Maximum swath width obtainable with multibeam echosounders-comparison and discussion of experiments vs predictions

While the number of multibeam echosounders put into service around the world is quickly increasing, little is made to provide the users with tools of performance evaluation, for maximum attainable range but also for measurement resolution and precision. The authors present a discussion of these notions, a performance evaluation software, and comparisons of range prediction with experimental results obtained with two multibeam systems.