June 1, 2021
Israeli drone service provider ERELIS recently conducted a number of pilot projects using a drone equipped with a single-beam echosounder in the Mediterranean and Dead Sea. The reference bathymetric data was collected using a manned boat and multi-beam and single-beam echosounders and demonstrated a good match between the results of new drone-based and traditional methods.
The data was validated by authorized local surveyors and reports from previous surveys of the same areas by Michmoret Campus - Faculty of Marine Sciences, which is part of the Ruppin Academic Center.
Hydro sensing meets hydrography
The bathymetric system consisted of a standard commercial DJI drone (UgCS SkyHub onboard computer and terrain following system with radar altimeter) and Echologger ECT400 single-beam echosounder provided by SPH Engineering, Latvia. For data processing, the Eye4Software Hydromagic software package was employed.