A Method of Estimating the Effective Multi-beam Swath Width

Multi-beam system is affected by many factors coming from measure equipments and measure environment. Thus, the actual swath angle of multi-beam system meeting the hydrographic specifications is smaller than the angle between the two edge beams. Based on the study on errors and uncertainties and cross-track resolutions, the concept of effective swath width and its calculating procedures are put forward in this paper. Finally, the estimation method of effective swath width is realized by MATLAB. The method will be helpful to estimate and design the overlap rate before the multi-beam system operations in field.