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Related Manuals for RS Aqua ORCA
Summary of Contents for RS Aqua ORCA
- Page 1 RS Aqua Ltd www.rsaqua.co.uk info@rsaqua.co.uk...
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Page 2: Table Of Contents
ORCA ..............................3 Features ................................4 Shipping Contents ............................5 ORCA ACE Port Descriptions ........................5 1.3.1 Hydrophone End Cap ..........................5 1.3.2 Communications End Cap ........................6 ORCA 72D Port Descriptions ........................7 1.4.1 Hydrophone Connections ........................7 1.4.2 Communications Connections ...................... - Page 3 3.1.3.1 Download from SSD over USB ........................29 3.1.3.2 Download over Ethernet ..........................30 3.1.4 Charging The Internal Battery (ORCA ACE) ................. 31 3.1.5 Replacing Batteries (ORCA 72D) ..................... 31 Removing SD Cards Manually ........................34 3.2.1 Self-Noise ..............................34 3.2.2...
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Page 4: Orca
ORCA-ACE main body. ORCA-72D comes with an internal battery pack with 72 user replaceable alkaline D cells. There is an external power port for connecting to cabled power, or to external battery packs. -
Page 5: Features
FEATURES ORCA is a versatile instrument for collecting underwater acoustic data, some of the main features of this product are given in the tables below. Analogue Inputs ORCA-ACE ORCA-72D Input Channels Up to 5 (configurable) Analogue Input Bandwidth 160 kHz... -
Page 6: Shipping Contents
1.3.1 HYDROPHONE END CAP The hydrophone end cap is the physical interface that connects hydrophone sensors to ORCA. This end cap is equipped with five female micro-circular 8 pin underwater connectors in a cross pattern. This allows users to connect hydrophones to the end cap in a circular array for such applications as directional signal processing or cardioid beamforming. -
Page 7: Communications End Cap
The picture below shows the hydrophone end cap, including the hydrophone number label. This end cap also has a magnet port for enabling and disabling power to ORCA. Each hydrophone connector is configured to accept hydrophone inputs from multiple vendors with a standard pinout. -
Page 8: Orca 72D Port Descriptions
1.4.1 HYDROPHONE CONNECTIONS The ORCA-72D end cap is equipped with five female micro-circular 8 pin underwater connectors in a cross pattern. This allows users to connect hydrophones to the end cap in a circular array for such applications as directional signal processing or cardioid beamforming. Alternatively hydrophones can be cabled and connected to the ORCA connectors so users can setup their hydrophones in any configuration they wish (tetrahedral, vertical line arrays, different depths). -
Page 9: Communications Connections
1.4.3 ADDITIONAL PORTS Additional ports on the ORCA 72D end cap include a pressure relief valve for safety purposes, and an optional Sea Water Ground Port. The Sea Water Ground Port provides a single point sea water ground to the internal electronics if operated without a dummy plug. The single point sea water ground is recommended if this device it to be used in the vicinity of radiating cables or other devices which may radiate electromagnetic interference. -
Page 10: Getting Started
CAUTION: Make sure to Allow TRAC.EXE through windows firewall during install POWERING UP ORCA Powering up ORCA requires the use of the magnet port. ORCA has been designed with extremely low power consumption modes in mind, so when the unit is powered down it consumes almost no energy. -
Page 11: Powering Down Orca
Ethernet. ORCA ACE: To get started, connect this dry cable to PORT A and plug in the AC wall adapter to the female barrel jack and to AC power on the wall, connect the RJ45 Ethernet connector directly to your computer running TRAC software (Alternately you can connect to any female RJ45 connector on your local network). - Page 12 ORCA. If you do not see the window appear below, try inserting the magnet, leaving it in for five seconds, then removing it again.
