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Nortek Signature VM - 45

Description

Driver to decode data from the Nortek Signature VM system.

The system consists of a GNSS, a Signature series ADCP sensor (e.g. VM Operations (333 kHz), Signature1000 or Signature55) and dedicated computer with the Signature VM software.

System overview from the Nortek manual

Driver Information

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Interface type

Serial

UTC Driver (question)

Yes and No

Input / output

Input

Related Systems

Related Pages

Decoding Notes

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The messages decoded by the driver are in NMEA format.

the $P___QA message includes status flag for various observations. Based on these flags the observation have the following quality indicators:

Status Flag

Quality Indicator

Not Enabled

0

Good

1

Degraded

2

Missing

3

System Setup

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The Nortek Signature VM system comes with the manufactures own software, which can be configured with a monitor and keyboard connected interface box, or remotely over Ethernet.

The manual for this system can be found here: Signature VM - Operations manual (nortekgroup.com)

Qinsy Database Setup

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In the Qinsy Database Setup program, the following systems and observations can be created for this driver:

  • Miscellaneous Systems

  • Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

For all drivers the following applies:

  • When using the driver with '(UTC)' in the name, the time as found in the message will be used.

  • If the driver is selected without '(UTC)' in the name the time of arrival in Qinsy will be used.

  • All drivers should use either with or without '(UTC)'. They should not be mixed.

Miscellaneous System

The driver is capable of decoding a number of miscellaneous observations from the input message.

In order to decode any of these miscellaneous observations:

  1. Add a Miscellaneous System to your template and select the driver "Nortek Signature VM".

  2. Select the appropriate serial port.

  3. Set the appropriate serial port parameter. Instrument defaults are 9600 baud, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit and no parity.

  4. Select the appropriate value for the 'Slot 1' field.
    Available are:

Slot 1

Observation

VALIDCELLS

Number of valid cells

ERRORCODE

Error code

STATUSCODE

Status code

POSITION

Position quality indicator

HEADING

Heading quality indicator

SOG

Speed over ground quality indicator

TIME

Time quality indicator

HPR

Heading Pitch Roll quality indicator

BOTTOM

Bottom track quality indicator

VELOCITY

Burst velocity quality indicator

ECHO

Echosounder quality indicator

AMPLITUDE1

Average amplitude beam 1

AMPLITUDE2

Average amplitude beam 2

AMPLITUDE3

Average amplitude beam 3

AMPLITUDE4

Average amplitude beam 4

CORR_1

Average correlation beam 1

CORR_2

Average correlation beam 2

CORR_3

Average correlation beam 3

CORR_4

Average correlation beam 4

FOM_1

Figure of merit beam 1

FOM_2

Figure of merit beam 2

FOM_3

Figure of merit beam 3

FOM_4

Figure of merit beam 4

HDG_TRUE

True north heading

HDG_MAG

Magnetic north heading

SPEED

Speed

Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

To interface the Nortek Signature VM with Qinsy:

  • Select system type: Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler

  • Driver: "Nortek Signature VM"

Select the location at which the ADCP is mounted:

Set the 'Max. cell count' to 128 as this is the maximum number of cells supported by the system.

Roll, Pitch and Heading offsets do not matter, since the data transmitted by the Nortek Signature VM is already in world coordinates, and therefore the offsets will be ignored.

Qinsy Online

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Displays

The ADCP data can be shown in a number of displays

  • Navigation Display

  • ADCP Display

  • Observation Physics

  • Generic Display

Navigation Display

In the Navigation display the average speed and direction of the current can be visualized, using vectors and a text markup.

The values are corrected for vessel attitude:

  • The arrows show the direction of the current with text markup indicating the speed.

  • These settings are accessible and can be adjusted via the View Properties of the Navigation display.

ADCP Display

The ADCP display shows the ADCP current direction and speed data in the following charts:

  • Profile charts through the water column;

  • History charts on average and surface;

  • Compass view on average and surface;

  • Raw data.

Info

The information bar of the display can contain warnings on decoded ADCP data

Generic display

Both Raw and ADCP results data can be shown.

Computation Settings

There are additional controls (filters) in the Computation Setup that can influence how the average is calculated:

  • Depth outside (range)

  • Raw Data Quality flags

  • Speed outside (range)

  • Beam Correlation percentage

Logging

When recording is enabled, the data is stored in the Qinsy database and can be used for Replay. The ADCP data is also available in the Generic Output.

Additional Information

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Registry settings

To log data to a text file in the log folder use the following registry key:

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