Welcome to the Open Sonar Project!
Welcome to the Open Sonar Project education portal. On this website you will find all the information and resources you need to create your very own version of the Open Sonar System and Vessel. The Open Sonar Project is entirely open-source, so we hope you will contribute to the resources available here as you work through your project!
If you are not sure what the Open Sonar Project is, the following is a bit of a description of the project so far. Check out the Future Projects page if you want to see more about the vision of how the project could develop in the future!
A bit of background on the Open Sonar Project:
Although current hydrographic survey technology and practices produce incredible products, the complexity and cost of the systems required constrain the opportunities available to learn the basics of ocean mapping. The Open Sonar Project (OSP) imagines a world where learning the basics of hydrographic survey system configuration, data acquisition, data processing, and data visualization are not constrained by high costs and complex setups, and instead are available at low-cost in an open-source format.
Initially conceived as an engineering senior design project at the University of New Brunswick, the OSP has developed a simple singlebeam sonar system, uncrewed surface vessel, and education platform entirely using low-cost hardware and open-source software created for the project. The education platform contains lessons to allow any user – even one with no hydrographic experience – to construct a fully functioning uncrewed singlebeam survey platform and gain a working knowledge of the basics of hydrography and hydrographic surveying.
Applications for use of the OSP are many and varied. Already it has been used alongside more complex survey systems during an intensive university level hydrographic surveying course. Beyond formal education, it provides a partial solution to the need for increased awareness of and education in hydrography with the rise of crowdsourced bathymetry. It can also be used as a low-stakes research platform for developing autonomy or cloud data sharing from uncrewed vessels.
The Open Sonar Project is designed for collaboration. In its current form it is intentionally basic to facilitate teaching those with no prior hydrographic knowledge. However, its modular and open-source philosophy will allow it to grow, adapt, and incorporate more advanced concepts and technologies over time.