
Synthetic Aperture &
Mapping Sonars
Sams series
Real-time high-quality/high resolution geo-referenced subsea mapping
High-quality data in the most severe environments
Combining acoustic imagery, inertial navigation and acoustic positioning data, Exail’s Sams Series are a new kind of synthetic Aperture Sonars (SAS) that drastically improve subsea imagery range-resolution ratio compared to traditional side-scan sonars.
Compared to traditional Side Scan Sonars (SSS) and other SAS technologies available, Exail’s innovative SAS sonar technology offers greater tolerance to the subsea vehicle movement and challenging operational conditions, ensuring high quality real-time georeferenced data in the most severe environments.
Improved Coverage Rate
Providing real-time pixel georeferenced images of the seabed and avoiding distortion of the projection of the waterfall on the mosaic, the Sams Series enables high productivity survey by improving the coverage rate per hour with constant high resolution over the full swath.
Easy to deploy and to operate, Exail’s Sams Series offers the same operational advantages as traditional Side Scan Sonars, while delivering all key benefits offered by Synthetic Aperture Sonar technologies.
High-resolution interferometric bathymetry
Exail’s new-generation Sams Series sonars offers the ability to produce high-resolution bathymetric data using interferometry.
The in-house developed processing algorithms guarantee robust bathymetric data production in all conditions over the entire swath. This translates into improved data productivity compared with an onboard multibeam echosounder by up to a factor of 5.
Sams 150 is particularly suited for demanding surveys such as cable routes/site surveys, and UXO surveys conducted in challenging environments such as strong current and up to sea state 3 conditions.
Key features
![]() Sams 50 | ![]() Sams 150 | |
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Central frequency (kHz) | 55 | 150 |
Bandwidth (kHz) | 15 | 30 |
Swath (m) | 1 600 | 500 |
Rx antenna length (m) | 2.82 | 0.6 (Compact) | 1.2 (Standard) | 1.8 (High speed) |
Maximum speed (SAS mode) (knts) | 2.5 | 1.2 (Compact) | 2.9 (Standard) | 4.5 (High speed) |
Depth | 6 000m | 2 versions: 1 000m and 6 000m |
Built-in interferometric bathymetry | In option | Included |
Integration | Towfish/OEM version available for AUVs/ROVs | Towfish/OEM version available for AUVs/ROVs |
Datasheet | Datasheet |
Delph SAS is a module of the Delph Geo software suite, and offers SAS data processing tools for both imagery and interferometric bathymetry in a workflow similar to that of conventional sonar side scan data. The outstanding ease of processing makes it a powerful and easy-to-use tool for all operators