One workstations was used for the acquisition of multibeam data, interfacing by a multiserial and Ethernet link a RESON 81 P1 processor, an PHINS inertial system (MRU and compass), DGPS receiver (Ashtech Aquarius) by a MOXA Multi/serial I/O, TC/P and UDP network sockets. The MBES were the 12kHz, 234 2°beams, 150°aperture RESON 8150 (15000 m range) and the 100KHz, 101 1.5 1.5°beams,150°aperture RESON 8111 (1000 m range). A Sound Velocity probe at the Sonar Head is interfaced directly to the MBES processor, thus providing the necessary real-time data for the beam-forming.
In addition two data sets were generated and stored on separate computer for backup on HD and CD/DVD. The PDS-2000 was able to build a 50 m DTM during the acquisition of the entire offshore surveyed area, 10 to 20m in the Magellan Strait area. The existing multibeam datasets will therefore be used for an up-to-date regional bathymetric compilation.