Collaborative Research: Optimizing Multibeam Data Acquisition Operations and Quality for the U.S. Academic Research Fleet

这项合作计划旨在建立技术资源和新的通信机制，以开发和共享有关美国学术舰队多波束声纳操作和监测的共同信息，工具和专业知识。该战略是创建一个利益攸关方社区，包括来自每个运营机构的代表，并由来自用户和技术/工程界的关键外部专家补充，这些专家可以协助就广泛的多波束问题提供指导，以改进这些数据的收集和评估方式。此外，该计划还建议建立一个多波束咨询委员会（MAC），作为一个整体协调机构，其主要目标是支持美国学术研究船队中的船上测绘作业，并确保始终如一地获得高质量的数据。他们还将把来自MAC和利益相关者社区的个人组成技术小组，每个小组负责多波束系统性能评估的具体组成部分。更广泛的影响本提案的主要影响是在标准二下，为科学家使用该船及其共用仪器提供基础设施支持，以支持他们的NSF资助的海洋学研究项目（由NSF的相关研究计划单独进行审查）。 对共享使用仪器的维护和操作的支持允许来自任何美国大学或实验室的NSF资助的研究人员访问工作，校准仪器进行研究，降低研究成本，并扩大潜在研究人员的基础。所有用户（或适当的资助机构）平等地分享对船舶上基本汇集服务的支持，NSF根据船舶在一年中的部分使用情况支付一部分支持费用。

This collaborative effort proposes to establish technical resources and new communication mechanisms to develop and share common information, tools, and expertise regarding the operation and monitoring of multibeam sonars across the U.S. Academic Fleet. The strategy is to create a community of stakeholders including representatives from each operating institution, complemented by key outside experts from the user and technical/engineering communities that can assist in providing guidance on a broad array of multibeam issues to improve how these data are collected and assessed. In addition, the effort proposes to establish a Multibeam Advisory Committee (MAC) that will act as an overall coordinating body with the primary goal of supporting mapping operations onboard vessels in the U.S. academic research fleet and ensuring that high quality data are consistently acquired. They will also assemble small groups of individuals from the MAC and community of stakeholders into technical teams, each of which is tasked with specific components of multibeam system performance evaluation.Broader ImpactsThe principal impact of the present proposal is under criterion two, providing infrastructure support for scientists to use the vessel and its shared-use instrumentation in support of their NSF-funded oceanographic research projects (which individually undergo separate review by the relevant research program of NSF). The support of maintenance and operation of shared-use instrumentation allows NSF-funded researchers from any US university or lab access to working, calibrated instruments for their research, reducing the cost of that research, and expanding the base of potential researchers. All users (or the appropriate funding agencies) share support for basic pooled services on the vessel equally, with NSF paying a share of the support costs based on fractional usage of the vessel during the year.