Accurate and precise timekeeping between computers in a distributed survey system is essential to ensure adequate data quality, especially with Multibeam Echosounders (MBES) which can otherwise suffer from significant motion artefacts. We show that clock synchronisation on the order of 100-150ns (rms) is readily achievable in a modern MBES-based survey system utilising an Ethernet-based time synchronisation mechanism and some custom timekeeping software. We also show that improving the timekeeping eliminates motion artefacts in the observed bathymetry, and simplifies the patch-test procedure.

In any hydrographic survey system that consists of more than one computer, one of the most difficult integration problems is to ensure that all components maintain a coherent sense of time. Since virtually all modern survey systems are of this type, timekeeping and synchronized timestamping of data as it is created is of significant concern. This paper describes a method for resolving this problem based on the IEEE 1588 Precise Time Protocol (PTP) implemented by hardware devices, layered with some custom software called the Software Grandmaster (SWGM) algorithm. This combination of hardware and software maintains a coherent sense of time between multiple ethernet-connected computers, on the order of 100 ns (rms) in the best case, of the timebase established by the local GPS-receiver clock. We illustrate the performance of this techniques in a practical survey system using a Reson 7P sonar processor connected to a Reson 7125 Multibeam Echosounder (MBES), integrated with an Applanix POS/MV 320 V4 and a conventional data capture computer. Using the timing capabilities of the PTP hardware implementations, we show that the timepieces achieve mean (hardware based) synchronization and timestamping within 100-150 ns (rms), and that the data created at the Reson 7P without hardware timestamps has a latency variability of 28 μs (rms) due to software constraints within the capture system. This compares to 288 μs (rms) using Reson’s standard hybrid hardware/software solution, and 13.6 ms (rms) using a conventional single-oscillator timestamping model.