REAL-TIME SOUNDING REDUCTION USING RTK-GPS

MARK AUGUSTINE ANAK SARIP AND DR. OTHMAN MOHD YUSOF

Department Of Surveying Science And Geomatics, Faculty Of Architecture, Planning And Surveying, Universiti Teknologi Mara, 40450 Shah Alam, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia Email: markojack90@yahoo.com

ABSTRACT Global Positioning System or its abbreviation GPS is very well known today not only in the surveying industries but also in other industries such as in computer and electronics. The use of GPS helps a lot especially in getting position for todays overrated car GPS but looking at the surveying side the latest GPS technology used in hydrographic survey is to acquire realtime reduced sounding and tide. The important parameters for sounding reduction are to collect depth and tide data. In conventional way, sounding reduction can be acquired in postprocessing after tide reading by using tide gauge has been reduced. Different situation when using the GPS RTK-Tide concept where sounding reduction and tide reduction can be calculated simultaneously without need to monitor the tide observation station. Keywords: sounding reduction, hydrographic survey, Topcon Hiper GA GPS, RTK- Tide 1.0 Introduction for potential danger or resource. With the new side scan sonar technology today, single-beam survey is no longer the primary method to map the seafloor. Each of the survey purposes focus in specific objective for example, safe navigation will more related to determining safe route for navigation that needs data collection such as the depths. Depth data collections are become more efficient after echo sounder complete with sounding paper trace are created and instantly change how hydrographers may work without manually charting the data any longer. Modern hydrography equipments for collecting data also means very good and complicated software for processing it are needed. It is a major challenge for surveying company to choose suitable software to be used that have the credibility and user1

With the help of the vast development of technologies in hydrographic survey such as the use of GPS, data collection process can be made easier for getting accurate and precise data. Looking back at the early years of hydrographic survey, hand-held calibrated lead sounding chain is used for depth measurement but after studies and research are made regarding sonar, echo sounder was born to replace it. The same goes to GPS today when Real Time Kinematic technique is introduced to enhance the accuracy in GPS for positioning and collecting data in realtime. According to (Resource Supply, 2008) , back in the 1980s when GPS was first used for surveying; the only way to obtain centimeter-level positioning with GPS was via post-processing. Hydrographic survey is very useful for safe navigation, dredging and mapping the seabed

friendly that may also give quality survey works. The difference made in software interface lead to some difference in working methodology for the survey works. Data processing have become more easier today when the components required are become affordable with fairly reasonable price compared to in the hard-early years of hydrographic survey. Before the application of RTK-Tide in hydrographic survey industry, tide measurements are conducted using the ageto-age conventional techniques whether by tide gauge or manually by using tape. So in this project, GPS is used to produce RTKTide values and produce sounding reduction after post-processing and adjustments have been done. Also by carry out the conventional method for tide reading, comparisons are made between the reduced sounding produced by the two different methods. This is stated in (Corporation, 2008), RTK-GPS eliminates the need to use conventional tide gauges or to assign personnel to monitor tide staffs because of the vertical accuracy that within few centimeters. However, geoid separation between ellipsoid and MSL need to be predetermined. 1.1 Aim To conduct a simulation survey by using GPS that produces acceptable sounding reductions from RTK-Tide concept and by comparing with the conventional tide method. 1.2 Objectives To prepare an informative and guiding literature review that will help the real-time sounding reduction process by integrating RTK-GPS and echo sounder.

