SeaDarQ V 5 Reference Guide (Doc Rev D)

SeaDarQ v 5
Oil Spill Detection

&
Hydrography
Reference Guide
documentation revision D
identification data
documentation title SeaDarQ v 5
Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography
Reference Guide
documentation revision
D
publication date
14-mar-2018
software product
SeaDarQ
software product version
v 5.x
issuing organization
Nortek BV
1
SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Reference Guide rev D p. 2 of 179
0 1 Overview
Contents
Contents .................................................................................................................................................................. 3
I Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 5
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 5
2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 5
3 Assumptions and scope ............................................................................................................................. 5
4 Main sections ............................................................................................................................................ 5
II Background Topics and Concepts ............................................................................................................. 7
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 7
2 Modes of operation ................................................................................................................................... 7
3 Basic Principles ......................................................................................................................................... 8
4 SeaDarQ software configuration settings ................................................................................................ 11
5 Starting the system .................................................................................................................................. 14
6 User Interface Elements .......................................................................................................................... 15
7 Alarms and alarm stages ......................................................................................................................... 25
8 A note about examples ............................................................................................................................ 27
9 Background correction / Range correction.............................................................................................. 28
10 Confidence map / quality map ................................................................................................................ 33
11 False alarms ............................................................................................................................................ 35
12 Blocked areas .......................................................................................................................................... 47
13 Shadow detector ...................................................................................................................................... 52
14 Coastline database and land-mask .......................................................................................................... 55
15 AIS .......................................................................................................................................................... 56
16 Line- and histogram windows ................................................................................................................. 58
17 Using polygons ....................................................................................................................................... 59
18 Difference between “snapshot” and “Geo snapshot”.............................................................................. 62
19 Loading and using a Geo-encoded image ............................................................................................... 62
20 Latitude and longitude in degrees versus meters UTM ........................................................................... 62
21 Recording data ........................................................................................................................................ 63
22 Hydrography ........................................................................................................................................... 64
III Dialogs .................................................................................................................................................... 76
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 76
2 Layers dialog ........................................................................................................................................... 77
3 Recording dialog ..................................................................................................................................... 80
4 Image alignment dialog ........................................................................................................................... 83
5 Polygon settings dialog ........................................................................................................................... 84
6 Snapshot Settings dialog ......................................................................................................................... 85
7 Alarm Settings dialog.............................................................................................................................. 87
8 GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog .......................................................................................................... 88
9 Diagnostics Window ............................................................................................................................... 90
10 NMEA log window ................................................................................................................................. 94
11 Statistics Window ................................................................................................................................... 96
12 Font Selection dialog .............................................................................................................................. 97
13 Line window ........................................................................................................................................... 98
14 Histogram window ................................................................................................................................ 103
15 Configuration Settings dialog ............................................................................................................... 107
16 File Settings dialog ............................................................................................................................... 120
17 Hydro configuration dialog window ..................................................................................................... 121
18 Hydro Info configuration dialog window.............................................................................................. 132
19 Wave Buoy Settings dialog ................................................................................................................... 135
20 Individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog ................................................................................................. 136
21 Depth Map cell assignation dialog ........................................................................................................ 137

0 Contents 1 Overview
IV Menus.................................................................................................................................................... 138
1 Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 138
2 Configuration menu .............................................................................................................................. 139
3 View menu ............................................................................................................................................ 141
4 Screen menu .......................................................................................................................................... 143
5 Diagnostics menu .................................................................................................................................. 144
6 Recording menu .................................................................................................................................... 145
7 Image menu ........................................................................................................................................... 146
8 Polygon menu ....................................................................................................................................... 147
9 AIS menu .............................................................................................................................................. 148
10 Snap Shot menu .................................................................................................................................... 149
11 Oil Spill Detection (OSD) View menu ................................................................................................. 150
12 Geo Snap Shot menu ............................................................................................................................. 151
13 File menu .............................................................................................................................................. 152
14 Hydro menu .......................................................................................................................................... 153
15 Hydro Info menu ................................................................................................................................... 156
16 Depth map right-click menu ................................................................................................................. 157
17 Individual wave buoy right-click menu ................................................................................................ 158
V File-formats Hydrography..................................................................................................................... 159
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 159
2 Wave Report ......................................................................................................................................... 160
3 Virtual Wave Buoys .............................................................................................................................. 162
4 Depth map ............................................................................................................................................. 163
5 Depth Contour file ................................................................................................................................ 165
6 Exclusion File ....................................................................................................................................... 167
Detailed Contents ................................................................................................................................................ 169
List of figures ...................................................................................................................................................... 175
List of tables ........................................................................................................................................................ 179

I Introduction 1 Overview
I Introduction
1 OVERVIEW
This section gives a brief sketch of this reference manual, what it is for, and (under Assumptions and scope) what
it does not describe.
2 PURPOSE
The purpose of this document is to give a full, exhaustive description of the use of all functionality in the
SeaDarQ software system – but details of hardware, installation, and maintenance are described elsewhere, in
particular in the Installation and Maintenance Guide. “All functionality” is used in a limited sense; it is limited to
“everything about the use of the SeaDarQ software for Oil Spill Detection operational use and Hydrography”.
See the next section, “assumptions and scope”, for more details.
3 ASSUMPTIONS AND SCOPE

The focus of this reference manual is firstly operational use of the SeaDarQ system for Oil Spill Detection, and
secondly its use for Hydrography.
There are actually two aspects to this statement:
Although the SeaDarQ system has some other modules for specialized purposes, these are not described here;
their existence is merely referred to. They are not described or explained in any detail in this reference manual.
This manual is only about Oil Spill Detection and Hydrography.
This manual does not describe some of the additional modules that can operate in concert with SeaDarQ, such as
the wave spectra module, the FTP client, or the MatLab interface. These modules tend to be extra, external
programs, that are not installed by default (although when installed they do interact with SeaDarQ).
Separate Technical Notes may describe additional modules like these (and additional functionality specific to the
SeaDarQ Scientific license).
Although there are other aspects to the software, the focus is on operational use of the software. Installation and
configuration are mentioned, but for details of installation and configuration of the hardware and software, other
documents exist. Rather than repeat the information, these other documents are referred to.
The why of Oil Spill Detection and Hydrography, the fact that we´re talking about Oil Spill Detection and
Hydrography on sea, and that we´re using a radar system for this, are all taken for granted and not dwelled upon.
Throughout this manual, familiarity with the Microsoft Windows environment is taken for granted.
4 MAIN SECTIONS
The material in this reference manual is divided into several sections.
Section I briefly introduces this manual.
Section II, Background Topics and Concepts, describes a number of concepts that either relate to the basic
principles that the oil spill detection methods and hydrography calculations used in the SeaDarQ software rely
on, or that describe the important aspects of operational use of the system. In section II, the spotlight is on the
why of using these features; the how is described to some extent, but details about menus or dialogs that are used
(the mechanics, so to speak) are left to their own sections.
Section III, Dialogs, describes all the dialog windows that are available in the software, how to get to each, and
what each item in the dialogs does. For a limited number of dialog windows, there is an extensive description of
their use, but for most the details of how and why to use them is described in the topics in section II.
Section IV, Menus, describes all menus that are available in the software, and what each item in the menus does.
The details of how and why to use them is described in the topics in section II.

I Introduction 4 Main sections
Section V, File-formats Hydrography, describes various file formats that are relevant to the Hydrography
calculations SeaDarQ can perform (dependent on license). Most of the file formats describe themselves (through
readable header comments). This section expands a little on these descriptions with more details, and includes
how to generate and/or use these files.

II Background Topics and Concepts 1 Overview
II Background Topics and Concepts
1 OVERVIEW
This section describes a variety of background topics and concepts that form the basis that the software is built
upon. This includes, e.g., the physics of radar reflection off the sea surface, and how that is used to detect the
possible presence of oil on the surface. These physics can also be used to calculate hydrographic properties.
2 MODES OF OPERATION
SeaDarQ knows different modes of operation, as is clear from the Configuration menu. Not all other menus are
available in all modes; the section “Menus” – “Overview” gives some details.
The current manual focusses on “Oil Spill Detection from Radar” and “Hydrography” (the latter will be enabled
in parallel to Oil Spill Detection, depending on the license).
Oil Spill Detection and Hydrography (formerly known as Wave Processing) know two sub-modes, reflecting the
source of radar data to be processed:
 from radar
 from file
The “from radar” mode gets the radar data from a live feed, via the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit that is connected
to the SeaDarQ computer via a network connection.
The “from file” mode gets its data from pre-recorded raw radar data files. (Actually, these raw radar data files
also include NMEA data that was read in to the system concurrently with the radar data.) In “from file” processing
mode, the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit is not required.
2.1 Oil Spill Detection
In Oil Spill Detection mode, use is made of the following facts:
 radar energy is reflected by small capillary waves and similar small-scale surface effects (also known as
sea surface clutter)
 oil slicks suppress these surface effects, resulting in areas of low radar reflection
In effect, the software is looking for dark areas in the radar image, and tries to determine whether any such areas
it finds match additional criteria that lend credit to the notion that an oil slick causes such dark areas. The source
for such oil slicks is assumed to be a spill.
2.2 Hydrography (Wave Processing)
The small capillary waves (and other small-scale surface effects) also make it possible to track the sea surface in
detail, in particular the larger scale waves. The parameters that describe these larger scale waves can yield
information about the depth-averaged currents and the local depth, through the dispersion relation.

