Table of Contents

Real-Time GNSS Positioning

The following navigation formats are a subset of those supported by SonarWiz, for providing position information during sidescan, sub-bottom, bathymetric, or magnetometry survey (real-time data acquisition). They are accessed as choices in the Data Acquisition > NAVIGATION dialog.

Open

C & C Technologies Custom Interface

This is a space delimited string with the following fields.

Example sentence:

00016 10:46:10.18 06/08/1998 3012.0388 09200.0426 0170212.47 545341.94 143.3 00.0 0000.00 000000.00 0000000 0000000

Fugro Starfix.NAV SSS

SonarWiz supports a custom navigation interface to the Fugro Geoservices Starfix.NAV application. Starfix.NAV controls the logging, eventing and navigation information in SonarWiz.MAP. Each field is comma delimited.

 Example sentence:

 27,02,2002,00,42,14.49,+3337163.15,+0388738.75,+3337190.48,+0388674.25,292.00,292.96,+070.05,+004.51,0000000,+004.51,+1000.00,+000.00,+149.00,1,test_line

Fugro Starfix.NAV SBP

SonarWiz supports a custom navigation interface to the Furgo Geoservices Starfix.NAV application. Starfix.NAV controls the logging, eventing and navigation information in SonarWiz.MAP. Each field is comma delimited.

Example sentence:

27,02,2002,01,10,3.37,+00033372.99,+0000003884.54,+00033373.23,+0000003883.97,+00033373.17,+0000003884.13,+292.00,00000003,+0000.00,0,0,0,+0000.00,+0179.00,1,+065.30,test_line

GeoNav Marine Systems – EZNav Custom Interface

The following describes the interface protocol between the GeoNav/EZNav system and SonarWiz. The communication is single direction in the first instance, but can be expanded to bi-directional to send target information from the sonar system to the positioning system. The protocol is based on NMEA 183. Baud rate would be 9600 or 19200 with no handshake. There are 4 groups of messages, those sent once per second, the start of line message, the event message, and the end of line message.

Every Second

GPGGA – ship position
GPVTG – ship velocity

These can be in either WGS84 or Local Datum 

Example sentence:

$GPGGA,073721,2842.48951,N,09056.15433,W,2,8,1.8,4.4,M,14.5,M,3.,100*49 $GPVTG,180.7,T,,M,4.52,N,,K*73

Optional messages

PFGGA – fish position
PFVTG – fish velocity
HEHDT – ship heading
DPDPT – ship water depth
PGSEN – sensor data 

The PF sender ID indicates fish position & velocity

Example

$PFGGA,073721,2842.61848,N,09056.16348,W,2,8,1.8,4.4,M,14.5,M,3.,100*42 $PFVTG,2.0,T,,M,4.52,N,,K*7E

HDT and DPT are standard NMEA

Example

$HEHDT,180.0,T*26
$SDDPT,45.4,0,,*7C 

The PGSEN sentences has the following data fields

$PGSEN, wire out, Mag1, Mag2, Mag Fish Lat, Mag Fish Lon

The PGSEN allows the nav to send wire out data for the sonar fish, and also magnetometer data, mLat, mLon defines the position of the Magnetometer in whatever the specified datum is.

Example

$PGSEN,1000.766,2999.197,1999.017,2842.58301,N,09056.15387,W*59 If only wire out $PGSEN,1000.766, , , , , , *59

At Start of Line

PGSOL – start of line message,
$PGSOL, Time, Date, Line Name, Re-shoot, length, bearing, Position Datum 

Example - Numeric Line name ( 15 ), Null re-shoot code

$PGSOL,072252,100703,15, ,883.9,180.2,NAD 1927 (NADCON CONUS)*41

Example – Alpha Numeric Line Name , AA as re-shoot code

$PGSOL,073448,100703,L17Text,AA,4480.6,180.2,NAD 1927 (NADCON CONUS)*A

At Event

PGEVT – event message $PGEVT, time, line name, event
$PGEVT,072400,15,10*78 $PGEVT,073528,L17Text,10AA*1

Note: Event string includes re-shoot code

At End Of Line

PGEOL – end of line message
$PGEOL, time, Line Name, status

Status indicates if the line has been accepted for storage.