To conduct cost and time-saving simulation survey that can produce acceptable level of accuracy. Compare sounding reduction from GPS RTK-Tide concept and from orthometric height by GPS-Leveling method. Compare sounding reduction from GPS RTK-Tide concept and conventional tide method. Verification of sounding reduction data and results. Provide ideas and techniques in carrying out the simulation survey in order to improve results for future studies. Prepare a project dissertation that meets the required standard and format. 1.2 Bathymetry Survey Bathymetry survey is a study related to the underwater area such as river and the sea where depth is acquired using special equipments transmitting acoustic beam then later produce a chart which shows the contour or topography of the survey area. According to (Agency, 2012), bathymetric surveys are generally conducted with a transducer which both transmits a sound pulse from the water surface (usually attached to a boat) and records that same signal when it bounces from the bottom of the water body. The most widely used as a data collection technique in hydrographic survey is the single-beam method. Single-beam echo sounder have three types of frequency; high, low and dual. As the name tells, single-beam method transmits a single acoustic signal that is converted by the transducer before the pulse transmits to the sea bottom. As stated in (Management, 2010) the depth under the survey vessel is then calculated from the

two-way travel time of pulses and the mean speed of sound over the water column: Distance = 0.5 x (Travel Time) x (Sound Velocity) Single-beam method is best used for small survey area or few sounding lines which also can cut down the cost to implement. Figure 1 below shows how sonar is transmitted in order to measure depth.

earth's shape (Fraczek, 2003) . This statement stated that the earths shape is very complex that will affect the accuracy of GPS heights in different part of the earth. The complex shape causes the inconsistence of the ellipsoid height measure from GPS at a point that may change over time within few centimeters. Ellipsoid height of the GPS is measured by the satellites by using triangulation method. As for orthometric heights that are reduced from the mean sea level, it is indicated as a zero datum for a local area as stated in (Fraczek, 2003). The traditional leveling method and the national height datum give orthometric heights which are above geoid where geoid is determined by earths gravity. As a result, the uneven shape of geoid with different gravity may cause different of geoid in every part of the world. The Figure 9 below explains how ellipsoid and geoid or orthometric heights are derived by referring to the ellipsoid and geoid model respectively for each unknown points.

Figure 1 - Single-beam echo sounder (Image from: Ozcoasts (Geoscience Australia),2012) 1.3 GPS-Leveling GPS can calculate an unknown points position and elevation by using at least 4 or more satellites available because it is needed that each 4 of the satellites are used to calculate the X, Y, Z and time for the point. GPS heights or also known as ellipsoid height are difficult to fix at a constant value because of its inconsistence compared to mean sea level heights that are always normal from the geoid. It must be known that ellipsoid does not physically exist because it is only a mathematical model which is different compared to geoid that exists physically. The accuracy of GPS height measurements depends on several factors but the most crucial one is the "imperfection" of the

Figure 2 - Orthometric height, ellipsoid height and the datum separation (Image from: http://principles.ou.edu/earth_figure_gravity/ geoid/index.html)

1.4 Global Positioning System GPS Global Positioning System or well-known as GPS is a very special equipment that can be use for navigation to measure position X and Y and also the height that is measured from a mathematical model that does not exist named ellipsoid. Originally GPS navigation is used by the military service to determine accurate positions such as for targeting missiles. According to (Group, 2012), GPS receivers take information transmitted from the satellites and uses triangulation to calculate a users exact location. Also stated in (Leica, 1999), GPS is a satellite-based system that uses a constellation of 24 satellites to give a user an accurate position. Relationship of using this method in this thesis is to get the acceptable Z value in order to reduce tide and sounding from two different methods in the two different surveys. So there must be at least 4 satellites in order to measure 3D position because each of the satellites will give the, X, Y, Z and time to the point. This is stated in (Group, 2012), ideally, four or more satellites are needed to plot a 3D position, which is much more accurate. Also stated in (Leica, 1999), observing to four satellites produces four equations which can be solved, enabling these unknowns to be determined. This topic will cover the possibilities and limitations and error sources in GPS. In Figure 3, three segments of GPS that consist of space, control and user are shown. Basically the space segment is the satellite that will orbit the earth and arranged in the correct order so that GPS receiver can receive signals at least from 4 satellites. This is also mentioned by (Group, 2012), the satellites are arranged in their orbits so a GPS receiver on earth can receive a signal from at least four satellites at any given time. High altitude of the satellites makes a greater coverage of signal made available. The control segments act as to control and monitor the satellite.