II Background Topics and Concepts 3 Basic Principles
3 BASIC PRINCIPLES
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 Overview
This section describes the basic principles that underpin the SeaDarQ Oil Spill Detection and Hydrography
system.
3.1.2 Purpose
This section is intended to provide a place to refer to for general background principles that the SeaDarQ Oil
Spill Detection and Hydrography system depends on. By having this single central place to refer to, it will not be
necessary to repeat details in different places again and again.
3.1.3 Assumptions / scope

This section assumes a certain level of familiarity with the background principles, but not too high a level.
3.2 Description
3.2.1 Radar reflection off the sea surface

Radar energy is reflected off the sea-surface due to sea surface clutter (small capillary waves, on the order of
centimetres wavelength). These small waves are normally present due to the wind.
3.2.2 Oil spill detection

The presence of an oil slick suppresses this sea surface clutter locally, resulting in no radar reflection from that
area, causing a “dark patch” in the radar-reflection image.
The presence of an oil slick is unfortunately not the only possible cause for one of these dark patches: dark
patches caused by other reasons than the presence of an oil slick are called (or can lead to so-called) “false
alarms”.
The SeaDarQ system gets the radar-data line-by-rotating-line. This data is both presented to the user as a raw
image, and processed in various ways to make regions where there might be an oil slick more clearly visible.
In SeaDarQ up to version 2.3.10, this enhancement was done primarily by averaging the radar-image over
several rotations of the radar antenna. Additional processing (e.g. correcting for the distance-dependency of the
intensity of the radar-reflection) and interpretation was left to the user (using advanced options).
In current versions of SeaDarQ, additional processing is done automatically. This ranges from an automatic
background correction (correcting for this mentioned distance-dependency), to advanced algorithms that
automatically recognize (most) oil-spills. Dedicated algorithms detect some situations that have similar
characteristics as an oil-spill, but are in fact not an oil spill. An example is the radar-shadow behind a ship.
False alarms can still happen in SeaDarQ, which is why possible oil slicks always require confirmation by the
user. To assist the user in deciding whether an alarm is an actual oil slick, or a false alarm, some of the
information that the SeaDarQ algorithms use is also available to the user. An example is the “confidence map”.
Beyond assisting the user in deciding whether an alarm represents an actual oil slick or is a false alarm, the
SeaDarQ software allows the user to document the situation in a number of ways, from taking snapshots of the
screen to recording the raw radar-signal.
The intensity of the reflected radar energy falls off with distance, as it is “smeared out” over a circle with
diameter that increases as the distance increases. In principle, this follows the well-known inverse-square law, ~
1/R2, where R stands for distance. However, this applies two times, once for the radar energy transmitted by the
radar antenna, and once again for the radar energy reflected off a “target”: in total this results in a radar energy
intensity drop-off with distance R as ~ 1/R4. The sketch in figure 1 is an attempt at illustration of this effect.
(Details of the full so-called radar equation, which includes this 1/R4 behaviour, can be found in, for instance,
“Radar Handbook” (2008, 3rd ed) by M.I. Skolnik (ed.).) The effective result of this phenomenon is that the
intensity of the image changes from the centre to the edge of the radar image.
For purposes of oil spill detection, this is a distracting influence. To get rid of this distraction, SeaDarQ can
automatically compensate for this distance-dependency of the (background) radar-signal. This background
correction is switched on by default.

transmitting radar
reflecting target
radar energy arriving at target ~ 1/R2
radar energy reflected by target

~ 1/R2 * incoming energy
Figure 1: Illustration of smearing out of radar energy

The dark patches due to oil slicks show up in the raw radar image, but so do dark patches due to other causes. In
particular, the trough of a “regular” sea-surface wave, with a wavelength of a meter or more, is likely to lie in the
radar-shadow of the nearby wave-crest. These troughs and crests lead to many small light and dark patches in the
raw radar image, distracting from and obscuring the dark patches that are of more interest for oil spill detection
purposes. To get rid of these distracting small features in the image, for oil spill detection the raw radar image is
not shown on screen (that layer should be switched off), but instead the processed image is used. The processing
done on the image is, amongst others, an averaging in time. As the meter-plus waves move through the image,
averaging in time smears them out. Slower-moving objects, such as ships and oil slicks, barely move position in
the averaging time that is used, and thus remain visible.
For advanced use, it is possible to view the confidence map. In this view of the processed radar image, colours
indicate the level of confidence the algorithms have in each region being an oil spill (hence the name of this
view). Note that the “high confidence” regions are not immediately flagged in the “regular” enhanced image
view; they are flagged if certain additional criteria are satisfied. These additional criteria include, amongst
others, the size of the region, and the length of time it has been present. Naturally, these criteria are chosen with
the properties and behaviour of oil slicks in mind (and can be configured differently if desired).
In order to sketch the backgrounds of false alarms, let’s go back to the basic principle behind SeaDarQ: the sea is
usually covered with small-scale waves that reflect radar. These small waves are primarily generated by the
wind, and an oil slick suppresses these waves.
Straight away, this gives rise to two scenarios where SeaDarQ might get confused: not all wave-suppression is
caused by an oil slick, and not all absence of a radar-reflection is caused by the absence of small, reflecting
waves. Both of these cases can be caused by other ships (or other static structures).
A ship gives a very hard radar-reflection; so hard, that there will not be any radar energy left to look beyond the
ship: a ship causes a radar-shadow behind it (seen from the SeaDarQ radar). This lack of radar-reflection behind
a ship can be mistaken for an oil-spill (although SeaDarQ has algorithms to recognize this scenario). It is thus
important to be able to recognize a ship in the radar-image, and the radar-shadow it may cause.
This same phenomenon can also occur with other objects that cause a hard radar-reflection, and can even happen
with the coastline.
Another reason there may be no radar-reflection is if there are no small waves due to other causes than
suppression by an oil slick. A ship or other large structure may sufficiently block the wind that it causes a wind-
shadow, with less or no small waves in that shadow-area. To recognize this in a radar-image, it is important to
know the wind-direction.
A radar- or wind-shadow caused by a ship has recognizable characteristics. However, there are other reasons
why the surface-waves may be interfered with or may be suppressed, not all of them even clear or well
understood.
3.2.3 Detection range

Another important aspect (for both Oil Spill Detection and Hydrography) is the detection possibility with range.
Although radar may see reflections from ships many miles away, we are not interested in ships. The SeaDarQ
algorithms depend on the sea surface clutter return. The (radar) visibility of this sea surface clutter return drops
off much faster with distance (range), and depends highly on the condition of the sea surface, in terms of the sea
3
state. A software program from TNO 2, CARPET , can calculate the sea surface clutter return as a function of
2
Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research TNO, department Defense, Security and Safety
(formerly the Physics and Electronics Laboratory)
3
Computer-Aided Radar Performance Evaluation Tool

distance, taking into account values for a variety of parameters. Figure 2 shows an example of results from
CARPET, showing the distance (on the vertical axis) at which the sea surface clutter return signal can still be
detected, as a function of the sea state (horizontal axis). (Sea state is linked to the wind conditions.) Table 1 lists
a number of the parameters that CARPET takes into account.
Some notes:
 The example behaviour of sea surface clutter return visibility distance versus sea state is inherent to the
radar and radar antenna properties. This behaviour is independent of oil spill detection or hydrography
processing software system.
 There are many subtleties to this figure. It is shown here without detailed explanation (somewhat out of
context), to illustrate that the detection range involves more than you might think.
Figure 2: Radar visibility of sea surface clutter return
Table 1: Most important parameters and values

used in the CARPET calculations
Radar transceiver parameters antenna parameters
carrier frequency 9410 MHz antenna type rect
peak power 25 kW vertical illum (antenna pattern file)
pulse length 50 ns azimuth beamwidth 0.95 °
inst bandwidth 20 MHz elevation beamwidth 26.0 °
PRF 1.8 kHz transmit gain 29.5 dBi
number of burst 1 polarization V
pulses per burst 1 tracking none
transmitter losses 2.0 dB receive gain 29.5 dBi
white noise level -120 dB/Hz beamshape loss 1.0 dB
colored noise level -40 dBc antenna tilt 0.0 °
cut-off frequency 1.0 Hz radar mounting height 40 m
timing jitter TX 0.1 ns azimuth side lobes -27.9 dB
receiver noise figure 5.0 dB frame time 1.3 s

II Background Topics and Concepts 4 SeaDarQ software configuration settings
4 SEADARQ SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION SETTINGS

4.1 Overview
Next to this Reference Guide, the SeaDarQ system comes with an “Installation and Maintenance Guide”.
In terms of installation and configuration, the Installation and Maintenance Guide describes:
 all hardware connections (including options for different radars)
 first time (installation time) hardware and software configuration:
hardware:
o radar tuning
o radar signal conditioning (offset and gain)
software:
o communication with the radar via the acquisition unit
o trigger delay
o north alignment
o NMEA port configuration settings
 diagnostics
This section describes additional software configuration of SeaDarQ, especially User Interface settings. The
focus is mostly on Oil Spill Detection mode.
This section mentions SeaDarQ menus and configuration dialogs, but does not go into all details of these menus
and windows. For details, see the sections IV “Menus” and III “Dialogs”, which discuss each menu item and
each dialog option in more detail.
4.2 General configuration
After completion of installation and configuration as described in the Installation and Maintenance Guide, you
may decide on adjustment of certain settings in the SeaDarQ program itself.
Notes:
 In the process of fine-tuning configuration settings, it is useful to save the configuration settings
of a certain moment in time to an XML configuration file (see Configuration  Export XML
Configuration; also in this Reference Guide, in the section Menus). This allows for a fallback in
case the fine-tuning turns out unsatisfactory.
 Changes to configuration settings are not saved automatically: if not saved explicitly, a change
of operating mode or a restart of the program will revert to the settings in the registry (for that
mode).
The following sub-sections (Radar Configuration, Image Configuration, and Tracker Configuration) describe
some recommended configuration steps for SeaDarQ. Operational Image Configuration is described after that.
Advanced options are the subject of the next section (after these sub-sections).
4.2.1 Radar Configuration

The most important configuration option for the radar acquisition settings is the range. This is a setting for the
radar itself.
Considerations are:
 A larger range covers a larger area but gives lower resolution (each pixel covers a larger surface area).
 A larger range also suffers from the fact that progressively less radar energy is returned at larger
distance (see Background Topics and Concepts). This means that at larger distances, the signal levels go
down, and the signal-to-noise ratio becomes worse.
 A smaller range covers a smaller area, but gives better resolution (more details); smaller features will be
visible.
 There is a physical limit to the distance at which the radar can still see the sea surface disturbances
(clutter, capillary waves) that are at the basis of radar-based oil spill detection (and the radar-based
hydrography).
The general recommendation / best practise is: keep the range below 3 to 7 km (about 2 to 4½ miles, or about 1½
to 4 nm).