Status =1 good line
Status = -1 line to be re-shot
Status =0 line to be run ( this should not be seen here ) 

Example

$PGEOL,072531,15,1*4A

or

$PGEOL,073724,L17Text,-1*13

Geowork Trimble Hydro PRO

SonarWiz supports a custom navigation interface to the Trimble Hydro PRO system as configured by Geowork. Each field is space delimited.

Example sentence: 

SETU001 33 20.42 500154 700157 500153 700160 222.00 

Hypack Delph.DLL 

The Hypack Delph.DLL output format sample is shown below. Each field is space delimited. 

Example sentence:

23/8/2014 12:00:18.00 7 000000 +37.00010995 -122.00013740 +37.00013194 -122.00016488 5.0 10.0 2.0 2.5 2.5 45.0 1 line-0001

Format:

Online Flag information: when the online flag switch goes from 0 to 1 then the current file if any will be closed and the file specified in the datagram will be started. When the online flag changes from 1 to 0, recording will stop.

HYPACK Shared Memory Interface

The Coastal Oceanographics HYPACK Surveyor product is capable of creating a shared memory address space that is populated with the current navigation and survey parameters. SonarWiz.MAP can utilize this interface only when Hypack is running on the same physical computer as SonarWiz.MAP. The table below lists the variables that SonarWiz.MAP utilizes from the Hypack Shared Memory interface.

LinkQuest TrackLink LQF format

The following describes the interface protocol between the LinkQuest USBL LQF format and SonarWiz. The communication is single direction from the LinkQuest system to SonarWiz. This interface provides geodetic position of both the ship and the tracked towfish. 

Example sentence: (line terminated with CRLF)

1,02/18/05,13:22:01,  4250.5622,-14718.5026,  4250.5660,-14718.5099,115.7,207.4 

Reference:

Kevin Zhao
LinkQuest Inc.
6339 Nancy Ridge Drive
San Diego, CA 92121
Phone: (858) 623-9916 ext. 10  

Extended Data Example:

1,02/24/05,11:25:12,  4250.5685,-14718.4974,  4250.5627,-14718.5035, 72.0, 207.4
1,02/24/05,11:25:17,  4250.5693,-14718.4974,  4250.5642,-14718.5036,157.7, 202.9
1,02/24/05,11:25:22,  4250.5700,-14718.4966,  4250.5655,-14718.5026,129.4, 203.5
1,02/24/05,11:25:27,  4250.5702,-14718.4957,  4250.5663,-14718.5021, 60.0, 204.8
1,02/24/05,11:26:13,  4250.5584,-14718.5071,  4250.5527,-14718.5134,112.2, 199.2
1,02/24/05,11:26:17,  4250.5594,-14718.5066,  4250.5535,-14718.5131,125.1, 198.7
1,02/24/05,11:26:18,  4250.5594,-14718.5058,  4250.5536,-14718.5118,160.0, 199.2 

NUWC Custom Navigation Interface

The following describes the interface protocol between the customized Naval Underwater Weapons Center navigation interface from their navigation system to SonarWiz. The communication is single direction from the NUWC navigation system to SonarWiz.

Format:

LINE, FIX#, DATE ,PPS TIME ,PC TIME ,fish lat ,fish lon ,fspd,fcmg ,vessel lat ,vessel lon ,vspd,vcmg ,vgyro ,along,xte

Example sentence:

Baseline,9354,10/12/04,21:32:47.0,21:32:01.3,41.2353962,-124.4426066,2.31,139.70,41.2350498,-124.4423460,2.73, 134.51,144.50,2659.94,199.26<CRLF>

Subsea 7 Custom Navigation Interface ‘ABDMYHISNEGOvyx?>’

SonarWiz supports a custom navigation interface for SubSea7 (formerly known as Consub DSND) based on a previous navigation template developed for a competing sonar data acquisition system Isis.

