meets all of the IHO requirements. It is designed exclusively for inshore and coastal hydrographic marine
survey up to 1,000 meters of water depth and operates at either 33, 50, or 210kHz. An simultanious dual
channel dual frequency option is also available for dual frequency surveys. Included with the HydroBox
HD™ product is the following:
HydroBox HD™ Sensor Unit (Single or Dual)
HydroBox HD™ Installation CD
HydroBox HD™ Manual
HydroBox HD™ Sensor Unit provides all of the transmit/receive electronics, and all of the signal
processing functions. It is powered from a 10-30VDC source and consumes 10 watts of power. It
interfaces to the Host PC via a single Ethernet Connection. The mechanical case for the Electronics Unit
is Water Resistant to the EN60529 IP65 Specification and is also UV Stable and Chemical Resistant.
There are a lot of transducer options that may be used with the HydroBox HD™ Sensor Unit. Transducer
selection depends upon a number of application parameters: maximum depth, bottom type, single or dual
frequency operation. All of the Transducer assemblies are lightweight and designed for portable pole or
small plate mounting. Transducer options are identified and described in further detail in the Installation
section.
The HydroBox HD™ Installation CD will install the PC software used to configure, control, and acquire
data from the HydroBox HD Sensor device. It will also include this manual in PDF format and any
Release Notes that have been generated.
A hardcopy of the HydroBox HD™ Manual is also included so that the user may learn to install, operate,
and maintain the HydroBox HD™ Equipment and Accessories. The manual also includes a section on
acoustic theory.
The HydroBox HD PC software was designed for use with the Windows operating system, and should
operate under Windows 7-10 and Windows XP also. The software is compatible with most standard
desktop and laptop computers with a Windows operating system but real time performance may be
affected by the computer hardware. Since the HydroBox HD is a real time data acquisition system, it is
best to use the product with a computer of at least moderate hardware capability. The software requires at
least 1 available Ethernet Port for connection to the HydroBox HD instrument, and optionally, additional
Serial Ports for NMEA Navigation/GPS Input, NMEA Depth Out, and External Annotation. The
software features Navigation Input, External Annotation, Data Storage, Zoom Modes, Thermal Printer
output, Automatic/Manual Eventing, and more. The HydroBox HD software interface is divided into two
fields. The Controls field is located on the left and contains navigation/depth information, configuration
buttons, and system status. The Data field is located on the right and contains the actual acoustic echo
data.