The acoustic beams in the fan of beams are organized in a fan oriented across the vessel’s direction. The number of beams in the fan is adjustable from 3 to 45, and the opening angles are adjustable. The configuration refers to the centre beam of the fan. As all the beams in the fan use the same element weight set, the other beams of the fan will have different opening angles
given by their frequency and steering angle.
The beam opening is controlled using the Transverse Beam Opening Angle and the Along Beam Opening Angle parameters. Athwart ship angle of the fan can be adjusted using the Transverse Centre of Fan parameter.
The along ship angle of the fan can be adjusted using the Along Centre Angle of Fan. Changing this parameter will shift the athwart ship steering angle of all the beams in the fan. The spacing between the beams in the fan is referred to as Distribution in space. In order to preserve processing capacity in the system, not all beams of the fan must be split beam processed. The number of beams to be split beam processed is controlled using the #Split Beams in Fan parameter. The split beams must form a continuous section of the fan. What part of the fan to be split beam processed is controlled using the Transverse Centre of Fan parameter for the split beam section. This parameter controls what beam number to be centre beam of the split beam section in the fan.
A Reference Beam is an acoustic beam set up to acquire data for comparison with a single beam reference echo sounder. The ME70 allows for configuration of maximum two of these beams.