High resolution bathymetric sidescan sonar (HRBSSS) is a kind of acoustical exploration device to measure sea depth, survey submarine topography and geomorphology and receive acoustic signals from different direction simultaneously. In 1980s, Institute of Acoustics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IACAS) started to study bathymetric sidescan sonar (BSSS). In the 1990s, however, researches of the BSSS encountered big blocks: firstly, bathymetry error in the nadir region is too large to produce useful results; secondly, in a complicated environment with multi-path acoustic wave propagation and complex seafloor topography, echoes from different directions cannot be separated by BSSS system. Therefore, HRBSSS emerged as the time requires. It could receive multiple angles-of-arrival in swath bathymetric imaging with higher resolution and efficiency. A theoretical HRBSSS system with signal processing, sonar array, error analysis and precision evaluation was then put forward by scientists in IACAS.
Through more than 10 years' restless efforts, a great breakthrough in the development of HRBSSS has been made by the scientists in our institute. In Oct. 2006, HRBSSS deep towing system successfully passed the field test in South China Sea deep in 3800 meters. The test results showed this system could work stably in underwater 3690 meters and the detection precision was higher than the standard demanded by International Hydrographic Organization (IHO). This progress indicates that China has possessed the whole kit of technologies and operating abilities in surveying submarine topography and geomorphology for exploring underwater resources and offshore oil field and testing small targets in the nadir region or in the sea.
Apart from its high resolution, HRBSSS is of lower power consumption and small size. It was granted not only one Chinese Invention Patent but also one American Invention Patent. Moreover, HRBSSS won the National Award for Technological Invention of 2nd grade. This device is especially suitable to be employed in AUV, HUV, ROV and towed body.
The research work and device development were supported by Chinese "the Tenth five-year-plan": one was termed as HRBSSS project, and the other Shallow Sea HRBSSS project. The former was cooperatedly accomplished by IACAS and 702 Institute of China State Shipbuilding Heavy Industry Corporation (CSSC), developing a HRBSSS deep towing system to detect the submarine topography and geomorphology in the deep sea. The latter was undertaken by IACAS independently, making HRBSSS system applicable in the shallow sea.