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If something is missing or hidden underwater, it"s likely tobe detected by an advanced side-scan sonar recently introducedcommercially to Atlantic Canada by Dominion Diving Ltd. ofDartmouth. "This high-resolution system represents a huge jump inunderwater imaging technology," Shawn MacPhail, operationsmanager at Dominion Diving, said Tuesday. The latest addition to the underwater search and survey digitaltool box at Dominion Diving looks a little like a torpedo connectedto a laptop. The imaging device, which looks to either side instead of lookingforward, creates an image of its surroundings as it is towedthrough the water. It"s called the EdgeTech 4125 Side-Scan Sonar System. A crew at Dominion Diving found themselves providing an unfortunateand welcomed demonstration of its underwater search prowess overthe weekend. An RCMP search team and many volunteers were desperately searchingfor the victim of an April 6 boating accident in Level Spot Lake inthe Musquodoboit Harbour area. Some volunteer searchers familiar with the capabilities of theEdgeTech side-scan sonar contacted Dominion Diving to seekassistance in the failed effort to find the victim"s body. About 90 minutes after arriving at the remote lake, the DominionDiving team operating the high-resolution scanner brought thefrustrating search to a conclusion. It was a development that would provide surviving family membersand friends of the victim some closure after the fatality. "With the side-scan sonar, we can accomplish a rapid searchof a large area and accurately zero in on the object of a searchvery quickly," said MacPhail. Challenging weather and unfriendly water bodies — of the sortthat had challenged the lake search for weeks — provided aproving ground for the portable underwater imaging device. It has significant implications for body recovery, surveying andsecurity, said MacPhail. "The image resolution is so high, it almost paints a pictureof what your looking at." High-resolution underwater side-scan sonars show their strength inprecarious, labour-intensive and time-consuming situations, whererescue workers and volunteers searchers can put themselves at riskwhen misfortune strikes. "Typically, when people drown, it does not happen in niceareas," MacPhail said. "The water body can often bedifficult to access and dangerous to search." The EdgeTech scanner is deployed from and towed behind a searchvessel, such as a zodiac. Technicians aboard the vessel use two laptops, one to navigatetheir way through the water body, the other to monitor the ahigh-resolution image of the bed coming from their "towfish" containing the sonar. Last year, a Dominion Diving team used the same technology to helpbring to resolution an insurance claim in New Brunswick by locatinga small electric trolling motor from a recreational vessel involvedin a lake collision with another vessel. "This little motor was all that was left," saidMacPhail. "It was small enough to hold in the palm of yourhand and we found it buried in the mud." Dominion Diving usually puts its new side-scan sonar to worksurveying the ocean bed for the offshore energy industry beforedrilling rigs are positioned. MacPhail said the company sees a growing market in Atlantic Canadafor the security surveillance capabilities of the system. ( bpower@herald.ca ). I am an expert from laser-beautymachine.com, while we provides the quality product, such as IPL RF Elight , China Cryolipolysis Machine, Cavitation Beauty Machine,and more.
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