4.2.2 Image Configuration

For oil spill detection:
 Switch off radar layer, show On-screen selection in “Layer” panel (see section II-6.7)
enhanced image layer
Beyond that, the following list has some settings to consider and decide upon (with some details on how to select
them, with defaults where applicable):
 AIS: layer transparent, show Items in the AIS menu (see section IV-9)
labels off, show tracks on
 Rings on/off as desired On-screen selection in “Settings” panel (see section II-6.8)
 North up Item in the Screen menu (see section IV-4)
 Degrees / meter UTM Item in the View menu (see section IV-3) default: degrees
 Km / nm as desired Item in the View menu (see section IV-3) default km
 UTC / local time as desired Item in the View menu (see section IV-3) default UTC
 Details in the Navigation Panel:
o Range Always shown
o Lat, Lon Latitude and longitude, always shown; units as selected
(degrees or meter UTM)
o HDG Heading, optional; default: not shown
select via ConfigurationSettingsProcessing Parameters
o STW Speed through water, optional; default: not shown
o DPTH Depth, optional; default: not shown
Note that some of the navigation panel items require a suitable NMEA source to be connected to a NMEA input
port on the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit.
4.2.3 Settings for Operational Use

In addition, the following settings are recommended for operational use:
aspect recommended setting for details, see:

DMODE LOW FAR (detection mode: low false alarm rate) User Interface Elements, Settings
(Detection Mode) (section II-6.8)
FASTD OFF (no fast detection) User Interface Elements, Settings
(Fast Detection) (section II-6.8)
hide the radar layer this is the recommended operating mode for oil User Interface Elements, Layers
(image visibility) spill detection (section II-6.7);
see also Layers dialog (section
III-2)
The following aspects are optional, and can be set as required:
aspect for details, see: remarks
block-off disturbing Blocked areas (section II-12)
(static) reflections
range correction Background correction / Range correction default: automatic, normal
(section II-9)
During operational use, sometimes you may want to record what is happening on-screen. SeaDarQ has the
following options: taking screen snapshots, geo snapshots, or recording raw radar video lines.
See the descriptions in this Reference Guide:
 Recording menu & Recording dialog window (sections IV-6 and III-3)
 Snap Shot menu & Snapshot Settings dialog (sections IV-10 and III-6)
 Geo Snap Shot menu & GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog (sections IV-12 and III-8)
 (And see also section II-18, Difference between “snapshot” and “Geo snapshot”)

It may also be necessary to adjust the Oil Spill Detection alarm thresholds. These thresholds are the minimum
area and time present of a detection before triggering an alarm. See Tab “Alarms Settings” in the Configuration
Settings dialog (section III-15.3.7).
4.3 Advanced options
Via the Configuration menu, it is possible to switch on (enable) Advanced Options.
Examples of use where it is necessary to switch on (enable) Advanced Options:

 Temporarily switching off Scaling, Enhancement Level and Range corrections (in order to perform signal
level adjustment, as described in the Installation and Maintenance Guide)
 Switching the Range correction to Rain mode.
Where a feature has Advanced Options that can be used by switching on (enabling) Advanced Options via the
Configuration menu, this will be mentioned in the description of the feature. There is no “master list” of all
advanced options.
4.4 Save configuration
The SeaDarQ configuration settings are mode-dependent. The settings for the current mode can be saved in two
different ways:
 In the registry (under Local User, so strictly speaking these settings are also dependent on the log-in
credentials) – Configuration ► Save Configuration
 In an XML file – Configuration ► Export XML Configuration
The settings in the registry determine the default settings used when SeaDarQ either starts in this mode, or when
it is changed into this mode.
Settings saved to an XML file can later be restored from this file (see the descriptions in the section Menus,
Configuration menu, items Save Configuration, Export XML Configuration, Import XML Configuration, Set
Configuration as Default, and Restore Factory Defaults; section IV-2).
Note: changes to configuration settings are not saved automatically: if not saved explicitly, a change of operating
mode or a restart of the program will revert back to the settings in the registry (for that mode).
Hint: When the system is configured and working correctly, save the configuration to an XML file for
safekeeping, so you have a good base-line to fall back on should future changes to settings prove unsatisfactory.

II Background Topics and Concepts 5 Starting the system
5 STARTING THE SYSTEM

First, start the radar system itself. For radars other than Sperry BridgeMaster series E, refer to the radar
manufacturer’s instructions. Only a Sperry BridgeMaster E radar connected to the SeaDarQ computer and
Acquisition Unit, with the SeaDarQ computer and Acquisition Unit connected as master, can be started from
within the SeaDarQ software. (See the Installation and Maintenance Guide for details).
As soon as the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit receives radar data4, and the Acquisition Unit transmits the radar data
to the software, the SeaDarQ software will display the data (provided the radar layer is enabled – for Oil Spill
Detection, you should switch this layer off as soon as you are satisfied the system receives the radar data).
Checks to perform:
 The indicator SYSTEM in the status panel shows green (see section II-6.12, Status)
 The red rotation marker is moving along the outside of the radar image (see section II-6.3, Radar image)
 Assuming GPS and gyro systems are providing valid position and heading information via the NMEA
ports, the LAT, LON, and HDG indications in the navigation panel will show valid data (see also section
II-6.9, Navigation).
As long as DMODE is not OFF, the Oil Spill Detection algorithms will start processing the incoming radar data.
For the first 32 rotations (assuming that is the corresponding enhancement level, STD; see section II-6.8,
Settings) the OSD indicators in the status panel will be dark red, with a moving dot, indicating that the Oil Spill
Detection system is initializing (building up its averaging stack). After this, the OSD indicators will turn green.
The SeaDarQ Oil Spill Detection system is now operational.
For Hydrography applications, see section II-22, Hydrography. You have to make a number of specialized
settings first.
4
Note that a Sperry radar passes out slow-rate “fake” radar data when it is in stand-by mode, before it is rotating
and truly transmitting.

II Background Topics and Concepts 6 User Interface Elements
6 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS

6.1 Introduction
6.1.1 Overview
This section describes the elements that are visible on the SeaDarQ main screen during normal operation in Oil
Spill Detection mode.
6.1.2 Purpose
The purpose of this description is to familiarize the user with the main elements that are present on the SeaDarQ
screen.
6.1.3 Assumptions and scope

This description assumes that the SeaDarQ system is up and running; it does not describe how to get it in that
state, nor does it describe how to change settings. It only describes what is visible.
In particular, this description assumes the SeaDarQ system receives a radar signal (with all necessary
adjustments made).
This section does assume the user has a basic familiarity with the Microsoft Windows environment, so concepts
such as “hover the mouse over a button to view the tooltip” are not explained.
6.2 SeaDarQ main screen
Figure 3 shows the panels and areas in the SeaDarQ screen:
a) radar image g) navigation panel
b) button bar (aka toolbar) h) meteo panel
c) status bar i) oil spills detected panel
d) menu bar j) status panel
e) layers panel k) radar control panel
f) settings panel
e b
f
i
k j
c
a
Figure 3: SeaDarQ main screen, and its elements

The individual elements are described in more detail below.

