Page 4© 2016 Active Research Limited
Important Notices
ActisenseandtheActisenselogoareregisteredtrademarks
of Active Research Limited. All rights are reserved. The
contents of this manual may not be transferred or copied
without the expressed written permission of Active
Research Limited. All other trademarks are the property of
their respective owners.
The Actisense Depth, Speed and Temperature module
(DST-2) is intended for use in a marine environment,
primarily for below deck use. If the unit is to be used in a
more severe environment, such use may be considered
misuse under the seller’s warranty.
The Actisense DST-2 has been certied to comply with
the European directive for Electro-Magnetic Compatibility
(EN60945), and is appropriately CE marked. Operation
of the unit should be in conjunction with appropriate
CE approved shielded connectors and cabling used in
accordance with the CE directive EN60945. Any EMC
related issues should be reported to Active Research
immediately to allow the company to rectify or resolve
EMC related problems in accordance with its obligations
under EN60945.
If the unit is connected such that compliance failure occurs
beyond the company’s control, the company shall not be
held responsible for compliance failure until suitable EMC
guidelines for connection are seen to have been taken.
Warning: Depth sounders are not designed to perform as
navigational instruments, nor as devices to avoid grounding
a vessel. Any such use of the Actisense depth output is at
the vessel owner’s own risk, and no responsibility will be
accepted for any resulting damage or personal injury.
Always use caution when operating in shallow areas and
maintain a very slow speed. Be aware that the depth may
change more quickly than your ability to react and avoid
grounding the vessel.
Notices
When using this document, keep the following in mind:
The products described in this manual and the specications
thereof may be changed without prior notice. To obtain up-
to-date information and/or specications, contact Active
Research Limited or visit the Actisense website (www.
actisense.com).
Active Research Limited will not be liable for infringement
of copyright, industrial property right, or other rights of a
third party caused by the use of information or drawings
described in this manual.
Active Research Limited will not be held responsible for
any damage to the user that may result from accidents
or any other reasons during operation of the user’s unit
according to this document.
Foreword
Actisense recognises that instructions are often skipped,
so we have aimed to write this document in an informative,
yet direct manner that will aid the user. We have tried
to cover all the points a typical user may need to know.
Please read all sections before installing and using the
Actisense DST module product and any related software
programs.
Introduction
The Actisense Depth, Speed and Temperature
module (DST-2) was developed to breathe new digital
life into old and new analogue (standard, passive, no
electronics) transducers. By adding an advanced digital
signal processing (DST) module to standard analogue
transducers, they can interface directly with any instrument
with an NMEA 0183 digital data input.
The NMEA 0183 marine standard is a purely digital data
transmission scheme, using binary format ‘1’s and ‘0’s,
to communicate a digital representation of the required
information (depth, speed etc.) to a connected instrument.
A depth sounder transducer is a sensor that must be
interfaced to a depth sounder circuit, capable of both
producing the high voltages to drive the depth transducer,
yet have very sensitive circuitry to receive the faint echoes
of the sound reected from the sea-bed. Such a depth
sounder circuit also needs a powerful software algorithm
to track the sea-bed, and reject false signals that occur
throughout the ocean. For example, an unsophisticated
depth sounder device can lock on to a false sea-bed due
to reections from nearby targets, other depth sounder
devices working on the same frequency, double depths
and even algae formations.
Actisense has designed and improved their current depth
sounder circuitry and software over a development period
spanning 15 years. The algorithms have now been proven
in tens of thousands of products throughout the world that
Actisense has either manufactured itself, or has played
an important design consultancy role in.
To that, Actisense has added speed and temperature
transducer interfaces to the system. This creates a feature
rich product that benets the prospective user.
The resulting module can measure the four quantities of
depth, speed, log (distance) and temperature in one device
and so save the cost of the extra electronic devices. The
NMEA 0183 port requirements of the receiving instrument
are also reduced from three to just one.