Example sentence:

28/11/2002 14:35:09 07549968.16 692274.33 092.00 00007 002.0 07549968.16 692274.33 51.0 178.0

Standard NMEA-0183 Messages Supported

GGA - Global Positioning System Fix Data

Example sentence:

GGA,123519,4807.038,N,01131.324,E,1,08,0.9,545.4,M,46.9,M, , *42 

Value             Field description

123519           Fix taken at 12:35:19 UTC
4807.038,N   Latitude 48 deg 07.038' N
01131.324,E Longitude 11 deg 31.324' E
1                      Fix quality: 0 = invalid
                        1 = GPS fix
                        2 = DGPS fix
08                    Number of satellites being tracked
0.9                  Horizontal dilution of position
545.4,M          Altitude, Metres, above mean sea level
46.9,M            Height of geoid (mean sea level) above WGS84 ellipsoid
(empty field) time in seconds since last DGPS update
(empty field) DGPS station ID number

GLL - Geographic position, Latitude and Longitude

Example sentence:

GLL,4916.45,N,12311.12,W,225444,A 

Value             Field description

4916.46,N     Latitude 49 deg. 16.45 min. North
12311.12,W Longitude 123 deg. 11.12 min. West
225444           Fix taken at 22:54:44 UTC
A                     Data valid 

RMC - Recommended minimum specific GPS/Transit data

Example sentence:

RMC,225446,A,4916.45,N,12311.12,W,000.5,054.7,191194,020.3,E*68 

Value             Field description
225446           Time of fix 22:54:46 UTC
A                     Navigation receiver warning A = OK, V = warning
4916.45,N     Latitude 49 deg. 16.45 min North
12311.12,W Longitude 123 deg. 11.12 min West
000.5              Speed over ground, Knots
054.7              Course Made Good, True
191194           Date of fix 19 November 1994
020.3,E          Magnetic variation 20.3 deg East
*68                  mandatory checksum

VHW - Water speed and heading

Example sentence:

VHW,259.,T,237.,M,05.00,N,09.26,K 

Value             Field description

259.,T                         Heading 259 deg. True
237.,M            Heading 237 deg. Magnetic
05.00,N          Speed 5 knots through the water
09.26,K          Speed 9.26 KPH

VTG - Track made good and ground speed

Example sentence:

VTG,054.7,T,034.4,M,005.5,N,010.2,K 

Value             Field description

054.7,T          True track made good
034.4,M          Magnetic track made good
005.5,N          Ground speed, knots
010.2,K          Ground speed, Kilometers per hour 

Applanix POS MV Format - options 

SonarWiz and our servers that talk to the Applanix sensors process $GRP 102 messages... like when you select this choice in the SonarWiz NAV dialog:

Open

If you do not need all that data recorded, but just need position of heading data, Applanix POS MV does support a variety of NMEA-0183 type messages too, like RMC, GGA, HDT, VTG, and these may be selected as output options on the POS MV, with corresponding input parsing formats selected in SonarWiz (specify which types of NMEA-0183 to parse).

The $GRP 102 message format is defined in the Applanix POS MV document  "Applanix POS MV V4 Use ICD" (User Manual) number "PUBS-ICD-000551 Rev 2". The output sentence-rate options are 1-200 Hz. For sub-bottom position / heave-sensor input, and sidescan position data recording, we recommend 4 Hz input rate, which is fast enough, and leaves lots of real-time bandwidth for other data recording.

For bathymetry data, you record and parse this data directly in the real-time server itself, not via the main SonarWiz NAVIGATION dialog, and 10-20 Hz is the fastest we recommend for sentence rate.

For bathymetry real-time servers, or for the main SonarWiz NAVIGATION dialog choice "Applanix POS MV", the user should configure their Applanix POS MV to output $GRP 102 type sentences on your high-speed UDP REAL-TIME DATA PORT (see Applanix reference, section 3.2.1).