6.3 Radar image

What the radar image area shows depends on what layers are active. The most relevant possibilities (in terms of
what is showing) are:
 the radar image itself
 the enhanced image
 the confidence map
Figure 4, figure 5 and figure 6 show examples.
Figure 4: The (raw) radar image
Figure 5: The enhanced image
Figure 6: The confidence map

The sub-section “Layers” describes how to change the relevant layer settings. For a detailed description of all
available layers, see the description of the Layers Dialog window in the section Dialogs.
Interpretation and practical use of the different layers is described throughout this manual, as and where
appropriate.
Note that for normal Oil Spill Detection operation, the Enhanced layer should be visible, which means the Radar
layer should be hidden.
There are certain elements and features of the radar screen that warrant some extra explanation (see figure 7).
radar active indication To indicate that the SeaDarQ system is receiving radar signals, there is a thin red
rotation marker moving around the edge of the radar image.
ship direction If the SeaDarQ system is installed on a ship, by a blue line from the centre of the radar
image to its edge indicates the ship’s direction (heading or bearing).
Notes:
 The menu-option Screen  North Up determines whether the top of the radar image (the “up”
direction) corresponds to North, or to the ships direction.
 Display of the ship’s heading depends on the heading or bearing signal (a.k.a. gyro) being connected to
one of the NMEA ports on the Acquisition Unit that is part of the SeaDarQ system.
course over ground COG = Course over Ground = GPS-derived actual course. This may be different from
the ship’s direction, due to currents and wind. Provided the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit
receives this GPS signal, a small blue line-marker at the edge of the radar image
indicates this.
zooming in and out

There are a number of ways to
zoom in to and out of the radar
image:
 use the scroll wheel on the
red radar rotation
mouse (if present)
marker
 left-click to zoom in, right-
click to zoom out
 Screen  Fit will zoom
out completely
 pressing any key1 while
zoomed in will temporarily
(for as long as that key
remains pressed) zoom out
completely and center
 pressing any key1 while ship’s direction
zoomed in (see above) and
then pressing any other CoG marker
key1 will zoom out
completely and center, and
stay zoomed out and
centered
Figure 7: Details in the radar and enhanced image
1
: with the exception of special keys
CAPS LOCK, NUM LOCK, PRTSCRN, SCRLK, ALT
Behaviour after the use of one of the function keys may depend on special functionality associated with that
function key. Results may be unexpected, and use of function keys for zoom-out is not recommended.
panning
To pan, press and hold the “middle” mouse button (that is, the scroll wheel) and move the mouse.
The two “press any key” methods of temporarily and completely zooming out and centering, described just
above, under “zooming in and out”, also work with respect to panning.

6.4 Button bar / toolbar

The button bar, also known as toolbar, located at the top of the window, just below the menu bar, contains some
buttons that provide easy access to a number of often-used features. What buttons are available depends on the
state of the program (whether it is getting a live radar signal or is playing back a recording). You can show or
hide the toolbar through the menu “View”, item “Toolbars”.
If you hover the cursor over a button in the toolbar, a tooltip will give a very brief description of the functionality
of that button.
Figure 8 shows the toolbar with the buttons that are present when SeaDarQ is in “Oil Spill Detection from
Radar” mode. Table 2 lists the buttons, their functionality (as given by the tooltip for that button), and what
menu-option it corresponds to.
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f) (g) (h) (i) (j) (k) (l) (m) (n)
Figure 8: The button- or toolbar
Table 2: Details of the toolbar buttons

button tooltip description corresponding menu option
(a) Show or hide the line view. View  Line Window
Toggle line view.
(b) Show or hide the histogram view. View  Histogram Window
Toggle histogram view.
(c) Toggles between north and heading up Screen  North Up
(d) Fits the radar view in the window Screen  Fit
(e) View the layer dialog Screen  Layers …
(f) Open a SeaDarQ File File  Open (… from file only)
(g) Play the current file File  Play (… from file only)
(h) Stop File  Stop (… from file only)
(i) Writes a regular snapshot of the screen to a Snap Shot  Take Snap Shot
geo encoded TIFF File
(j) Saves a polygon to a file Polygon  Save to File …
(k) Load a polygon from File Polygon  Load from File …
(l) Adds a polygon Polygon  Add Polygon
(m) Add a line Polygon  Add Line
(n) Remove the current polygon Polygon  Remove All
Notes:
 The three “file” buttons (f), (g), and (h), are only visible in “Oil Spill Detection from file” mode
 “Remove the current polygon” is a typo, it removes all polygons
6.5 Status bar

The status bar is located at the bottom of the SeaDarQ window. Figure 9 shows the status bar. Table 3 lists the
fields on the status bar, and what they show.
(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)
Figure 9: The status bar

Table 3: Details that are shown in the status bar

button label description comments
(a) Hydro: (status) Status of the Hydrography processing cycle.
This can be:
(b) Manual Rec: Status of the snapshot taker: Manual or Auto When started to take snapshots
(status) (this refers to regular snapshots) in automatic mode, also
indicates the time between
snapshots
(c) BRG / DIST Shows the direction (bearing, BRG) in
degrees and the distance (DIST) in
kilometres (km) or nautical miles (NM) of
the point on the radar image that the cursor
is over
(d) N/S E/W Shows the geographical coordinates of the (Assumes the geographical
point on the radar image that the cursor is location of the radar is given,
over either as a static position, or
via NMEA by a GPS device)
(e) UTC Shows the time, either as UTC (Universal see IV-3, View menu
Coordinated Time), or as local time (without
the “UTC” label), depending on the choice
for this
(f) ….-..-.. Shows the date (in the format yyyy-mm-dd)
Note: you can toggle between a blank status bar and one that shows the information described by using the ALT
key (provided SeaDarQ is not in full screen mode).
Actually, ALT is intercepted by Windows, and pre-selects the “Windows meta menu” (containing Restore,
Move, etc.) in keyboard select mode
6.6 Menu bar

The menu bar is located at the top of the SeaDarQ window. Certain menu items are always present in the same
location, but other menu items are only available in certain operating modes of SeaDarQ. Furthermore, when
switching from one mode to another, some of these menus may move to a different place on the menu bar: the
order of the menus may change.
The SeaDarQ application does not have the standard Windows menus “File” or “Edit”, as SeaDarQ operation is
not centred around documents, and these menus would thus not fulfil any sensible purpose.
For an exhaustive description of all menus and menu items, see section IV, Menus.
6.7 Layers
The “Layers” panel lists the layers that are most important in Oil Spill Detection mode, and allows a quick and
convenient way to cycle through the three different modes there are for each layer.
Figure 10 shows the “Layers” panel in isolation.
Note that the order in which the layers are listed can change, depending on the way SeaDarQ is started, and the
history of SeaDarQ processing modes.
The high-to-low sequencing of layers with regards to visibility and obscuring of deeper (lower) layers can be
seen in the “Layers” dialog window; see the section Dialogs for details.
The second column in this panel indicates the visibility of each of the layers. There are three options for the
visibility of a layer:
 show A layer with status “show” is visible, provided a higher layer with status “show” does
not obscure it. A layer with status “show” will block (obscure) the visibility of deeper
(lower) layers.
 transp (transparent) A layer with status “transparent” is visible, but allows the next deeper layer
(or layers) with status “visible” (or “transparent”) to show through
 hide A layer with status “hide” is not visible, and does not obstruct the view of deeper layers

Figure 10: The layers panel
To change the status of one of these layers, do one of the following:

o hover the mouse over the status indication (the word “show”, “transp” or “hide”), and use the scroll
wheel on the mouse to cycle through the options
o double-left-click on the status indication to set the status to the next one in the list of the three possible
status-states
o double-right-click on the status indication to set the status to the previous one in the list of the three
possible status-states
Some notes:
 Below these layers is the confidence map (layer “Quality” in the “Layers” dialog window), so if both
layers radar and enhanced are hidden or transparent, this confidence map will be visible (provided it is
enabled in the Layers dialog window).
 There are extensive possibilities to adjust the colours, transparency, and visibility of these and all other
available layers through the “Layers” dialog window. Details can be found in the section Dialogs, in the
sub-section Layers Dialog.
 For normal Oil Spill Detection mode, the Radar layer should be switched off (hide), making the
Enhanced layer the primary working layer.
Table 4 lists the layers in this panel that are relevant for Oil Spill detection, with a short description. Where
relevant, the table indicates where you can find further details. Other layers (Depth, Current, Length, and
DContour, are relevant for Hydrography; the Hydrography section, II-22, and in particular subsection II-22.1.6,
describes their use.)
Table 4: Description of the standard layers in "Oil Spill from Radar" mode
layer name description remarks
IMAGE if an image has been loaded (see reference), this is the see section “Loading and using a
layer that contains it Geo-encoded image”
ENHANCED the enhanced, processed radar image
RADAR the raw radar image
AIS information from the Automatic Identification System, see section “AIS”
provided this information is fed into the SeaDarQ
system via NMEA
6.8 Settings
The details which show up in the panel “Settings” depends on both the SeaDarQ operating mode, and on whether
Advanced Options are enabled or not in the Configuration menu. This section only describes SeaDarQ in Oil
Spill Detection mode. Figure 11 and figure 12 show the panel for the situation where Advanced Options are
disabled and enabled, respectively.