Figure 3 Elevation Determination of RTK-DGPS principle (Image source: (Group, 2012))

1.5 Depth and RTK-Tide Determination using GPS As mention in (Corporation, 2008), Real Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS receivers can measure the latitude, longitude and height above the WGS-84 reference ellipsoid to within a few centimeters. Using this vertical accuracy, users can determine water level corrections or tide corrections as a result eliminate the need to use conventional tide gauges or to assign personnel to monitor tide staffs as stated by (Nor Aklima Bte Che Awang, 2011). By using autonomous GPS as the method of acquiring position, it can also determine the GPS heights of the point but may vary in terms of accuracy. As mentioned earlier, the objective of this research is to study the concept of RTK-Tide to determine tide values. Determination of separation between the WGS-84 reference ellipsoid and the appropriate sounding datum in the survey area is also the key concept to be predetermined. N separation produced by the NMEA sentence in the GPS cannot be trusted and used practically thus the orthometric heights calculated also cannot be trusted. This is stated in (Esri, Unknown), due to storage constraints on the GPS
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receiver, these geoid separations are not the most accurate. Consequently, the MSL height output in the $GPGGA sentence could be based on geoid separation values that are not sufficiently accurate for your height accuracy requirements.

Figure 12 shows how GPS determines the N separation at the benchmark. Reduced sounding concept is explained in Figure 13.

Figure 4 Datum Separation Determination at Benchmark

Figure 5 Depth Determination at GPS receiver

Where: N = Datum Separation between Ellipsoid reference and MSL A = Height of the GPS Antenna above the Ellipsoid reference H = Height of the GPS Antenna D = Depth

Reduced sounding can be calculated from the reduced tide both from conventional tide reading method and RTK-Tide method. Comparison between both methods can be done to enhance the result. Reduced sounding can be calculated from the following formula: Reduced Sounding = Sounding Depth Reduced Tide

So what can be said is accurate reduced sounding can be acquired from an accurate reduced tide and sounding datum by using GPS and also calibrated equipments used to do the survey also take into account. It is always to bear in mind that the RTK-Tide method generates correct sounding datum whether dynamic draft is measured or not. This is mentioned by (Sanders, 2003), the RTK Tide method generates correct Chart Soundings whether you measure the dynamic draft or not.

1.6 Software Hydrographic navigation software in this modernization days keep developing from one to another new updates for the easiness and time-saving task in hydrographic survey. They have their own advantages and disadvantages depend on the user and the use of the software for a particular survey task. The software is mainly used for data collection, navigation and processing of operations which may include survey works such as simple single-beam survey, multibeam survey, dredging, rigmove, pipelaying and side scan sonar to name a few. The interfacing and integration of the software with bundles of hydrographic survey equipment such as the sensors as well as storage of data are important aspect of the software. Figure 6 below shows the examples of the software popularly used today.

Figure 6 Hydrographic Survey software 1.7 Error Sources According to (IHO, 2008), contributing factors to the vertical uncertainty that are stated in STANDARDS FOR HYDROGRAPHIC SURVEYS include: a) Vertical datum errors;
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b) Vertical positioning system errors; c) Tidal measurement errors, including co-tidal errors where appropriate; d) Instrument errors; e) Sound speed errors; f) Ellipsoidal / vertical datum separation model errors; g) Vessel motion errors, i.e. roll, pitch and heave; h) Vessel draught; i) Vessel settlement and squat; j) Sea floor slope; and k) Time synchronisation / latency. 2.0 Methodology

whether the objectives for this study are achieved. In this study, there are two surveys that have been carried out which consist of some difference in the methodology. 1st Survey is done at non-tidal area which is at Tasik Taman Desa Alam, Shah Alam and 2nd Survey is done at tidal and dynamic area which is at Jeti Pulau Ketam, Port Klang.

