X110 Modem Transponder Beacon

Data Modems

In a modem application, beacons are mounted at either end of the required data links and addressable packets of data are exchanged between the Acoustic Communication Stacks using protocols that ensure integrity of data, buffering and reattempting transmission in event of packet loss.

Integrated beacon sensors (such as depth, attitude and supply voltage) may also be remotely queried by the interrogating modem.

Full control over the modem transponder is facilitated through a fully documented serial command set.

Position Tracking

When used in a tracking application, up to 14 sub-surface assets to be tracked (including Divers, ROV’s, AUV’s etc) are fitted with an X110 beacon, and optionally may use the data port to provide periodic acoustic communications with other systems and sensors.

Interrogation is controlled by one X150 mounted on the supervisor vessel/platform, and connected to a PC running the SeaTrac PinPoint display and logging software. All positions are computed by the X150 beacon, so no additional PC hardware is required.

Sensors

Each beacon is fitted with a 9 Degrees-of-Freedom (DOF) Attitude and Heading Reference System, taking data from the onboard MEMS gyroscope, accelerometer and magnetometer to produce pitch, roll and yaw information that is made available to external applications via the communications port.

Additionally, an integrated temperature and pressure sensor allows the beacon to monitor its depth and auto-compute the enviromental velocity-of-sound. This information can be retreived by the surface beacon and used to enhance position fixes in a tracking application.