The Ping360 scanning sonar is a mechanical scanning imaging sonar. It’s designed primarily to be used on the BlueROV2 and other ROVs for navigation in low-visibility water conditions, but it’s also suited for applications such as inspection, obstacle avoidance, target location and tracking, autonomous systems development, and more!
Ping360 Scanning Imaging Sonar
€2,723.00
SKU: PING360-SONAR-R1-RP
The Ping360 is a mechanical scanning sonar for navigation and imaging. It has a 50 meter (165 foot) range, 300 meter (984 foot) depth rating, and an open-source software interface that makes it a capable tool for ROV navigation and underwater acoustic imaging.
The Ping360 comes with everything needed for use on the BlueROV2.
Product Description
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What is a Scanning Sonar?
If you’re new to scanning sonars, here’s how it works: inside the Ping360 is an acoustic transducer that sends a narrow beam of acoustic energy into the water and then listens back for echoes. That transducer is mounted to a motor that rotates it in one degree increments and as it does this it generates a circular image of the sonar’s surroundings with a maximum range of 50 meters (165 feet). The result is similar to what you might see from a weather radar on the local news or a laser scanner on an autonomous robot. Here’s an example of a scan of dock pilings straight ahead of the BlueROV2:
When mounted on an ROV, the scanning sonar gives you a top-down view of the ROV’s surroundings. You can see echoes from objects like ropes, walls, dock pilings, rocks, shipwrecks, boats, fish, and any other structures or objects that reflect sound waves. With that, you have reference points to navigate from, regardless of water visibility, and you can locate important features in the water quickly. Here’s an example of a 120 degree sector scan showing a rope in front of the sonar:
What’s Inside
The Ping360 is designed with an oil-filled section at the top that houses the acoustic transducer and an air-filled section at the bottom. It has an anodized aluminum case and a 1 meter (3.3 foot) cable with a pre-installed cable penetrator. It’s rated to a maximum depth of 300 meters (984 feet). The bottom has four M3 mounting holes and interfaces with an included bracket that makes it easy to install on the BlueROV2 and in other applications.
The sonar operates at an acoustic frequency of 750 kHz and has a beam width of 2 degrees horizontally and 25 degrees vertically. Electrically, it can be powered from any clean 11-25 V power source and it communicates via USB, RS485, or Ethernet.
User Interface
The Ping360 connects to the open source Ping-Viewer application for control and data display. Ping-Viewer runs on Windows, Mac, and Linux and can connect to the Ping360 through a direct connection to the computer or through the Companion web interface on the BlueROV2.
For those who wish to integrate the Ping360 scanning sonar into other systems and access the data directly, it communicates with a binary message format called the Ping-Protocol. We’ve have Arduino and Python libraries for the Ping-Protocol to get you up and running almost immediately.
Check out the Technical Details and Learn tabs above for more information!
Contents
Technical Details
Learn
Sonar
- 1 x Ping360 scanning sonar with pre-installed cable and M10 penetrator
- 1 x Penetrator Nut
- 1 x Penetrator O-ring
Mounting Hardware
- 1 x Ping360 mounting bracket
- 4 x M3x5 button head cap screws
- 2 x M5x12 button head cap screws
Wiring
- 1 x 4-pin JST-GH to 4-pin JST-GH adapter PCB
- 1 x 4-pin JST-GH to USB-A adapter (for USB configuration)
- 1 x 4-pin JST-GH to male header pin adapter (for RS-485 configuration)
Specifications
| Parameter | Value | |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical | ||
| Maximum Supply Voltage | 25 volts | |
| Minimum Supply Voltage | 11 volts | |
| Maximum Power Consumption | 5 W | |
| Communication Protocols | USB, Ethernet, RS485 | |
| Cable | ||
| Cable Diameter | 4.5 mm | 0.18 in |
| Cable Length | 1 m | 40 in |
| Cable Jacket | Black Polyurethane | |
| Conductor Insulation | FEP | |
| Conductor Gauge | 28 AWG | |
| Power Wires | Black | Ground |
| Red | Vin | |
| USB Configuration | Orange-White | Vsense |
| Green-White | D- | |
| Green | D+ | |
| Orange | GND | |
| Ethernet Configuration | Orange-White | TX+ |
| Green-White | RX+ | |
| Green | RX- | |
| Orange | TX- | |
| RS485 Configuration | Orange-White | Not Used |
| Green-White | D- | |
| Green | D+ | |
| Orange | GND | |
| Acoustics | ||
| Frequency | 750 kHz | |
| Beamwidth - Horizontal | 2° | |
| Beamwidth - Vertical | 25° | |
| Minimum Range | 0.75 m | 2.5 ft |
| Maximum Range | 50 m | 165 ft |
| Range Resolution | 0.08% of range | |
| Range Resolution at 50m | 4.1 cm | 1.61 in |
| Range Resolution at 2m | 1.6 mm | 0.06 in |
| Mechanical Resolution | 0.9° | |
| Scanned Sector | Variable up to 360° | |
| Scan Speed at 2 m | 9 sec / 360° * | |
| Scan Speed at 50 m | 35 sec / 360° * | |
| Continous 360 degree scan? | Yes | |
| Mounting Angle Offset? | Yes | |
| Physical | ||
| Pressure Rating | 300 m | 984 ft |
| Temperature Range | 0-30°C | 32-86°F |
| Weight in Air (w/ cable) | 510 g | 18 oz |
| Weight in Water (w/ cable) | 175 g | 6.17 oz |
| Sonar Mounting Screw Size | M3x0.5 x 5 mm | |
| Mounting Bracket Screw Size | M5x0.8 x 12 mm | |
Quick Start
1. Download Ping-Viewer for your operating system.
2. Connect the power wires (red and black wires) into open screw power terminals (11-25VDC).
Ensure the power wires are correctly installed (positive and negative) before the device is powered on. Ping360 does not have any reverse polarity protection and the Processor Board will be damaged if powered incorrectly.
3. Plug the JST-GH to JST-GH inline connection board into JST-GH connector coming from the Ping360.
4. Plug the JST-GH to USB-A cable into the other end of the JST-GH to JST-GH inline connection board.
5. Plug the JST-GH to USB cable (USB side) into a computer.
6. Start Ping-Viewer and the sonar display and scanning should automatically start.
Guides
Ping-Viewer Wiki/Guide
Changing Communications Interface on the Ping360
Learn how to change the communications interfaces on the Ping360 for different applications.
Understanding and Using Scanning Sonars
Learn how to interpret scanning sonar imagery and how to use it on ROVs with this guide.