On the SonarWiz PC, verify your Applanix POS MV output data by using the MTTTY.exe (serial port test) for COM PORT, or UDP Sniffer, for UDP port, to be sure your data are reaching the specific COM or UDP port to which you are sending it (e.g. make sure you are in NAVIGATE transmit mode, not STANDBY, on the Applanix POS MV). If you are sending ok, then closing the MTTTY.exe should allow SonarWiz to receive and parse the same data.  The COM port will be locked for access by MTTTY.exe if you had used a serial port, but both UDP Sniffer and SonarWiz may access a UDP port in parallel. 

External Navigation Data Formats

 The following formats may be selected in the Project Explorer when right-clicking the External Files branch, then selecting ADD/Import External Navigation Files command.

In the resulting dialog, the FILE TEMPLATE choice allows you to select from the set of pre-defined import formats shown below:

Not all of these will actually re-position your bathymetry data or replace the navigation, but we document below a sampling of the FILE TEMPLATE formats that may help you do it.

Note that new formats may be created upon request. 

AIST-1

The AIST-1 import format sample is shown below. Each field is space delimited.

Format:

DATE TIME  FISH-LATITUDE FISH-LONGITUDE

Example sentence:

2019/05/27 22:01:25.120 35.887976 -122.7745125

Applanix RAW File True (Delayed) Heave

Just supply the name of your RAW Applanix data set file.

Format:  (Binary)

Applanix SBET

Just supply the name of your SBET OUT file when asked for the file.

Format:  (Binary)

FGSI-Position-Feet or FGSI-Position-Meters

The FGSI-Position-Feet / Meters import format samples are shown below. Each field is space or comma delimited.

Format:

DATE TIME  EASTING NORTHING

or

DATE,TIME,EASTING,NORTHING

 Example sentence:

20/08/2019 22:02:03.000,574852.199,2190984.341

Kearfott INS

The Kearfott INS import format sample is shown below. Each field is semi-colon delimited.

Format:

UTCTime1,cycles,mode,monitor,latitude,longitude,depth,bheight,roll,pitch,heading,surge,sway,heave,accelx,accely,accelz,prate,qrate,rrate,UTCTime2

SWM-CSF Nav Export

The SWM-CSF Nav Export  format sample is shown below. Each field is comma delimited.

Format:

DATE,TIME,EASTING,NORTHING,FISH-LATITUDE,FISH-LONGITUDE

Example sentence:

7/21/2007,12:40:28.800, 554686.87,4184823.77,37.80916667,-122.3787333

TimePosition_Generic01

The TimePosition_Generic01  format sample is shown below. Each field is comma delimited.  Note the HH:MM:SS simple time format.

Format:

DATE,TIME,EASTING,NORTHING,FISH-LATITUDE,FISH-LONGITUDE

Example sentence:

7/21/2007,12:40:28, 554686.87,4184823.77, 4184823.77,554686.87

TimePosition_Generic02

The TimePosition_Generic02  format sample is shown below. Each field is comma delimited.   

Format:

DATE,TIME,EASTING,NORTHING,HEADING

Example sentence:

7/21/2007,12:40:28.800, 554686.87,4184823.77,235.77

Document Versions

Rev 7, 4/24/2020 - Transfered to Confluence. Formatting changes.
Rev 6, 7/03/2019 - New Section 2 described EXTERNAL NAV FILE formats for bathymetry import
Rev 5, 5/22/2017 - Applanix POS MV navigation format section added
Rev 4, 1/22/2015 - Main User Guide navigation format sections added
Rev 3, 11/14/2014 - Online Flag control of Hypack Delph DLL explained in more detail.
Rev 2, 8/12/2014 -0 Section 1.1 validation testing performed with NMEAWiz sending in from file, using nav_hypackDelphDLL.txt into a real-time simulations sidescan recording.