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Page 13: Configuring Orca
Once configured, ORCA settings are stored in non-volatile memory and automatically recalled after a boot up. The configuration of ORCA is done from a single window called the control window, once you have double clicked on your device in the connection window the... -
Page 14: Control Window Overview
2.5.1 CONTROL WINDOW OVERVIEW The control window in TRAC allows the user to configure the following: Enable and Disable Individual Hydrophone Channels • Set Gain for Each Hydrophone Channel • Set Calibration for Each Hydrophone Channel • Set the System Sampling Rate •... -
Page 15: Sampling Panel - Setting Sampling And Input Channel Parameters
CHANNEL CALIBRATION – CALIBRATION OF THE HYDROPHONES Since ORCA can be used with various hydrophones, calibration data for hydrophones can be stored in non-volatile memory with the unit. The user can enter calibration data for any hydrophone they are using... -
Page 16: Audio Record Panel - Recording Audio To System Disk
(shown below). The calibration window allows the user to enter frequency dependant calibration values for their hydrophones. Sensitivity values can be entered individually or from a .cal file. RS Aqua will provide .cal files to users when purchasing calibrated hydrophones. -
Page 17: Disk Selection While Recording
ORCA includes multiple non-volatile memory banks, optimised for different performance and power consumption. Each ORCA includes a solid state hard drive (SSD), and two internal SD Cards. The SSD is optimised for high performance, fast, low latency recording, while the SD cards are optimised for power consumption but cannot be used when recording at very high bandwidths (ie. -
Page 18: Audio Stream Panel - Real-Time Audio And Spectrograms
AUDIO STREAM WINDOW - LIVE AUDIO AND SPECTROGRAMS The Audio Stream Window allows the user to capture live real-time raw acoustic data from ORCA. The user can listen to raw underwater audio and view real time spectrograms. Special tools allow analysis of spectral data and time series data. -
Page 19: Spectrogram Settings
A good way to test your system at any time is to plug a hydrophone into an enabled channel and listen for audio. Whistling and tapping on the hydrophone should be clearly audible. Be careful with loud volume into speakers as feedback is common. For best results use high quality headphones. CAUTION: Sometimes on the very first time running TRAC after a fresh install Ethernet packets are not received by TRAC and stream does not function because of windows intervention. -
Page 20: Time Series Tool
2.5.5.1.2 TIME SERIES TOOL By clicking the time series icon , users can plot the time series of a particular frequency bin on the spectrogram. Once the time series icon is supressed, the user can click at any particular point in the spectrogram and drag the mouse to a desired frequency. -
Page 21: Noise Analysis Panel - Performing In-Situ Statistical Noise/Spectral Analysis
NOISE ANALYSIS PANEL – PERFORMING IN-SITU STATISTICAL NOISE/SPECTRAL ANALYSIS ORCA can do in-situ real time ambient noise statistical and spectral analysis. The noise data can be record on system disk by using the Noise Analysis Record feature. The noise data can also be streamed in real time by opening the Noise Analysis Stream window. - Page 22 Percentile data can be computed in the TRAC application, and you can set the time window over which to perform percentile calculations and view the time series of the SPL statistics. By changing the “Window Length” parameter the analysis time window can be increased or decreased. For example if you have set the RMS average time to 1 second, and set the window length to 60 the analysis window will be 60 seconds.
