What's in this issue:

• Echoview version 4.50 beta release
• Eonfusion release update and beta program
• Myriax exhibition and Echoview training at SEAFACTS
• Video: Atlantic herring detected with Reson Seabat 7125
• Plans for Echoview version 4.60

Echoview 4.50 beta is now available. It contains a broad and very useful set of new features, which are listed below:

Extensive work has been done to advance Echoview's fish detection and counting for DIDSON, scanning sonar and multibeam data. The key new features are:

• The Multibeam target detection operator now extracts additional properties from the detected target: perimeter length, area, coefficient of variation of intensity, compactness and thickness. These are in addition to the mean intensity and length properties that are extracted in earlier versions.

• The TS substitution and Target parameter threshold (now the Target property threshold) operator have been extended to allow targets to be colored and filtered by any of the new properties listed above.

• Target length can be measured manually using a multipoint measurement tool. Manually measured lengths can be exported alongside automatic length measurements, for comparison.



• The thickness of targets in the single target display can be set to be relative to the thickness that is measured during target detection.

• The multibeam target echogram view now optionally includes an outline of the shape of the detected target and an overlay of the original data.



• There is a new step-by-step tutorial that follows an example methodology for fish detection, measurement, tracking and counting analysis.

• Echoview now contains the same beam spacing corrections as Sound Metrics Corporation's DIDSON Viewer software. These corrections provide more accurate measurements of fish size and position.

• DIDSON "big lens" files are now automatically detected and the swath width adjusted accordingly.

Echoview 4.50 supports *.son files from BlueView Technology's ProViewerE range of imaging sonars. Due to the nature of Echoview's internal architecture, all functionality that is available for other multibeam, scanning and imaging sonars is now seamlessly available for BlueView's imaging sonars.

Our support for HTI's sample data (*.SMP) files has been upgraded to include support for the version 3 of the SMP file format. This version of the format includes the necessary calibration and configuration parameters in the SMP file header, which makes working with the sample data in Echoview much more robust and straightforward. We have also implemented a data upsampling algorithm, supplied by HTI, that upsamples their sample data from 12kHz to 48kHz. This yields higher-resolution data that is suitable for the application of Echoview's single target detection algorithms. These additions together represent a major advance in Echoview's analysis capability for HTI sample data.

Echoview's capacity for minimizing manual editing of the bottom exclusion line has been even further enhanced in version 4.50. The Statistical combination line operator can now take up to six lines as operands, enabling you to usefully merge the bottom lines from up to six frequencies in order to create the optimum "common" line for bottom signal exclusion. There is also a new Crop line operator that effectively creates upper and lower bounds for the input line. This is extremely useful for eliminating portions of the bottom line that exist beyond the useful detection range for the given frequency.

Two functions have been added to the Formula operator. The new dB and linear functions allow fast and convenient conversion between the decibel and linear scales.

The Tape measure tool has been extended to allow multipoint measurements. The reported distance is the sum of the distances between all of the nodes in the line.

Please don't hesitate to contact us if you have questions about any of these new features.

There are even more new features and improvements to explore! Download Echoview 4.50 beta and read the “New in 4.50” help file page for a beta list. We recommend that you continue to use version 4.40 for critical work until the full version of Echoview 4.50 is released. Installing the beta version of Echoview 4.50 will not interfere with your Echoview 4.40 installation.

Best wishes,
the Echoview team.

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Our new data fusion product, Eonfusion, is on track for release in September. Eonfusion is a unique new program that offers unprecedented capacity for combining and visualizing data from a broad range of sources. If you're interested to know more, take a look at the Eonfusion website.

If you want to be amongst the first people in the world to discover Eonfusion, you can apply for our beta test program by contacting Dr Warwick Gillespie. We are seeking beta users who will be able and willing to provide us with feedback about their experience of learning how to use Eonfusion. In exchange you have the opportunity to get a head start in understanding Eonfusion and appreciating the enormous range of possibilities that are available through true data fusion.

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There will be a number of Myriax staff attending SEAFACTS in Bergen this month. Ian Higginbottom, Tim Pauly, Myounghee Kang, Matt Wilson and Bart Buelens will all be present along with Patrick Schneider, who represents us in Europe. If we haven't met you before then we'll look forward to doing so, and if we have met you then we'll look forward to seeing you again! Come and see us at the Myriax exhibition stand, and take the opportunity to have a first look at Eonfusion and find out about all the latest features in Echoview.

There are still some places available for Echoview training directly after the SEAFACTS symposium. The proposed schedule and list of topics can be found on our SEAFACTS training page.

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This video (YouTube link) shows a school of Atlantic herring, surveyed using a Reson Seabat 7125 multibeam sonar. The school and seafloor have been identified and converted to 3D objects using Echoview. The video is captured from Echoview's 4D scene environment.

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As we release Echoview 4.50 beta and work to prepare it for full release, design focus has turned towards Echoview 4.60. By our current plans Echoview 4.60 will be released in October 2008. Key features that we are planning to implement are:

• Extensions to the capability of the Formula operator

• Enhancements to multibeam and imaging sonar target detection, including a more advanced automated target length calculation.

• The ability to cut and paste groups of variables in the Variables and Geometry window

• Implementation of a more advanced background subtraction algorithm for multibeam and imaging sonar.

• Extensive additions to the set of properties that can be modified via COM scripting.

• Further extensions of the bottom line processing operators that were introduced in version 4.40 and enhanced in version 4.50.

These additions will represent substantial advances for Echoview's capability in the areas of: multifrequency analysis; fish counting, measurement and classification using imaging sonars; automation and batch processing of data analysis; general program useability and interface function.

As always we will also be implementing a range of specific requests and other useful items with general appeal. We're looking forward to bringing you yet another value-packed Echoview release!

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