Note that the order in which the settings are listed can change, depending on the way SeaDarQ is started, and the
history of SeaDarQ processing modes.
Changing the active option for these settings works similar as described for “Layers” (with the exception of the
slider controls):
 hovering the mouse over a setting and using the scroll wheel cycles through the options for that setting
 double-left-clicking changes the setting to the next option
 double-right-clicking changes the setting to the previous option
Options to change the setting of the slider controls are:
 hovering the mouse over the slider bar and using the scroll wheel to move the slider left or right
 clicking-and-dragging the slider to the desired setting
Note that double-clicking on and single- or double-clicking next to a slider do not have an effect
If “Scaling” is set to manual, two extra sliders appear, “Gain” and “Offset”. Under normal circumstances, scaling
should be kept to auto. The scaling setting does not appear in this panel if Enable Advanced Options in the
Configuration Menu is not switched on (indicated by a check-mark). This is also true of the setting for the
enhancement level (enh lvl)
Table 5 lists the different setting abbreviations in the Settings panel, what the abbreviation stands for, and what
the possible settings are.
Figure 11: The settings panel, with "Advanced Figure 12: The settings panel, with "Advanced
Options" disabled Options" enabled (and “Scaling” set to “Manual”)
Table 5: Description of the different settings in the Settings panel

abbreviation meaning possible settings remarks
BRIGHT brightness of the radar image
CONT contrast of the radar image
RINGS show rings in the radar image OFF do not show rings
at the given intervals (list dependent on setting for range, and
on setting for km or NM)
DMODE Detection Mode HIGH DR high detection rate default: STANDARD
STANDARD standard detection rate
LOW FAR low false alarm rate
OFF no automatic oil spill
detection (only available
with Enable Advanced
Options on)
FASTD Fast Detection ON fast oil spill detection on
OFF no fast oil spill detection

abbreviation meaning possible settings remarks

SCALING amplification and offset AUTO automatic adjustment of default: AUTO
settings for the incoming scaling parameters
radar signal MANUAL manual adjustment by
means of the sliders that
become visible
OFF no scaling of the incoming
radar signal
GAIN amplification setting
OFFSET offset setting
ENH LVL enhancement level (number OFF default: MAX
of radar images used for MIN 8
averaging) LIGHT 16
STD 32
MAX 64
Note that for Oil Spill Detection mode, the enhancement level should be set to MAX, otherwise false alarms on
all sorts of shadows will occur.
6.9 Navigation
The details that show up in the “Navigation” panel (see figure 13) depend on the configuration settings (see
section III-15.3.2, Configuration Settings dialog, Tab “Processing Parameters”). By default, range and location
(latitude and longitude) are shown (where range is the maximum distance SeaDarQ was configured to use for the
radar image – see Configuring Radar). In addition, it is possible to show heading ( HDG), speed (STW, for Speed
Through the Water), and depth (DPTH). For these last three parameters, SeaDarQ depends on external data-feeds
from NMEA devices.
Whether latitude and longitude are shown as degrees north/south and east/west, or as meters UTM, can be
selected through the “View” menu.
Figure 13: The navigation panel
6.10 Meteo
The “Meteo” panel (see figure 14) will show the wind speed (WSPEED) and wind direction (WDIR), provided a
(NMEA) wind-sensor is connected to the system.
Figure 14: The Meteo panel

6.11 Oil spills detected

The details shown in the “Oil Spills Detected” panel change dynamically, based on whether any spills have been
detected, their observed properties (amongst others, area and displacement speed), and whether the mouse is
hovering over a suspected oil spill or not.
Figure 16 shows an example of the details listed for a detected spill; table 6 lists the parameters reported, with
some comments. (Note that where this table mentions “oil spill”, this can refer to all categories of oil spill that
SeaDarQ uses internally, as described in Section 7, Alarms and alarm stages.)
Table 6: Parameters reported for (suspected) oil spills

parameter comments
ID identification number assigned to the oil spill
Note: the colour of the dot in between “ID” and the ID-number indicates the status of the oil spill:
see section II-7, Alarms and alarm stages
LAT latitude of the centre of the oil spill (in degrees or m UTM, depending on the setting for that)
LON longitude of the centre of the oil spill
AREA area of the oil spill in km2 of nm2
VOL EST estimated volume in m3 (see note below)
DETECTED time (in UTC) that the oil spill was first detected
SPEED apparent displacement speed of the centre of the oil spill (in m/s or kn)
HEADING direction in which the centre of the oil spill is moving
CONFIRMED whether the operator has manually marked the oil spill as either a confirmed spill, or a confirmed
non-spill (false alarm)
Figure 16: The Oil Spills Detected panel, when

suspected oil spills have been detected
Figure 15: The Oil Spills Detected panel, when no oil

spills are detected
Note: The volume estimation depends on assigning a thickness estimate (in mm) to the (potential) oil spill
outline; see section II-7, in particular II-7.4.1, “Reaction to an alarm / possible follow-up actions”. The
default value for the thickness is 0 mm, so without any operator action to assign a thickness, the volume
will be reported as 0 m3.

6.12 Status
The contents of the “Status” panel (see figure 17) depend on some specific settings in the Configuration 
Setup… window, on tab “Processing Parameters”. Some of the entries are only relevant for the Hydrography
module (and do not show on screen if the Hydrography license is not activated). Table 7 lists the abbreviations in
the Status panel, what they stand for, and what option in the Processing Parameters tab determines their
visibility.
Figure 17: The status panel
Table 7: Details for the status panel

abbreviation meaning option on Processing Parameters tab
RTIME rotation time of the radar antenna (in seconds Show Rotation Time
per revolution)
TIME timestamp for the image (in UTC; Show Time Stamp
hours:minutes:seconds.decimal fraction of
second)
RETIME real time elapsed between playback images (only relevant for “… from file” modes)
DEPTH calculated water depth at the grid point the (only shows with Hydrography license)
mouse is over
CURRENT calculated current speed at the grid point the (only shows with Hydrography license)
mouse is over
LENGTH calculated wave length at the grid point the (only shows with Hydrography license)
mouse is over
HEIGHT (calculated wave height at the grid point the (only shows with Hydrography license)
mouse is over – but see section II-22.3.9)
OSD a “moving light” indication of internal activity (always shown)
of the tracker algorithm (green, except for the
first 32 radar revolutions, when the tracker is
still initializing, when the dots are dark red)
SYSTEM indication that the system is operating (green: (only shows in “… from radar” mode)
system OK; red: error condition)

II Background Topics and Concepts 7 Alarms and alarm stages
7 ALARMS AND ALARM STAGES

7.1 Description
Most of the time, SeaDarQ will process the incoming radar signal, and not report anything amiss. On occasion,
however, the oil spill detection algorithms will trigger an alarm.
The on-screen indication and appearance of an alarm is two-fold:
 The potential spill is outlined in the radar image (in a colour that depends on the stage of the alarm), and
it is assigned an ID.
Actually, the potential spill or area of alarm is indicated by an outline only when the mouse hovers
inside that area; if the mouse is outside of the area, it is indicated with a solid fill.
 the potential spill is listed in the panel “Oil Spills Detected”, with the same ID it has in the radar image
The alarms can move through several stages, depending on the conditions, circumstances, and operator actions.
Suspect area / potential spill “candidate”

The SeaDarQ algorithms have detected an area of low radar reflection. The false alarm algorithms have
not classified it as a ship’s shadow or coastline related artefact. It is therefore classified as a “potential
spill”. Potential spills are indicated in light blue.
Alarm / unconfirmed oil spill “track” / “alarm”
The area that a potential spill occupies has grown larger than the set threshold, and the spill has been
present for longer than the pre-set minimum time. This means it is now highly likely that the suspect area
is indeed an actual oil spill. It is now classified as an “unconfirmed oil spill”, and indicated in red (in fact,
as slow dark red / brighter red blinking).
Confirmed oil spill
A potential or unconfirmed oil spill (or even a previously discarded spill) can only become a confirmed
oil spill through operator action: right-clicking inside the outline of a potential or unconfirmed oil spill
and selecting “Confirmed Oil Spill” from the pop-up menu. A “confirmed oil spill” is indicated in
orange.
Discarded oil spill
A potential, confirmed, or unconfirmed oil spill can be discarded by right-clicking inside the outline of
the area, and selecting “Discard” from the pop-up menu. A discarded alarm-area remains indicated in the
radar image in dark grey (so it is possible to re-classify it later on).
Note that several of the operator actions mentioned above can also be performed in a slightly different form in
the “Oil spills detected” panel. See the section “User Interface Elements” for details.
7.2 Purpose
The reason alarms are subdivided into stages is the risk of a false alarm, and the potential cost of reacting to a
false alarm. The different stages alert the operator that something could be amiss; as the alarm progresses
through the stages, it satisfies more and more characteristics of a true oil slick, warranting more and more
attention. In the end, though, the operator has the final say, and is the one to decide if an alarm represents a true
oil spill.
False alarms and a number of their possible causes are detailed in the section “False Alarms”.
7.3 Enabling alarms in SeaDarQ
Alarms are enabled at installation, and by default. Should they have been disabled for whatever reason, the way
to (re-) enable them is to check all elements that are needed for its proper operation:
 Make sure DMODE is not switched off (set it to its default of LOW FAR, low false alarm rate)
 the Enhanced layer is the one of interest, so make sure it is visible (layers dialog) and not obscured by
the Radar layer
 Check that the alarm thresholds are sensible or close to defaults (see section Tab “Alarms Settings”;
defaults are 1000 m2 for the area threshold, and 5 minutes for the persistence threshold).
 Make sure the Shadow detector is switched on (Tab “Shadow Detector” in the Configuration Settings
dialog)
 Make sure the range correction is set to automatic, normal mode (see Line window, Advanced Options
enabled). Note that if advanced options are disabled, SeaDarQ will automatically switch range
correction to automatic, normal mode.
The quickest way to get the whole system operating with its default settings is of course to Reset it to Factory
Defaults (see Configuration menu). Of course, this will also abandon any other special settings that might have
been configured.

