Multibeam
QINSy is an integrated navigation system software package used extensively worldwide for acquiring and processing multibeam data.
The primary philosophy behind QINSy is to save time in processing, and the possible need for re-survey, by providing tools for real-time qualification of the raw data and on-the-fly correcting for offsets, motion, sound velocity refraction and height, to produce “final” xyz soundings as the survey proceeds.

online qc
An array of real-time quality assurance tools and displays are available to the online surveyor who is arguably in the best position to determine if collected data meets survey specifications. In addition to displaying the raw uncorrected multibeam data, the Swath Display shows the data fully corrected for motion, refraction and height.

sounding grid
A multi-layered “sounding grid” shown in the Navigation Display is populated with corrected soundings on-the-fly giving the surveyor a complete view of what has been surveyed. Sounding grid data attributes like the “95% confidence level” and “hit count” provide real-time quality assurance of collected data. Backscatter and/or sidescan/snippets imagery data is written to another layer of the sounding grid. Importing of a design DTM and/or previous survey allows real-time monitoring of DTM differences.

DTM files
In addition to gridded data, QINSy produces various other DTM files as well. Most well-known is the point cloud QPD file, opened directly in the QINSy Processing Manager and in Fledermaus to clean and validate the multibeam data.

calibration
To produce valid real-time DTMs, care must be taken during mobilization to measure offsets and perform calibrations, including calculation of the multibeam mounting angles. The slightest error in the mounting angle can influence the end result of the multibeam data. QINSy provides an automatic multibeam calibration routine, often referred to as the “patch test”.

preparation
If due care is taken at the outset to configure QINSy with offsets, mounting angles, SVPs and height settings, the many different displays can be used to their full potential to quality assure the incoming data and the computed results. With these QC tools the surveyor has full control of his data and is always aware of what is going on during the survey with the result that the recorded data is of high quality.

pre-cleaning
Data pre-cleaning during acquisition is possible if the surveyor activates certain clipping filters and de-spiking methods. No data is lost since all the raw data are stored in database files and/or XTF files and all results data are stored in QPD files, which are qualified with flag attributes consequent to pre-cleaning tests.

processing
XYZ data is cleaned and processed using the QINSy Processing Manager and/or Fledermaus. One of the main features in the Processing Manager is the navigation surface, which is a dynamic grid that updates itself as soon a modification to one or more of the QPD files is done.