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Page 23: Schedule Panel - Scheduling The Device Features
SCHEDULE PANEL – SCHEDULING THE DEVICE FEATURES ORCA includes an extremely flexible and robust scheduling system so that the device can be put into extremely low power sleep modes and woken up based on programmed time schedules, where it can enable audio record, or noise record on wake up. -
Page 24: Stop Only Mode
2.5.7.2 STOP ONLY MODE In “Stop Only” mode ORCA will use its present settings for recording, streaming or noise calculations until the programmed stop time, at which time it will go into a deep sleep. 2.5.7.3 WINDOW MODE In window Mode ORCA can be programmed to start either recording, streaming or performing noise calculations at a specific time and date, then enter a deep sleep mode at the programmed Stop time. -
Page 25: Yearly Mode
2.5.7.9 YEARLY MODE In yearly mode ORCA can be programmed to start either recording, streaming or performing noise calculations at the same time and day every year and then enter sleep mode at the programmed stop time during the year. Duty cycling can be enabled during the Start and Stop times. -
Page 26: Gps Status Panel - Real-Time Global Positioning
GPS STATUS PANEL – REAL-TIME GLOBAL POSITIONING ORCA can accept GPS input data. The GPS Panel indicates the present status of the GPS with basic GPS position and quality data. If a successful GPS fix is received the user can click the position link and the position will be plotted in Google Maps™. -
Page 27: Deployments
3.1.2 DEPLOYMENTS ORCA is easy to deploy. ORCA ACE comes with a series of eye bolts and is positively buoyant, it can be suspended from the bottom, hung from the surface with a weight (10lbs is sufficient) or moored easily. -
Page 28: Battery Life
3.1.2.1 BATTERY LIFE The table on the next page shows continuous recording durations for different use cases. If the duration does not meet the users requirement, duty cycling and scheduling can be used. Storing to Internal SD Cards Continously Days of Autonomous Continous Days of Autonomous... -
Page 29: Limitations
3.1.2.2 LIMITATIONS ORCA can record, stream and process high quality acoustic data all at the same time. ORCA has been designed to give users maximum flexibility, and provide many valuable use cases for a variety of end users. ORCA was designed to be a low power acoustic recorder, but also a broadband digital hydrophone system. -
Page 30: Downloading Data
To download data from the SSD over USB use the provided dry USB cable and connect to the ORCA to the computers USB port (ensure the unit has external power, and is powered up from a magnet toggle). -
Page 31: Download Over Ethernet
To clear the disk, format as FAT32 or exFAT using TRACs built in formatting function, deleting from external disk can often be very slow from many computers. NOTE: A common issue with downloading data include an “unrecognised USB device” when the unit is plugged in. -
Page 32: Charging The Internal Battery (Orca Ace)
330GB of data). To charge this battery use the dry USB and charging cable and the supplied charger. For safety ORCA will not charge while in operation, and requires the user to shut down with the magnet port before charging. - Page 33 Once the screws are removed, use the end cap handles and remove the electronics from the tube exposing the electronics and battery assembly. Now place the exposed electronics and batter assembly upside-down so it is resting on the end cap handles, and the green bottom battery circuit board is exposed as shown below.
- Page 34 Remove each of the foam battery holders, until only one remains as shown below. Next, insert the D cell batteries with positive side facing towards the electronics assembly, do this one foam layer at a time until all 72 batteries have been placed. Finally reattach the bottom battery circuit board and tighten the thumb screws.
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Page 35: Removing Sd Cards Manually
It is recommended to connect using TRAC and reformat the disks on a fresh install of SD Cards. 3.2.1 SELF-NOISE ORCA offers exceptional acoustic data quality. The plot below shows the self-noise floor of ORCA using the Geospectrum M36 hydrophones supplied with the ORCA package. -
Page 36: External Power Input
USB host, this can be observed in the System panel in TRAC. If the USB host is detected by ORCA click on the “Open Firmware Update Window” button in the System panel. This will invoke the firmware updater application shown below. - Page 37 Once you have selected a .dfu file, click on “Start Update” to start the update process. This should disconnect the internal disk from your computer and put the ORCA into firmware update mode. You should see the window appear like below, it could stay like this for longer than a minute, click on ”Show Details”...
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Page 38: Care And Cleaning
When complete the software will indicate the upgrade has been successful, then reboot the ORCA with the new firmware. CAUTION: DO NOT power down or remove the USB cable during a firmware upgrade, you could permanently damage the device and leave it unusable. -
Page 39: Assembly
ASSEMBLY Each end of each casing has a mounting plate attached, see images below. Figures showing the outer ends of the ORCA and Battery Pack Figures showing the inner ends of the ORCA and Battery Pack The two long frame bars attaches to the end plates and also through bars and into the cases with a... -
Page 40: Fitting Batteries
Figures showing assembly arrangement FITTING BATTERIES The battery pack has one end cap that needs to be removed to fit the 36 batteries. If the end cap is difficult to remove, screw eye bolts into each end and pull. It may also help to slacken the pressure relief valve in case a vacuum has occurred due to temperature changes during transport.
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