II Background Topics and Concepts 7 Alarms and alarm stages
An alternative could be to restore from an XML configuration file; of course, this does require the forethought of
saving such a file when the system is fine-tuned into a good operating state.
7.4 Use
See also “Oil Spills Detected” in section 6, “User Interface Elements”
7.4.1 Reaction to an alarm / possible follow-up actions

mark “confirmed oil spill” / “not an oil spill”
Right-click, select from pop-up menu
or
double-left-click  confirm
double-right-click  (nothing  pop-up menu)
Figure 18: The right-click pop-up menu for an oil-

spill alarm
If you select “Set thickness…” from the right-click

pop-up menu, you can assign a thickness to the area
(irrespective of its status otherwise). Specify a layer
thickness in mm.
Figure 19: Set layer thickness dialog box
7.4.2 reported properties

See “Oil spills detected” in section 6, “User Interface
Elements”
Double-(left)-click the dot  confirm as oil spill (dot

turns orange)
Figure 20: The properties of an oil spill that is

hovered over with the mouse

II Background Topics and Concepts 8 A note about examples
8 A NOTE ABOUT EXAMPLES

For normal Oil Spill Detection operation, the Enhanced layer should be active, with the radar layer switched off.
In the examples, we still show both the Radar image and the Enhanced image side-by-side.
For other elements in the images (e.g., the blue heading or direction line), see also the chapter “User Interface
Elements”.
Another aspect to note is that the colours for the alarm outlines do not correspond fully to those mentioned in
section II-7, Alarms and alarm stages. In particular, the examples still show dark blue for the “candidate”
potential spill outlines, which is according to an older colour scheme. Of course, the exact colour scheme does
not influence the situations that are depicted.

II Background Topics and Concepts 9 Background correction / Range correction
9 BACKGROUND CORRECTION / RANGE CORRECTION

9.1 Description
Background correction or range correction refers to the algorithms that SeaDarQ uses to cope with the fact that
the intensity of reflected radar energy (known as backscatter) is not uniform over the radar image, but is
dependent on the distance of the object that reflects the radar energy. See the section “Backgrounds” for a brief
explanation of this distance dependency. The factors contributing to this variation of backscatter include wind
direction, wave direction, and sea state.
For correct operation of the SeaDarQ Oil Spill Detection algorithms, these variations are compensated for in
such a way that the background intensity of the radar energy reflected off the sea surface is uniform over the
image.
9.2 Purpose
The intensity fall-off with distance means that at distance, the difference between a patch of sea with reduced
radar-reflection due to an oil-slick is much more difficult to distinguish from the background reflections: very
dark versus slightly less dark. Figure 21 and figure 22 show an example, where the oil slick is more and more
difficult to distinguish the farther away it is. With automatic background correction switched on, the enhanced
image looks like figure 24, where the oil slick is now much easier to see even at larger distances.
Figure 21: Radar image, range correction off Figure 22: Enhanced image, range correction off
Figure 23: Radar image, range correction on Figure 24: Enhanced image, range correction on
9.3 Range correction in SeaDarQ

In SeaDarQ, Automatic Background Correction is switched on by default. To switch it off, or to change to one of
the advanced background correction options, you need to switch on “Advanced Options” (see “Configuration
Menu”), and open the “Line” window (see “View Menu”). See the separate sub-section “Line Window” in the
section “Dialogs” for details on the advanced options in the Line window, in particular the “Range Correction
Curve” menu that is available in this mode.

9.4 Use
In SeaDarQ, Automatic Background Correction is switched on by default, using the “Normal Mode” range
correction algorithms. See below under “Advanced use” for use of other options.
9.5 Practical examples
The example in figure 26 shows a situation where the (unprocessed) radar intensity not only shows its normal
behaviour with respect to distance, but also shows a slightly different behaviour depending on direction, due to
the direction the wind is blowing. The figures to the right of the radar image show how the radar intensity falls
off with distance from the centre. The top-right image and the one immediately below it show this behaviour for
different directions, 20° and 115° from the North, respectively.
020°
Figure 25: Radar intensity along a line from the center in the 020°
direction
115°
Figure 26: Radar image, range Figure 27: Radar intensity along a line from the center in the 115°
correction off direction
Figure 28: Radar intensity along a line from the center in the 020°
direction
Figure 29: Radar image, range Figure 30: Radar intensity along a line from the center in the 115°
correction on direction
The three images in the bottom of the figure show the same situation, but with the automatic range correction
switched on. Not only is the radar image itself much more uniform, the radar intensity behaviour along the 20°
and 115° lines shows, too, that the range-corrected intensity hardly changes with distance, and that the difference
between the two directions is much less as well.

The real usefulness of this range correction becomes apparent when we compare the images in figure 31 to
figure 35, showing the same situation: there is an oil spill present. (The images are from several minutes later
than the ones in the previous figure; the ship has changed course, as is apparent from the blue heading line.)
The top two images show the raw radar image and the enhanced image, without range correction.
The second row of images shows the radar and enhanced images with normal automatic range correction. The
last image on the bottom row is identical to the enhanced image with normal automatic range correction, with the
addition of the automatic detection that is the important feature of SeaDarQ.
It is clear that with normal automatic range correction on the oil spill is much easier to recognize.
Figure 31: Radar image, range correction off Figure 32: Enhanced image, range correction off
Figure 33: Radar image, range correction on Figure 34: Enhanced image, range correction on
Figure 35: Enhanced image, range correction on,

automatic detection on.

9.6 Advanced use

SeaDarQ has an advanced option “Automatic Range Correction, Rain Mode”, which can be used in case heavy
rain indirectly causes false alarms. This option is one of the range correction options that exist in SeaDarQ.
These options can be accessed as described in section 9.3 above:
 Make sure “Advanced Options” are enabled (Configuration menu)
 Open the “Line” window (View menu, or “Toggle line view” button from the toolbar)
 The Range Correction options can be accessed from the “Range Correction Curve” drop-down menu
(see the description of the Line Window in the section “Dialogs”, e.g. Figure 155: Menu items and sub-
menu in the "Range Correction Curve" menu on page 100)
The reason rain can cause false alarms is its influence on the automatic range correction algorithms. Rain itself
can cause a higher radar reflection, and the impact of the raindrops on the sea-surface can lead to a locally
increased radar reflection, too. This localized higher radar reflection (or background intensity) can throw off the
automatic range correction algorithms, causing other areas with a lower radar reflection to become unduly
emphasized, thereby possibly triggering a false alarm.
Figure 36 to figure 44 show a situation where rain is visible in the radar images and especially in the enhanced
images. The figures show the radar image, enhanced image, and the confidence map, for each of the automatic
range correction options (off, normal, and rain mode).
In practical situations, the normal automatic range correction is usually sufficient.
Apart from rain mode, there is an option for manual range correction. It is still present in the software, but that is
primarily for historical reasons. It is almost impossible to do better than the automatic algorithms with a manual
range correction.
The “mechanics” of creating and manipulating a manual range correction curve are described in section “Line
Window”, in the chapter “Dialogs”.
Figure 36: Rain, range correction Figure 37: Rain, range correction Figure 38: Rain, range correction
off (radar image) off (enhanced image) off (confidence map)
normal (radar image) normal (enhanced image) normal (confidence map)

rain mode (radar image) rain mode (enhanced image) rain mode (confidence map)

II Background Topics and Concepts 10 Confidence map / quality map
10 CONFIDENCE MAP / QUALITY MAP

10.1 Description
The Confidence or Quality Map is an internally used intermediate interpretation of the incoming radar-image. It
shows the level of likelihood the algorithms assign to each part of the radar-image of that area being an oil slick.
10.2 Purpose
As mentioned, the confidence or quality map is used internally by the software to recognize oil spills
automatically. It is available for viewing by the experienced user/operator to assist in judging if an alarm
represents a true oil spill or a false alarm.
10.3 Viewing the Quality Map
The confidence or quality map is available as one of the layers. It can be enabled in the “Layers Dialog”,
accessible from the “Screen Menu”. Its visibility depends on visibility and/or transparency of other layers.
(See the “Screen Menu”, the “Layers Dialog”, and the separate section “User Interface elements” for better
understanding of the conditions under which you can actually see this layer).
10.4 Use
The essence of the confidence or quality map is that it uses a colour scale to represent how likely the internal
algorithms consider each pixel (area of the image) to be an oil-spill.
Figure 45 shows the colour scale that is used, and illustrates that blue indicates a very low probability of that
image element representing an oil spill, and that red indicates a very high probability of that image element
representing an oil spill.
Do note that there are additional criteria in the software to determine the likelihood a high probability area in the
confidence/quality map is an actual oil-spill, such as the length of time it has been present, and the total surface
area it occupies.
low probability high probability

Figure 45: Colour-scale used in the confidence / quality map
Figure 46 to figure 53 show an example of an oil-spill, as seen on the radar image, the enhanced image, and on
the confidence or quality map, and finally how the alarm shows on the enhanced image. Side-by-side, both the
complete image and a zoomed- in quadrant are shown, in order to see more detail.
The area indicated in red shows where the algorithms have calculated a high probability of that area being an oil
slick. This can be recognized in the other images (the raw radar image and the enhanced image). The last image
shows the enhanced image with an alarm in the “candidate” stage (see section “Alarms and Alarm Stages”).
Note that the black circle in the centre of the radar image, and the three black pie areas emanating from the
centre, are blocked areas to avoid false alarms caused by structures on the ship itself. These blocked areas do not
show up on the enhanced image (in the enhanced image you can see how the structures mentioned show up
there). The blocked areas are recognizable in the confidence/quality map image, as uniform darker blue areas,
indicating the low probability that has been assigned to these areas by marking them blocked.
For details on how such structures can cause false alarms, see the section “False Alarms”; for details on how to
use blocked areas, see the section “Blocked Areas”.
Figure 46: An oil spill on the radar image Figure 47: An oil spill on the radar image (zoomed in)

II Background Topics and Concepts 10 Confidence map / quality map
Figure 49: The same oil spill on the enhanced image

Figure 48: The same oil spill on the enhanced image
(zoomed in)
Figure 50: The same oil spill on the Figure 51: The same oil spill on the
confidence/quality map image confidence/quality map image (zoomed in)
Figure 52: The same oil spill as an alarm on the Figure 53: The same oil spill as an alarm on the
enhanced image enhanced image (zoomed in)
Use of the confidence or quality map is not necessary in normal oil spill detection operations. The information in
the confidence or quality map is used internally by the program; the final result is presented to the user through
the on-screen oil spill alarms.

