No abstract

Using inland waterway transport is economically justified in any region of the world, however to this day inland waterway freight and passenger transportation in Russian Federation constitutes not a big fraction of the total amount of traffic even as the total length of navigational waterways in Russia is more than one hundred thousand kilometers and the length of today valid navigational waterways is more than seventy thousand kilometers. There are two major reasons for this situation. The first one is a lack of quality up-to-date nautical electronical charts covering navigable sections of inland waterways. Providing the region with valid electronical cartographic resources over a short period of time is possible only by introducing innovative technologies. The second one is navigational and hydrographic support quality. In order to resolve both issues simultaneously, authors suggest using automated hydrographic sweeping systems, allowing for prompt conduction of inland surveys, dragging and sweeping at rather low operating costs. Additionally, it will provide an opportunity for partial automation of the chart manufacturing process like automated hydrographic survey systems do, which in turn will lead to a wider use of the region's inland waterways by cargo and passenger vessels in the future. This paper describes issues that can be solved by means of automated hydrographic sweeping systems, equipment used by the systems, and basic algorithms for calculating and correcting measured parameter values (level, antenna lowering, calibration, vessel subsidence in shallow waters, distance between the satellite navigation system and the echo sounder antennae), as well as techniques for the evaluation of the accuracy of depth values received by an echo sounder.