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Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

  • 1.  Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-08-2024 08:13

    Hi Trimble Community, 

    I'm an aquatic ecologist interested in using boat-based sonar to generate high resolution river bathymetry and substrate maps. I use Humminbird Helix9 and Lowrance HDS Pro10 sonar units, both of which have Bluetooth capabilities. I'd like to use my suite of Trimble products to override the on-board GPS units on my sonars with higher-precision GNSS spatial information (I believe via NMEA 0183). Is this possible with my Trimble hardware and software and, if so, how can I accomplish this? I have not been able to find clear information online regarding whether this is possible. 

    Please forgive my lack of technical knowledge regarding survey equipment. My background is in fish and flow science. 

    Thanks in advance for your help. 

    Cheers,

    Bryan



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    Bryan Bozeman
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  • 2.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-09-2024 10:00

    Bryan,

    The Catalyst DA2 system does not support NMEA out. It's a pay to play system that's super convenient but does not support NMEA out or static logging. Ideally, you would have your sonar system stream readings out via bluetooth to an android device (and associated app) and then the GNSS from the DA2 streams to the android device via bluetooth with Trimble Mobile Manager running with mock locations enabled. I don't believe that you can do it the other way around unless your sonar has their own android app that support GNSS via android location services. If you truly need NMEA out, you would want to look into a Trimble R2 or R580 using VRS or RTX corrections.



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    Zach Edwards
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  • 3.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-10-2024 12:29

    Thanks for the response, Zach! I'll look into this strategy. 

    This may be a silly question, but if I ran both the sonar GPS and the Trimble DA2 simultaneously (and if both record timestamps with each position reading), could I simply replace the GPS position readings with the GNSS readings based on shared timestamps? I'm guessing not, but just trying to explore all of my options. 

    Some Trimble dealers seem to think I could accomplish my task using Trimble Access, but since my use case sits between GIS and survey specialties (and is unusual for these types of devices), no one seems to know for sure. 

    Thanks again for the insight. I'll continue exploring. 



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    Bryan Bozeman
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  • 4.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-11-2024 13:08

    Quote

    This may be a silly question, but if I ran both the sonar GPS and the Trimble DA2 simultaneously (and if both record timestamps with each position reading), could I simply replace the GPS position readings with the GNSS readings based on shared timestamps?

    I don't see why this wouldn't work - certainly it's cheaper than buying a Trimble Access license.  Since your sonar has a GPS it should give reliable GNSS time stamps which should match the DA2 time stamps (although those may be in UTM or in the local time zone so you'd need to take that into account including the 18 GPS Leap Seconds.)  Without thinking too deeply, I'd say you need DA2 with subscription for whatever accuracy level you want plus TMM on Android to control DA2 and supply corrections and some app (not necessarily a paid app since you don't want to do much with it) which records the position in Android on a second-by-second basis.  iPhone might also do it but I avoid those personally.



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    Norman Smart
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  • 5.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 12-23-2024 08:32
    Edited by enzo far 12-24-2024 01:21

    The Catalyst DA2 doesn't support NMEA output. Use it with Trimble Mobile Manager for GNSS streaming via Bluetooth. For NMEA, try a Trimble R2 or R580. Manage Spotify streaming carefully to avoid conflicts.



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    enzo far
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  • 6.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-09-2024 14:16

    The Trimble DA2 uses Trimble RTX as a correction source. This correction is geo-fenced to work for land based solutions. It is capable of sending NMEA based corrections via bluetooth but my concern would be how far off shore you require accurate positioning. If it is over 10 miles it will not receive corrections. You could contact a Trimble dealer local to your region to test and verify. 



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    Mel Philbrook
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  • 7.  RE: Connecting Trimble DA2 (with Catalyst 30 and TDC600) to boat-based sonar

    Posted 11-10-2024 12:32

    Hi Mel, 

    Thanks for the response! I should have specified that I work in rivers, so I'd be using the boat-based sonar and Trimble GNSS equipment along a 5 km stretch of river that is never more than ~200m wide. 

    I've had a few conversations with Trimble dealers who seem to think I could accomplish my task with a Trimble Access subscription, but since it's an unusual use case, no one seems to know for sure. They seem confident that the DA2 is capable of sending NMEA sentences via bluetooth but are less sure how it could simultaneously send those to the TDC600 while the TDC600 also engages wirelessly with the boat-based sonar. 

    I'll contact our sales rep at our local dealer to see if we can't work through the problem. Thanks again for the response. 



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    Bryan Bozeman
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