1) 1st Survey 2) 2nd Survey 2.1 1st Survey

GPS is a brand new technology that takes the world by storm with its tremendous accuracies from meter so centimetre-level. Software-choosing part is also important in this thesis which will impact the result quality and how the data will be collected. For data collection, HydroPro Navigation is used for all kinds of configurations and parameters required. For data processing, NavEdit is used to create tide file and export the data in text files.. The methodology for this simulation can be categorized into four main phases. 1) 1st Phase - Planning 2) 2nd Phase - Evaluation equipments 3) 3rd Phase - Data Collection 4) 4th Phase - Data Processing of

The objective this survey is to compare sounding reductions by RTK-Tide and by orthometric height of TBM 2. Planning process consists of site reconnaissance, equipments and software required by referring to the literature reviews prepared that will guide through the study. After the concept of the study has been understood, the equipments and software required are also need to be list down for easy planning to be done. Lastly, the site needs to be visited to determine the nearest benchmarks, data collection station and any obstacles that may delay the survey process. HydroPro software needs to be configured correctly to make sure data collection process run smoothly. After the planning process has completed, the 2nd Phase consists of the equipments that are going to be evaluated and tested for functionality. The main equipments used in this study are: 1) TOPCON Hiper GA GPS 2) ODOM Hydrotrac Echo Sounder. The most important thing to be done is to test the NMEA output sent by GPS receiver to HydroPro via the GPS software which is PCCDU. NMEA output need to be sent from PCCDU before HydroPro can be used
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The 1st Phase is the planning process that is very important to guide the survey. The 2nd Phase will be the evaluation of equipments which is necessary to determine the equipments related and not related for the survey. 3rd Phase is the data collection and the 4th Phase will be the processing stage where all the data collected are bring up together for processing and later to determine

for collecting data from the GPS and echo sounder. In the 3rd Phase, the equipments evaluated are used to begin collecting the data required for the study. Data collection process is very important to be done carefully because if the data collected is wrong because of human error done in the equipment or software used, the survey needs to be done all over again. There are two observations done in this survey. 1) Observation 1 2) Observation 2 The 4th Phase is going to be the data processing stage. The navigation project of this survey is opened in NavEdit in order to view all the data collected during the data collection process. After done editing the data, then they will be exported into text file in order to do further data analysis and comparisons in Microsoft Excel. 2.2 2nd Survey The objective of this survey is to compare sounding reductions by RTK-Tide and by conventional method (tide reading). Similar to the 1st Survey, planning is a vital process in any survey before it can start. They are: 1) Site reconnaissance 2) Equipments preparation configuration 3) Software selection configuration and and

of listing down the equipments related for the survey such as the GPS, echo sounder, generator, data cables and toughbook. Before primary survey task can commence, equipments need to be configured. Related software for this study are HydroPro Nav, NavEdit, PCCDU and TopSURV. The 2nd Phase which is evaluation of equipments is similar with the one done in the 1st Survey. GPS configurations and integrations with software need to be done and checked. The data collection phase for the primary survey is different from the 1st Survey. The procedures are explained in the Survey Procedure topic. Positions and depth are collected after integrating GPS and echo sounder with toughbook through HydroPro software. NMEA output need to be send from PCCDU software first before data collection can start in HydroPro. Tide observation is done by dipping method and collected every 5 minutes interval. Lastly the 4th Phase consist of processing the data collected such the tide data. Tide readings collected by using manual technique need to be processed in NavEdit software in order to generate tide graph. Also in NavEdit, sounding reduction also generated as soon as the tide data have been inserted in the software. Decisions and conclusions will be made as soon as the processing phase has to an end. The objective for the study then can be determine to be successful or else. To enhance this study in the future, recommendations also are made by referring to the suggestions and limitations encountered. conducted at Jetty Pulau Ketam, Port Klang. Both surveys produce two different results. The main equipments that will be used for the research are dual-frequency GPS, echo sounder, and toughbook with hydrography navigational software installed. Data collection and processing is done by using
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Site reconnaissance is to determine the survey stations, tide station, nearby benchmarks and obstacles that may impact the survey. Equipments preparation consist 2.1 Area of Research This research consists of two surveys. 1st survey is conducted at a lake near Taman Desa Alam, Shah Alam and 2nd survey is