II Background Topics and Concepts 11 False alarms
11 FALSE ALARMS
11.1 What are false alarms

A “False Alarm” occurs when the oil spill detection algorithms make a mistake, and flag something as a spill
that is not.
11.2 Why do false alarms happen?

The reason these false alarms occur is that the algorithms look for certain tell-tale signs of oil spills that can also
be the sign of some other situation. As the separate section “Backgrounds” mentions, an oil slick suppresses
small surface waves, which in turn results in a localized decrease in the radar echo. This shows in the radar
image (and in particular in the enhanced, processed image) as a dark patch. These dark patches are what the
software looks for. But a dark patch in the image can have other causes than an oil slick: there could be less
small surface waves for other reasons (e.g., a perhaps localized lack of wind); the radar echo may even be weak
because there is less radar energy locally to begin with (because the radar energy is blocked by a structure closer
to the radar antenna).
11.3 How to deal with false alarms

Some causes of false alarms occur frequently enough that extra algorithms were added to the SeaDarQ software
to counter their effect. An example is the radar shadow behind a ship: the “Shadow Detector” recognizes this
kind of situation, and marks off an area behind it so the oil spill detection algorithms exclude that area from
processing.
Unfortunately, not all false alarm situations can be detected automatically by special algorithms, in part because
not all occurrences of false alarms can be explained easily, let alone be recognized. Other false alarm situations
are easily recognizable by humans, especially with some training and experience, but are difficult to codify in a
computer algorithm. There are even false alarm situations that can be codified into computer algorithms, but that
have not made it to the top of the list of tasks for the SeaDarQ software engineers yet.
The fact that not all false alarms can be recognized automatically in the software has two consequences:
 Alarms signal a potential oil spill – confirmation that it should be considered a real oil spill has to be
done by the user/operator
 This in turn means the user/operator needs to be able to recognize false alarm situations
To aid in recognizing false alarms, the following section shows a number of examples.
11.4.1 Radar shadows

11.4.1.1 Own ship
Figure 54 through figure 59 show the same example as was used in the section “Confidence map/Quality map”,
but without the blocked areas. The dark areas emanating from the center are radar shadows, caused by structures
on the ship itself. These structures immediately reflect almost all of the radar energy, leaving almost no radar
energy for the region behind them – hence the dark regions. In the zoomed-in images, there is evidence of some
disturbances to the regular radar signal very close to the ship, including this high radar echo.
Without further measures, the SeaDarQ Oil Spill Detection algorithms cannot distinguish these persistent dark
regions from oil spills, and as the last images in figure 58 and figure 59 show, the algorithms do indeed trigger
alarms on these regions, which must be classed as false.

Figure 54: Radar shadow from structures on the ship Figure 55: Radar shadow from structures on the ship
(radar image) (radar image, detail)
(enhanced image) (enhanced image, detail)
(false alarm) (false alarm, detail)

The structures that cause these radar shadows are in a fixed position with respect to the ship. The SeaDarQ
facility “Blocked areas” is included especially to deal with these kinds of shadows. In the example, constructing
three pie areas to cover the long stretched radar shadows, and a small circle to block the disturbing signals close
to the ship, effectively tell the Oil Spill Detection algorithms to ignore and not trigger any alarms based on these
areas. Note that these areas move along with the ship.
Figure 60 (previously shown in the section “Confidence map/Quality map”) shows blocked areas that could be
constructed for this case, as they would appear on the raw radar image. Figure 61 shows that now the oil spill
that is present in the area does trigger an alarm, and the radar shadows caused by the ship’s structures still show
up on the enhanced image, but no longer trigger false alarms.
For further details on the construction, use, and especially saving for future re-use of blocked areas, see the
section “Blocked Areas”.
Figure 61: Radar shadow from structures on the ship

Figure 60: Radar shadow from structures on the ship
countered by blocked areas (enhanced image, no false
countered by blocked areas (radar image)
alarms)
11.4.1.2 Other ship
Similar to how structures like the mast on the ship itself can cause radar shadows that can result in false alarms,
other ships in the vicinity can also cause radar shadows that can result in false alarms. Figure 62 to figure 69
show an example
Again, the nearby ship causes such an hard radar-echo that there is barely any energy left in the radar signal for
the area behind this nearby ship, resulting in a dark area that the Oil Spill Detection algorithms can mistake for
an oil spill, triggering a (false) alarm.
The dark radar shadow is more clearly visible in the enhanced image, and the Oil Spill Detection algorithms
mistaking the area for an oil spill and assigning it a high confidence level, can be seen by the red colour of the
area in the pictures of the confidence or quality map. Finally, figure 68 and figure 69 show that this indeed
results in the triggering of an alarm.

Figure 62: Radar shadow behind nearby ships (radar Figure 63: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship (radar
image) image, detail)
Figure 64: Radar shadow behind nearby ships Figure 65: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship
(confidence/quality map) (confidence/quality map, detail)

(enhanced image with false alarm) (enhanced image with false alarm, detail)
SeaDarQ has an extra, specialized set of algorithms that can recognize this kind of situation, called the shadow
detector. Simply having the shadow detector enabled (for details see the section “Shadow Detector”, and the
“Configuration Settings Dialog”, tab “Shadow Detector”), results in the radar shadow being blocked (by an
automatically, dynamically adjusting blocked area), as shown in the raw radar image of figure 70 and figure 71.
The enhanced image is no different from the situation without the shadow detector, except that this time no
alarms are triggered for this area. This is illustrated by the dark blue, low confidence assignation to the area in
the confidence / quality map, shown in figure 74 and figure 75.
Figure 70: The shadow detector blocks off the radar Figure 71: The shadow detector blocks off the radar
shadow behind nearby ships (radar image) shadow behind nearby ships (radar image, detail)

Figure 72: Because the shadow detector blocks off Figure 73: Because the shadow detector blocks off
radar shadow behind nearby ships, they do not cause radar shadow behind nearby ships, they do not cause
false alarms (enhanced image) false alarms (enhanced image, detail)
Figure 74: Effect of the shadow detector on the Figure 75: Effect of the shadow detector on the
confidence/quality map (dark blue areas) confidence/quality map (dark blue area, detail)
11.4.1.3 Island or coastal feature
Figure 76 shows a situation with a number of small islands not very far from the ship equipped with the
SeaDarQ system. Similar as with structures on the ship itself, or other ships in the vicinity, an island can block
the radar energy from reaching an area behind it, resulting in a dark patch that can trigger the oil spill detection
algorithms into issuing a false alarm.

Figure 76: Nearby islands cause radar shadows behind them (overall enhanced image, and detailed views)
The images in figure 77 show a number of alarms, most of which are false because they are caused by a radar
shadow behind one or another of the islands.
Figure 77: Radar shadows behind nearby islands cause false alarms (enhanced image, overall and detail)
There are two features in SeaDarQ that can prevent false alarms of this kind, caused by islands. One is the
Coastline Database, the other the Shadow Detector.
As described in a bit more detail in the section “Coastline database and land-mask”, SeaDarQ uses a database
with worldwide geographic information on coastlines. The images above show these coastlines, where the
landmass is coloured a darker green. Close inspection of the images (or the extra zoomed in one in figure 77)
show that some, but not all, of the islands in the area are included in this database.
The islands being in the database does nothing yet about the radar shadows behind them. For this, the extra
option “extend radar line as land” needs to be used. This option is present in the tab “Coast Line Settings” of the
dialog window “Configuration Settings”, as “When radar line hits land, mark the rest of the radar line as land”.
Figure 78 shows the effect of this option on the overall radar image: it is very similar to the “blocked area” and
“shadow detector” features, but linked to the stationary geographical features (the blocked areas do move as the
ship moves, as they are linked to the radar lines).

Figure 79: Effect of both the coast-line database with

Figure 78: Effect of coast-line database with land-
land-extension feature and the shadow detector on the
extension feature on the radar image
radar image
As mentioned, as small number of very small islands are not covered by the coastline database (and in practice
the ones that are might be slightly misaligned). To handle those as well, the other SeaDarQ feature mentioned
can be used, the Shadow Detector. Figure 79 shows the radar image with both the coastline database land
extension feature and the shadow detector switched on. (Note that with a live system, the areas blocked off by
the shadow detector can vary from radar revolution to radar revolution.)
Figure 80 and figure 81 show the result of switching on all these features: the false alarms from the islands have
disappeared. There is still a circular false alarm close to the ship (which should be handled with a small blocked
area there), and an alarm close to the wake of the ship (in the 010° direction). This latter one is probably due to
some structure on the ship itself: its edges are too vague for it to be a real oil spill, and its direction is
inconsistent with the spill to the west of the ship. This false alarm, too, could be handled with a blocked area.
Figure 80: Coastline database with land-extension feature combined with shadow detector avert false alarms
caused by radar shadows (radar image, enhanced image with alarms, enhanced image detail)
Figure 81: Enhanced image and enhanced image with alarms: the alarm in the centre of these images correctly
identifies an oil spill; the two smaller alarms are false alarms (see text for details)

