Interface Hypack and SonarWiz

Owned by David Finlayson
Last updated: 2021-09-27
3 min read

SonarWiz can be configured to work in cooperation with Hypack. In this mode, SonarWiz monitors a communication channel with Hypack which passes along navigation messages and commands necessary to start and stop data logging in SonarWiz. There are two mechanisms available for linking SonarWiz to Hypack: Shared Memory Access (SMA) and the HYPACK NOAA Delph Output (delph.dll) driver. Each mechanism is described below.

Shared Memory Access (SMA):

In all instances of HYPACK operations, there is a Shared Memory Access (SMA) file that operates in the background of HYPACK Survey.  All sensor data is stored in this file (in real time), and other programs can access the data to use for shared operation.

The SMA of a simple set up looks like this:

And depending upon sensor input in HYPACK, more fields will be populated.  SonarWiz can read this file for logging and navigation information.

The main limitation of the SMA interface is that both Hypack and SonarWiz must be running on the same physical computer.

Instructions for configuring the SMA interface

In Hypack:

No special configuration is needed for the SMA interface. (it is always running in the background)

In SonarWiz:

  1. Open the Navigation dialog on the Data Acquisition ribbon menu

  2. Check Enable Nav IO

  3. Select Hypack - Shared Memory from the Navigation Source drop down menu.

  4. Configure the serial or UDP port connection as appropriate.

  5. Check Allow Navigation System to Control Logging

NOAA Delph Output

Hypack can be configured to use the NOAA Delph Output Driver. This driver broadcasts messages over the network for listening interfaces such as SonarWiz. The main advantage of this approach over SMA is that SonarWiz can be located on a separate machine from Hypack connected via the network.

Instructions for configuring the Delph.dll interface

In Hypack:

  1. Add the NOAA Delph Output driver to the HYPACK Combined Hardware configuration page

     

 In SonarWiz:

  1. Open the Navigation dialog on the Data Acquisition ribbon menu

  2. Check Enable Nav IO

     

  3. Select Hypack - Delph DLL from the Navigation Source drop down menu.

     

  4. Configure the serial or UDP port connection as appropriate.

     

  5. Check Allow Navigation System to Control Logging

     

Example Operation

In this example the sidescan sonar data is sent to both HYPACK and SonarWiz, with only the navigation to HYPACK.

  1. HYPACK needs a line plan and a line selected

  2. When HYPACK starts logging, SonarWiz will automatically start logging with the same file name

  3. When HYPACK stops logging, SonarWiz will automatically stop logging.

Copyright 2022, Chesapeake Technology, Inc.