DESO25 Echo Sounder Plugin

STN Atlas DESO25 echo sounder

The ATLAS DESO Single-beam Echo sounder series are manufactured by Atlas Hydrographic group, of New South Wales, Australia. The line includes DESO models 14,15, 20, 25 and 30. Many echo sounder manufacturers adopted the protocol used by the DESO 25 echo sounder and later versions. This protocol has become very popular and is supported by most hydrographic echo sounders. This plugin allows you to get digitized depth data from sounders supporting this protocol.

The DESO25 protocol

The DESO25 protocol can be used to transmit both single frequency or dual frequency depth data from the sounder to the computer. In some cases it also allows an annotation text to be sent to the echo sounder. For each depth reading a 'D' is sent followed by an 'A' for the high frequency channel or a 'B' for the low frequency channel, followed by the depth value and units, which can be in meters or feet.

 DA 32.08 m
 DB 31.83 m
 DA 32.04 m
 DB 31.81 m

Loading the DESO25 plugin

To load this plugin, open the preferences window by selecting "Preferences..." from the "Options" menu. In the window that appears, select the "Devices" tab. Next, click the 'Add...' button.

Click the "Add..." button in the "Devices" tab.

A list of available plugins will be displayed. In this list, select "STN Atlas DESO20/22/25 plugin for Hydromagic" plugin and click "OK" to load and display the plugins configuration dialog.

Select the "STN Atlas DESO20/22/25 plugin for Hydromagic" from the list.

Configuring the DESO25 plugin

When the plugin loads, a dialog with some required settings will appear first. In order to get the plugin to work correctly, you have to configure the protocol and communication settings.

Configure the communication settings first.

Communication settings

Since the echo sounder is most likely to be connected via a serial port, you have to select the serial port and its operating speed first. When using an USB-to-Serial adapter cable, a virtual serial port will be created in Windows and you have to select this serial port.

The drop down box will be populated with all serial ports detected on the system. To get more information on the ports available, please refer to the device manager. The device manager can be found via the Control Panel in Windows.

Available serial ports can also be found in the Windows Device Manager.

Swap Channels

The protocol specifies to use channel 'A' for high frequency and channel 'B' for low frequency, but not all vendors follow this rule. This means that for some sounders the reported low and high frequency depths will be reversed. When you notice this when looking at the Hydromagic Data View, just re-configure the plugin and make sure the "Swap low and high frequencies" checkbox is checked.

Check the box to swap frequencies.

Starting the plugin

When the required settings have been configured, click the "OK" button to save the settings and start the plugin. After a few seconds, there should be a green icon in front of the plugin, indicating data is coming in successfully.

Testing the sounder

When data is received, you should be able to see the depth and position information in the data window. To have a look at the echogram data, select "Echogram(Hi)" or "Echogram(Lo") from the View menu.

Unloading the STN Atlas DESO20/22/25 plugin for Hydromagic

To unload the STN Atlas DESO25 plugin, open the preferences window by selecting "Preferences..." from the "Options" menu. In the window that appears, select the "Devices" tab. Next right-click the "STN Atlas DESO20/22/25 plugin for Hydromagic" plugin and select the "Remove Device..." option from the popup menu.

Select the plugin and click the "Remove..."
button to unload the plugin.