the best software chosen. The final result will be the sounding reductions by using GPS by comparing them with sounding reductions from orthometric height and conventional tide. Figure 7 and 8 shows the locations for the study.

software installed is used during the data collection process. HydroPro NAV is used for data collection and to determine the required data sources for the study. For post-processing, NavEdit is used to process the tide data in order to produce sounding reduction data. AutoCAD software is used for plan preparation for plotting the positions of the rover points. 2.3 2.3.1 Survey Procedure 1st Survey

Figure 7 1st Survey at Tasik Taman Desa Alam

1. Pre-Survey a) GPS leveling was done at the TBM 1 to the rover station (TBM 2) in order to transfer orthometric height. N separation value is acquired from subtracting ellipsoid height with orthometric height at TBM 1. b) Base station should be made nearer to the rover in order to achieve good level of accuracy. The base station is configured by using the GPS controller to setup the RTK mode for the base receiver. c) At rover station, RTK mode is setup by using PCCDU software in the toughbook. Connection between base and rover receiver also made by using the software. Check if RTK mode is displayed in the software to confirm that the method used is correct. 2. Primary Survey a) The base station need to be started by applying the known coordinates and height before correction can be sent to the rover. b) GPS is attached to the transducer and is dipped into the water. The antenna height is measured from the top of the GPS until the water surface. c) Two observations are done for this survey. The difference between the observations is the 2nd observation will need to add a constant value to
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Figure 8 2nd Survey done at Jeti Pulau Ketam 2.2 Equipments and Software The main equipments used for this study are TOPCON Hiper GA GPS for positioning purpose both in rover and base station. ODOM Hydrotrac echo sounder is used to determine the depth measurements. Toughbook with HydroPro navigation

the antenna height which is 0.5 meters. On the other hand, the TBM 2 height for the rover also needs to be added up with that constant value. Both observations are done at four minutes data recording time. N separation calculated at TBM 1 is used during the survey to get the RTK-Tide values. d) After both observations have done, the data processing process need to be carried out. Microsoft Excel is

used to query the data in order to calculate the difference between sounding reductions and heights. Standard deviations of the sounding reductions, heights and differences of both observations also are made. e) Survey stations are shown in Figure 9 below. f) Figure of Observation 1 and 2 are shown in Figure 10 and 11 respectively.

Figure 9 Survey Stations for 1st Survey seen from Google Earth

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Figure 10 Observation 1

Figure 11 Observation 2 2.3.2 2nd Survey 1. Pre-Survey a) Base station need to be established with known coordinates. b) Base station can start transmitting corrections as soon as it has been configured by using the GPS controller in RTK mode. The base is located beside the road nearby the jetty and not too far from the rover station. c) Rover stations need to be prepared with all the equipments such as echo
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sounder, GPS and transducer attached together and the generator work properly. The equipments need to be setup in correct arrangement to avoid any accident. d) Tide observation location need to be establish at known TBM point. The TBM point is established by using levelling method. 2. Primary Survey a) Integration of equipments needs to be done before starting the data acquisition process. Need to be making sure that GPS and echo sounder connected properly with the toughbook. Configuration of HydroPro settings need to be

checked. once more to avoid any wrong-collected data. b) As soon as the rover received corrections from the base station, data collection can start. The observation is done for an hour of time. N separation from NMEA sentence is used in this survey. c) After observation ends, processing of the data by using NavEdit and Microsoft Excel can be made. Tide and sounding reduction in conventional method can be made in NavEdit while data query and comparisons are done in Microsoft Excel. AutoCAD is used for making plan for the points positions. d) Survey stations are shown in Figure 10 below.

