New in Echoview 3.30 for all users
Welcome to Echoview 3.30!
Echoview 3.30 introduces support of the Furuno FSV-30 (Research version) scanning sonar and a family of user interface enhancements for multibeam and single beam users alike. Simrad EK60 users should take note of a change in the interpretation of their data.
New features and changes for:
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all users |
users of specific echosounders |
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users of single (and split and dual) beam echosounders |
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users of multibeam and scanning sonars |
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All users
Color response curves
It is now possible to fine tune the application of color schemes to echogram and scene data. See About color response curves for further information.
C-MAP support
C-MAP is a global electronic chart service. Echoview can use C-MAP data to add 3D surfaces and charts to scenes, but you must first install C-MAP support to achieve this. See About C-MAP objects, and C-MAP Cartographic service and C_MAP Troubleshooting
A sample C-MAP surface and chart are illustrated below in an Echoview scene (this scene includes above water and bathymetric data).
User interface enhancements
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It is now possible to access transducer properties from the Calibration page of Variable Properties dialog box where they are used.
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On an echogram it is now possible to see the name of a line by pointing to it with the mouse.
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The orthographic projection is now available on scenes.
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New built in color schemes are available: Blue, Gray, gray reversed, Green, Red and Furuno FSV.
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Ping subset operator now accepts multibeam operands.
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The CTRL+ARROW key can now be use to scroll an echogram 100% of the visible window (to facilitate target/track counting and image capture and stitch). See Echogram keyboard shortcuts.
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A scene properties button has been added to the toolbar.
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The Region manager can now be accessed from the Scene menu.
New analysis variables
For single beam analyses:
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An estimate of the sampled volume of water on any one transect is available. See Wedge_volume_sampled.
For 3D object analyses:
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the orientation of the object bounding box is now available. See 3D_region_metrics and Viewing 3D object properties.
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several new integration results are available. See 3D region integration variables and Viewing 3D object properties.
New operators
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New operators |
Description |
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Roll Range Bitmap |
This operator creates a bitmap using the ping geometry of operand 1. Every data point in each output ping will be true if the roll (from operand 2) at the time of that ping was within the limits specified on the Variable Properties dialog box, and false otherwise. |
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Bottom Echo Bitmap |
This operator creates a bitmap (multibeam Boolean variable) with a "false" value for each input value that is determined to contain energy from the bottom echo, and a "true" value for all the remaining input samples. "No data" values are always translated to "false". |
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Bottom Echo Bitmap H-mode - Furuno |
This operator creates a bitmap (multibeam Boolean variable) with a "false" value for each input value that is determined to contain energy from the bottom echo, and a "true" value for all the remaining input samples. "No data" values are always translated to "false". |
Operating systems supported
64 bit editions of Microsoft Windows (specifically Windows XP and Windows Server 2003) are not currently supported in Echoview.
Microsoft have withdrawn support of Windows 98 and ME and Echoview is no longer supported on those platforms. There are increasingly significant differences in between the evolving line of Microsoft operating systems and limitations in the older systems affecting performance options. Windows XP, 2000 and Server 2003 can be better supported by this move.
Single, Split and Dual beam users
Single target detection operators
The method 2 single target detection operators are no longer in beta release. Two changes to the single target detection operators are introduced in Echoview 3.30 which may have an effect upon the targets detected as follows:
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Change |
Description |
Operators affected |
Possible effects |
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Multi-sample peaks are now detected. |
In the past, a peak was defined as a sample which had a value higher than the sample either side of it in the same ping. This meant that two or more identically valued samples higher in value than the samples either side were not detected as a peak. Echoview now detects these as a peak as well. |
All single target detection operators in Echoview. See also: |
In the past, some valid peaks were not detected. It is possible that now Echoview will now detect more single targets than it did in earlier versions. This is very unlikely to affect users of method 1 or dual beam operators. If using method 2 operators the possibility of identical neighboring samples is increased somewhat. The likelihood of identical samples is inversely proportional to the precision of the underlying signal data (TS for method 1 and power for method 2). Also, some existing single targets may have target strength and range affected. This can occur if the received pulse has an ambiguous peak. We expect this effect to be rare and small when it does appear (we have observed this only with pulses that have relatively flat tops where local maxima are visible in the pulse envelope due to minor variations in the signal strength). |
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Target range no longer has TVG range correction applied when calculating target strength. |
In the past, the specified TVG range correction was incorrectly applied to the target range when calculating TS. This is no longer the case. |
The method 2 single target detection operators only. See also: |
This will only affect users who entered a value for TVG range correction on the Single Target Detection page of the Variable Properties dialog box. If you entered a non-zero value for the TVG range correction offset, the predicted target strength will now be higher than it would have been using earlier version of Echoview. The effect of the correction was to lower the effective range used for TVG calculation by the specified number of samples, and as a consequence also the TVG applied. |
These changes are both improvements over earlier behavior. In our assessment the effect upon most user's existing data will be small. Please contact Echoview for further information if you have any concerns.
Multibeam users
New ping modes
Echoview is now able to model new types of acoustic ping produced by scanning sonar systems. These are supported in .csv format files as well as Furuno FSV-30 (Research version) format files. See About ping modes for further information.
3D Regions
Regions in three dimensional space can now be defined which are treated in a similar way to the two-dimensional regions Echoview has always supported on echograms. These regions can be created by detecting schools on multibeam data or importing from external files. They may contain vacuoles and they may be analyzed. See About 3D regions for further information.
3D regions replace the 3D schools and 3D school groups which were supported by Echoview 3.25 and earlier. When loading EV files created in earlier version of Echoview, 3D schools will be converted to 3D regions and 3D school groups will be converted to region classes.
Ping-object intersections on echograms
It is now possible to view, on multibeam echograms where selected 3D regions and/or surfaces intersect the displayed ping. See About intersections for further information.
3D (multibeam) Sv integration
Where 3D Regions intersect with Sv data available on multibeam echograms, the Sv data thus encompassed by the 3D region can now be integrated. See Integrating a region and Exporting region analyses for further information.
Multibeam bottom detection tuning
The algorithm Echoview uses to detect bottom echo traces in multibeam data can now be visually tuned (previewing results before surface creation). See Multibeam Bottom Detection Properties dialog box and Multibeam bottom detection preview for further information.
Surface exclusion for 3D school detection
It is now possible to use 3D surfaces to exclude multibeam data from 3D school detection. See Detect 3D Schools dialog box for further information.
New scripting features
The command .Export3dRegionsAnalysis is introduced to support 3D Sv integration (it replaces .Export3dSchoolAnalysis - though the deprecated functionality will continue to function to support pre-existing scripts). See Using the Scripting module (deprecated scripting model for Echoview 5.0) for further information.