Seafloor Planner 2.6: What’s New?

Seafloor Planner can now correctly handle project CRSes in feet, and other non-meter units of measurement. This means you can now:

• Create a project using a receiver and/or source polygon, where the polygon coordinates are in a foot-based CRS
• Import receiver and/or source lines from an SPS file, where the point coordinates are in a foot-based CRS, and continue to use the same CRS in your SFP project

To set up a project that uses easting and northing coordinates in feet, simply select the appropriate CRS on the Projection And Date tab of the Survey Parameters dialog.

All inputs other than easting and northing coordinates must be in metres.

Get an overview of expected survey progress at regular intervals throughout the survey plan, using the periodic report CSV export.

The export covers key statistics such as percent complete, receivers down, and cost information, with and without downtime. The exported data can then be used for further analysis, for example to create charts in Excel.

Run the export from: File > Export Periodic Report as CSV.

Receiver laying and collecting can now be managed in two ways, for rolling spread (progressive shooting) surveys:

• Laying and collecting in full lines: As soon as one receiver on a line is required, the whole receiver line is laid. Likewise, when none of the receivers on a line are required for upcoming source lines, the whole line is collected.
  If tiles (zippers) are in use, this applies within each tile.
• Laying and collecting as shots require: Receivers are laid as required for each successive shot line. This means that if only part of a receiver line needs to be down in order to complete a upcoming source line, only those specific receivers will be laid. Collecting also works in partial lines, meaning that receivers are collected as soon as they are no longer required, even if other receivers on the line are not yet available for collection.

Laying and collecting in full lines is often more efficient and for many surveys, it will result in a shorter overall duration. However, in some surveys, it may impact battery life and/or increase the number of receivers required to complete the survey, as some receivers may be deployed for longer than they would otherwise need to be.

Example: In the survey pictured below, source line 13 requires all receivers on receiver lines 1-5, but only some of the receivers on receiver lines 6-8.
In the first image, receiver handling in full lines is on, and all receivers on lines 6-8 have been laid prior to shooting source line 13.
In the second image, receiver handling as shots require is on, and only those receivers required for source line 13 have been laid. The remainder of the receivers on lines 6-8 will be laid as needed, for later source lines.

• Usability: Maximum number of sources per source vessel increased from three to 16
• Fixed: Collection of receivers in final patch in survey sometimes starts from an inefficient corner
• Fixed: Receivers sometimes not collected, in certain survey configurations using tiles with multiple receiver lines per sail line
• Fixed: Incorrect receiver line names in XPS exports, when laying multiple lines at once
• Fixed: Incorrect shot point numbering in SPS exports, when shot points have been generated within an imported polygon
• Fixed: Crash when attempting to create a project containing a single reciver, or receivers in the same location
• Fixed: Misleading warning message when there are not enough receivers to lay ahead according to the “up to # patches” lay ahead setting
• Fixed: Shot line names are not unique, when shot points are generated as part of source patterns
• Fixed: Wrong downtime durations reported in CSV exports, if Summary details panel downtime setting is “Use expected (incl downtime etc)”.
• Fixed: Simulation sometimes shows receiver vessel travelling at run in/run out speed instead of transit speed, if the turn radius is zero
• Fixed: “Distance” statistic is wrong in Selection Properties display, when a source vessel is selected
• Fixed: Receiver state changes to “down” slightly ahead of receiver vessel position on lay tasks