Figure 12 Survey Stations from seen from Google Earth

3.0

Results

In this study, the results are presented in tables and plans. The tables are consists of reduced soundings comparisons between observations and also comparisons between

RTK-Tide and orthometric height. The plans are made from plotting the points of the data. Figure 10 shows sample of sounding reductions table for the simulation surveys. Figure 11 shows the plan of plotted points of the data. Figure 9 below shows the tide graph done in 2nd Survey.

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Figure 13 Tide Graph

Figure 14 Table of sounding reductions comparison

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Figure 15 Reduced Depth Graph

4.0

Conclusions

This study concluded that some of the objectives are achieved but some others are not. The achieved objectives are to carry out sounding reduction by using RTK-Tide concept with GPS and to provide informative guidelines to carry out the survey. RTK-Tide concept can be used to replace the conventional method but lots of other aspect to be consider of such as the practical use of RTK-GPS in the middle of the sea where the corrections signal might be limited. 4.1 Recommendations 4.2

b) Instead by applying RTK Tide technique for single beam survey, also use the technique for multi-beam survey. c) Using Post-Processing Kinematic technique for sounding reductions or any hydrographic survey. d) Conducting this study by designing sounding and cross line instead of doing a simulation where bathymetry plans, contour and Digital Elevation Model cannot be made.

Acknowledgement

Based from the research that has been carried out, there are some recommendations which can improve the result and some other aspects such as the methodology and analysis aspects. a) By replacing the autonomous GPS method to RTK or network RTK in VRS to transmit carrier phase correction to the rover station also can be done in the future.

In this very special section written with total emotion, I would like to give thanks and praise to the Almighty God for guiding me in fulfillment to finish this research with many highs and lows. Thank you to my parents, my friends for all the supportive words and also to my supervisor Dr. Othman for all the knowledge and advices. Last but not least, thank you to Yiyam for the encouragements.

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4.3

References 2012, from Hydrographic Office Marine Management: http://www.hydro.gov.hk/basic/single.htm Nor Aklima Bte Che Awang, R. O. (2011). Hydrographic Survey Using Real Time Kinematic Method For River Deepening. Geoinformation Science Journal, Vol.11, No.1 , 1-14. Resource Supply, L. (2008). RTK (Real Time Kinematic) Basics for Surveying. Retrieved from Resource Supply, LLC: http://www.resourcesupplyllc.com/ Tim Cawood, P. (1 April, 2004 ). Shoreline Success. Retrieved 17 June, 2012, from Point of Beginning: http://www.pobonline.com/Articles/Cover_S tory/56bf56559e0f6010VgnVCM100000f93 2a8c0 Wong, C. (2000). NOS RTK TEAM FINAL REPORT. Office of Coast Survey.

Agency, U. E. (2012). Bathymetric Survey. Retrieved from Region 5 Superfund: http://www.epa.gov/region5fields/bathymetr y.html Corporation, T. (2008). Using RTK GPS in HYPACK(TM) for Real Time Water Levels. Retrieved from Toyo Corporation: http://www.toyo.co.jp/kaiyo/Hypack/rtk.html Fraczek, W. (September, 2003). Mean Sea Level, GPS, and the Geoid. Retrieved December, 2012, from Esri: http://www.esri.com/news/arcuser/0703/geoi d1of3.html GMV. (2011). Real Time Kinematics. Retrieved 17 June, 2012, from Navipedia: http://www.navipedia.net/index.php/Real_Ti me_Kinematics IHO. (February, 2008). Standards Hydrographic Surveys. S-44 , p. 23. for

Management, H. O. (2010). Single-Beam Echo-Sounding Principle. Retrieved 16 June,

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