ROVL + Omniscan + Vehicle

This doc reflects SonarView version 1.14.20-beta and later

This feature is in beta. Please keep accuracy expectations modest as we continue to improve this feature

There are many unavoidable sources of error when trying to place Omniscan data in the world. Errors from positioning the vehicle aside, the Omniscan images are based on the assumption that the bottom is flat. Therefore, do not take the placement of images as gospel. Rather, use it for situational awareness and to get a good sense of where things are.

The ROVL/Omnitrack can now be used in conjunction with the Omniscan 450 and a vehicle (necessary for heading). In order to do so, create a session as shown below (with correct URLs for your devices):

At the moment, this feature works best with a BlueROV using a Tracker650 as ArduSub can fuse position updates from the ROVL and Tracker650 creating a smoother estimate for Omniscan data, but this configuration also works with a Chasing (set up vehicle with Chasing protocol and proper URL). You will need to connect the ROVL topside to your computer and NOT the Chasing topside unit

The GPS is for the topside ROVL unit. If you have an Omnitrack or are fine inputting the coordinates manually, you can skip that device.

Now with everything configured and connected, you should see this session in discovery:

Go ahead and connect to that session. You should see something like this:

Then open 'Omniscan Controls' in the right side bar

This gives you all the controls for the Omniscan. Once you hit "Start Pinging" you should see Omniscan data show up in your view below the selected position source. The 'Position Source' feature is only relevent for Mavlink enabled vehicles (e.g. BlueROV) with positions updated via ROVL and other sensors. Otherwise, just leave it on ROVL estimate.

Using ROVL + Omniscan without Tracker650

ROVL measurements are inherently noisy. Without other data sources to smooth out this estimate, Omniscan images are going to get blurred quite a bit as shown below:

Scan of Straight Barge becomes wavy due to jumping position estimate

Therefore, we recommend this procedure for the best results:

1. Have all sensors running and navigate your vehicle to an optimal location to collect Omniscan data

2. Stop moving the vehicle.

3. Click the STOP button in the top left corner to prevent ROVL updates from moving the vehicle

4. Rotate your vehicle (without translating) to perform a scan and collect Omniscan data.

5. Click the START button in the top left corner and navigate to the next position. AVOID overwriting the previous stable image with new data while navigating.

6. Repeat as necessary

Keep in mind this is a beta feature

Using ROVL + Omniscan on BlueROV with Tracker650

With everything configured correctly on the Tracker650 to send updates to the vehicle (refer here for instructions), the ROVL/Omnitrack can also be configured to send position updates to the ROV (if using Omnitrack, refer here. If using just ROVL, the left sidebar should have an option to Send data to Mavlink). In this configuration, ArduSub can create a smooth estimate that limits jitter from the ROVL data, but keeps things globally tracked. In this way, you can get results like this:

With your session and hardware configured correctly, make sure the Mavlink position estimate is turned on in display controls under 'Position Estimates' (if you don't see this, SonarView was unable to connect to the vehicle). Then go into Omniscan Controls and set the 'Position Source' to Mavlink