Valeport va500 User manual

© Valeport Limited
VA500 Altimeter Manual Page 1 0430831e_VA500_Altimeter_Manual
VALEPORT LIMITED
VA500 Altimeter
Operating Manual
Document Ref: 0430831
Document Version: E
Date: September 2012
This confidential document was prepared by the staff of Valeport Limited, the Company, and
is the property of the Company, which also owns the copyright therein. All rights conferred
by the law of the copyright and by virtue of international copyright conventions are reserved
to the Company. This document must not be copied, reprinted or reproduced in any material
form, either wholly or in part, and the contents of this document, and any method or
technique available therefrom, must not be disclosed to any other person whatsoever
without the prior written consent of the Company.
Valeport Limited, Tel: [phone]
St Peters Quay, Fax: [phone]
Totnes, e-mail: [e-mail]
Devon, TQ9 5EW, Web: www.valeport.co.uk
UK
As part of our policy of continuous development, we reserve the right to alter, without prior
notice, all specifications, designs, prices and conditions of supply for all our equipment.
Copyright 2011

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1 INTRODUCTION
The VA500 altimeter has been designed with the objective of providing an accurate, reliable
and robust measurement of range from surface and underwater platforms. State of the art
signal processing offers unrivalled range and performance from a 500kHz transducer.
Millimetre precision, 0.1m –100m range, RS232/RS485/0-5V & 0-10V analogue outputs with
a wide range power supply address the needs of the ROV, AUV and Hydrographic
community in a compact, robust package.
The option of integrating a high accuracy pressure sensor (0.01%) as used in the MiniIPS
offers an unbeatable package for your underwater positioning requirements.

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2 SPECIFICATIONS
2.1 ACOUSTIC
State of the art signal processing technology provides stable, repeatable readings while
allowing the range to be extended to unrivalled distances for a 500kHz altimeter.
Type: 500 kHz broadband transducer
Range: 0.1m –100m
Resolution: 1mm
Beam Angle: ±3
2.2 PRESSURE
The optional pressure sensor fitted to the Altimeter is a temperature compensated piezo-
resistive sensor, which delivers the performance previously only available from a resonant
quartz sensor at a more cost-effective price.
Type: Temperature compensated piezo-resistive
Range: 10, 30, 100, 300 or 600 Bar
Accuracy: ±0.01% FS
Resolution: 0.001% FS
2.3 DATA ACQUISITION
Sampling: Continuous or data on demand (by serial command/TTL trigger).
Data Rate: 1, 2, 4 Hz
2.4 COMMUNICATIONS
RS485 is enabled by grounding a pin in the communications lead, See section 6
Digital Output: RS232 & RS485 fitted as standard
Protocol: 4800 to 115200 baud, (8,1,N)
Formats: Valeport NMEA / Tritech / Kongsberg / $SDDBT NMEA
Analogue output: 0-5/10V fitted as standard
2.5 POWER REQUIREMENTS
Input: 9 - 28vDC (isolated power supply)
Power: <125 mA @ 12V
2.6 PHYSICAL
Housing: Titanium (6000m rated)
Size: 48mm max Ø
43mm main body Ø
215mm length (including connector)
248mm length with pressure fitted
Weight: 0.95 kg (air)/ ~0.7 kg (in water)
Connector: Subconn MCBH10F (titanium)

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Figure 1: VA500 Altimeter dimensions

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3 CONFIGURATION + OPERATION
The VA500 is supplied with a Valeport Terminal, a terminal communications program and
configuration tool designed specifically for use with Valeport instruments.
Install the program by opening the install package on the supplied CD and follow the on
screen instructions. Once installed, Launch the terminal program
3.1 USING THE CONFIGURATION WIZARD
Valeport Terminal can be used to
manually connect and configure
the VA500 or can be used in the
configuration wizard mode.
Click on the configure button to
launch the wizard.
Select the COM port the
VA500 is connected to.
The wizard is configured
with the default settings of
the unit but can be altered
if the unit has been
modified.

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Default ASCII settings are
preconfigured and should
not need changing.
Select the VA500 altimeter
from the dropdown list.
Select the Read
Configuration from the
instrument to determine
current settings
Or
Open previously saved
configuration file to load a
predefined setup.

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The first wizard screen will
give information about the
instrument. These are
settings that are set at the
factory.
The next page defines:
Communications settings.
Analogue mode and
limits.(See wiring schedule
in section 6 for analogue
outputs)
Anaologue range can be 0-
5V or 0-10V
Analogue limit is the
distance that equates to
full scale voltage output.
Serial Data format (see
data format section for
definition of formats)

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The next page defines:
Output units, can be
seconds, metres, feet or
fathoms.
Minimum range allows
fixed returns close to the
VA500 to be filtered out.
Maximum range allows
filtering of spiking in noisy
environments or in the
presence of multiple
echoes.
Sound speed is set to
1500m/s. To improve
accuracy then the local
sound speed should be
measured and applied
here.
Error is the value returned when no echo is detected or it is outside the minimum and
maximum ranges defined.
If the Altimeter is fitted
with the optional pressure
sensor, this can be
configured here.
Units can be dBar, metres
or feet.
Tare allows the pressure
sensor to be zeroed to
atmospheric pressure.
Latitude is used in the
conversion from pressure
to depth.

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Continuous output rates
can be 1,2 or 4 Hz
Alternatively the VA500
can be triggered with a
serial command (S
followed by a carriage
return) or via TTL (see
wiring schedule in section
6)
Once configuration is
complete, the wizard will
summarise the commands
to be sent to the
instrument.
The configuration can also
be saved to file for later
use or reference.
If the Run mode checkbox
is ticked the instrument will
start outputting data into
the terminal window behind
once the configuration is
complete.