Session Configurations

Overview

To access advanced features in SonarView—like using multiple devices in tandem (e.g., multiple Omniscans or a Surveyor with GPS), configuring scanner offsets, or selecting a vehicle model—you’ll need to set these options in Session Configurations.

The Session Configurations window shows all of your defined sessions, devices, and vehicles:

The flow of session configurations should be relatively straightforward: first, define the devices and vehicles you plan to use, then define the sessions in which you'll use them. Below is a detailed explanation of each field, but experimenting with the settings should give you a good feel for how it all works.

Devices

Devices are where you define the equipment you’ll use in a session. To open the device editor, click 'Add Device' or click the edit button (the pencil) on an existing device.

Above is an example of the device editor window. Here is an explanation for the various fields:

If you have hardware that you want to use with different settings (e.g., the same Omniscan at different addresses or with varied mounting angles), simply define another device with the appropriate settings

Supported Devices:

Omniscan 450
Sounder S500
Surveyor 240-16
Tracker 650
DVL 75
Insight 240
Ping
Ping360
Generic NMEA GPS
Yacht Devices NMEA2000 USB Gateway

Vehicles

Vehicles define the 3D model and vehicle data used by SonarView. To pull up the vehicle editor window, click "Add Vehicle" or click the edit button on one of your vehicles

Sessions

Defined sessions will show up in discovery if all devices are connectable. To pull up the session editor window, click "Add Session" or click the edit button on one of your sessions

Hints and tips

Devices and vehicles must be defined before including them in a plan
To delete any item (session, device, vehicle), click and hold the X. If you delete a device or vehicle that is a part of a plan, the plan will be deleted as well
Devices and vehicles alone with NOT show up in discovery. They must be a part of a session
Click and hold the red "HOLD TO CLEAR DATA" button to delete all data
If you have a legacy config.json that's properly formatted, all the data will be converted to work with this UI. A backup of your config.json will be saved in config_v1_backup.json in your SonarView logs directory
If you want to transfer your session configurations to another computer, find the config.json file in your SonarView logs directory and replace that file in the other computer
If there's an issue converting the legacy config.json, you can clear it by using the "HOLD TO CLEAR DATA" button. If you have any vital data in the config.json, save it somewhere else before clearing it

Walkthrough Example

Let's walk through the process of setting up the configuration for two Omniscans at right angles to each other on a BlueROV2

Define Omniscans using the "Add Device" button. Because I have them both connected and connectable, I can see them in the "Discover Devices" button in the Device Editor window:

After selecting one of the available Omniscans, I can configure the transducer angle to 90 degrees to let SonarView know it's facing starboard. Make sure to hit save:

After adding the other Omniscan with a transducer angle of 0 to let SonarView know it's facing forward, I can add the BlueROV2 using the vehicle editor window by hitting the "Add Vehicle" button:

Because I have defined the mavlink2rest server protocol and provided the hostname and port, SonarView will use the heading and position estimate of the ROV if it has one.

Here's where we're at:

Hit the "Add Session" button and add the BlueROV2 and the Omniscans to a new session:

Once that's saved, you can head over to discovery. If both Omniscans are connected, you will see the session name you defined and you will be able to connect to the session:

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Last updated 6 hours ago