11.4.1.4 Behind the crests of ocean waves
Ocean waves can be large enough that their crests shield off their troughs from the radar energy. Figure 82
shows an example, where the range correction is switched off to make the effect more clearly visible. Some of
the troughs are actually darker than the oil spill that is present in the 035° direction from the ship.
Figure 82: Crests and troughs of ocean waves show Figure 83: Crests and troughs of ocean waves are
up on the raw radar image (WNW and ESE parts of averaged out in the enhanced image; range correction
the image) makes the intensity in the image uniform
Even in older versions of SeaDarQ, this effect was easily countered, by averaging the raw radar image over a
number of radar revolutions, resulting in the so-called enhanced image. The ocean waves travel enough of a
distance over this time-period, that their crests and troughs are averaged out and pretty much disappear in the
enhanced image. An oil slick does not move a significant distance in this time, and thus is not averaged away,
but instead appears more pronounced. The effect of the averaging becomes even better if the normal automatic
range correction is not switched off. The result is shown in figure 83, showing the enhanced image.
This averaging out of waves (and other small and relatively fast-moving objects visible in the raw radar image)
is the reason that in normal operational oil-spill detection use, SeaDarQ should have the radar image hidden, and
the enhanced image as the one being viewed.
11.4.2 Wind shadow (behind another ship, an island, or at the coast)
Figure 84 through to figure 89 show a situation where the direction from which the wind is blowing is such that
in the lee of the coast there is significantly less wind. This results in an area of lower radar background intensity,
as there are less of the wind-generated disturbances that cause this background radar intensity level. The effect is
a darker area, vaguely noticeable in the raw radar image, but more clearly visible in the enhanced image and
even more so in the confidence or quality map. In some cases, this will lead to false alarms.

Figure 84: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast

Figure 85: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (radar
(radar image; NNE part of the image, wind from
image, detail)
ENE)
Figure 86: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast Figure 87: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast

(confidence/quality map, detail). The high-confidence
(confidence/quality map)
areas (red, yellow) could lead to false alarms.
At present, SeaDarQ cannot detect, or cope with this situation. It is up to the operator to recognize the situation,
taking into account the prevailing wind.
Note that the example shows a wind-shadow in the lee of a largish landmass, but the same circumstances can be
applicable to an island, or even another ship.

11.4.3 Ship’s Wake

The turbulence generated by the propulsion of a ship may disturb the sea surface, and influence the radar return
in the wake of the ship. This can result in an increased reflection, a decreased reflection, or both,
Figure 90 shows an example of the wake of the ship equipped with the SeaDarQ installation. In this case, the
wake is barely distinguishable in the radar image, even when zoomed in (figure 91), but does become visible in
the enhanced image (figure 92 and figure 93), and even more so in the confidence or quality map image (figure
94 and figure 95). Naturally, the wake is in the opposite direction of the ship’s movement, which is indicated by
the blue line.
Figure 90: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible Figure 91: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible (radar
(opposite the blue heading line; radar image) image, detail)
Figure 93: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible: the

Figure 92: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible
somewhat blocky dark- and light-grey stripe
(opposite the blue heading line; enhanced image)
(enhanced image, detail)

Figure 94: Wake behind the ship (confidence/quality Figure 95: Wake behind the ship (confidence/quality
map) map, detail)
Although in this case the wake is identifiable in the confidence or quality map, the level of confidence is not high
enough to cause a false alarm. If the wake does cause false alarms, this can be countered easily by constructing
an extra blocked area to block off the wake.
11.4.4 Rain
As mentioned in the section “Background Correction / Range Correction”, rain shows up in the radar image as a
bright, moving object (see figure 96, figure 97 and figure 98). It can disturb the oil spill detection algorithms by
changing the overall radar background intensity level.
Rain will also block the radar energy so that it does not penetrate through high intensity rain. The result is lower
radar backscatter intensity behind the rain.
Passing rain showers can often have regions of reduced winds and consequently a reduced radar backscatter
signal. This way, rain can lead to a false alarm.
Figure 97: Rain visible in the Figure 98: Rain visible in the
Figure 96: Rain visible in the raw
enhanced image (detail; bright confidence/quality map (detail;
radar image (detail)
areas) blue areas)
In SeaDarQ, this will usually not pose a problem with range correction set to normal, automatic mode. For
extreme cases, the range correction can be set to the special “rain mode”, but so far, this seems necessary only
rarely.

II Background Topics and Concepts 12 Blocked areas
12 BLOCKED AREAS
12.1 Introduction
Sometimes, the radar image shows artefacts that interfere with the Oil Spill Detection algorithms. Examples are
the radar-shadow of a fixed structure (e.g., a nearby oilrig), or even the radar-shadow of parts of the structure (or
ship) where the radar is mounted. Figure 99 and figure 100 show examples.
Figure 99: Radar shadows and blanked area at an Figure 100: Radar shadows from structures on a
oil-rig ship
The interference of such artefacts can be two-fold:

 they can cause false alarms (the algorithms may mark them as an oil spill, as their radar signature may
have similar features as an oil spill in the eyes of these algorithms)
 they can influence the automatic range correction in a counterproductive way (see the section
“Background correction / Range correction” for details of the automatic range correction)
To counter this unwanted influence, SeaDarQ has the option to create “blocked areas” where the algorithms do
not process the radar signal for oil spill detection, range correction, or both.
12.2 Creation of a blocked area

To create a new blocked area:
1. Select Configuration  Setup…,
2. and then the tab “Blocked Areas”; see figure 101.
3. In the “Blocked Areas” tab, click the check-box next to “Allow Edit” (if it is not checked yet). This
will enable the other items on this tab; see figure 102
4. You can now create up to 6 blocked areas. A blocked area becomes “active” when you select “Circle”,
“Pie”, or “Ring”, instead of “None” in the column “Type”, and then click the “Apply” button.
5. The next paragraphs describe manipulation of the area and changing its properties

Figure 101: Configuration settings dialog Figure 102: Configuration settings dialog window,
window, blocked areas tab (allow edit box not ticked) blocked areas tab (allow edit box ticked)
12.3 Resizing and reshaping a blocked area

There are two ways of resizing and reshaping a blocked area, once it is “active” on the radar image:
 by editing its properties on the “Blocked Areas” tab
 by interactive manipulation of its outline on the radar image
The following table (table 8) lists the type of editing or manipulation, and how to accomplish it, either by direct
property editing, or by interactive manipulation (if possible)
Table 8: How to accomplish various editing operations on blocked areas

aspect to direct property editing on the “Blocked interactive manipulation
change: Areas” tab
de-activation select “None” from the drop-down list in hover the mouse near one of the edges of the
column “Type” shape, and when that edge is highlighted,
right-click; from the pop-up menu, select
“None”
basic shape from the drop-down list in column “Type”, hover the mouse near one of the edges of the
select the desired shape (one of “Circle”, shape, and when that edge is highlighted,
“Pie”, or “Ring”) right-click; from the pop-up menu, select the
desired shape (one of “Circle”, “Pie”, or
“Ring”)
edge location the edit-boxes in the columns “Start Range”, hover the mouse near one of the edges of the
“End Range”, “Start Angle”, and “End shape, and when that edge is highlighted,
Angle” allow you to specify the position of drag it to the desired position
these edges directly (1) (2)
blocking type in the column “Block Type”, select the — (4)
desired type of blocking from the drop-down
list (the options are “All”, “Range
Correction”, or “Processing” ( 3)
Notes:
(1) as applicable to the selected basic shape type
(2) see below for some further description of the properties in these four columns
(3) see the next paragraph for a description of the effect of the different options for the blocking type
(4) this cannot be done interactively, you’ll have to re-open the “Blocked Areas” tab via the Configuration
 Setup… menu, and change the blocking type in the “Block Type” column, for the area you want to
change
The next table (table 9) lists the meaning of the properties in the columns “Start Range”, “End Range”, “Start
Angle”, and “End Angle”

Table 9: Properties of blocked areas on the tab "Blocked Areas" in the Configuration Settings dialog
shape start range end range start angle end angle comments
(in meters, radially from the radar)
circle not applicable radius of the not applicable not applicable circles are always
circle centred around the radar
ring inner radius outer radius not applicable not applicable ditto for rings
pie inner radius outer radius the edges of the pie-segment
(the angles are relative to the
heading (ship’s direction/bearing))
Note that all circle-segments have the radar location as their centre.
12.4 Options for the type of blocked area and their effect
As described in the previous paragraph, there are three options for the type of blocking to use for a blocked area.
These are:
processing Exclude the area from processing by the oil spill detection algorithms – neither artefacts
nor real spills within this area will trigger an alarm. The automatic range correction
algorithm will use the radar signal returns from within the area.
Select this option for small circles at the centre of the image, and for regions that are
small.
range correction Exclude the area from the automatic range correction algorithm. The oil spill detection
algorithms will process the area, so these algorithms can trigger alarms within this area.
all Combination of the effects of the settings “processing” and “range correction”, as
described above – the oil spill detection algorithms will not process the radar signal
returns from within the area, and the range correction algorithm will not use the radar
signal returns from within the area, either.
Select this option for large regions, in particular for land not detected by the coastline
database or for regions where the radar does not transmit (radar blanking areas).
The last subsection of this section gives some examples and further guidance on what option to use in what sort
of circumstances.
12.5 Hiding blocked areas

If you leave the check-box “Allow Edit” checked, the blocked areas show up on the radar image in distinct
colours, and remain editable. You can hide the blocked areas (and preclude further editing) by un-checking
“Allow Edit”.
12.6 Saving blocked areas

In order to save blocked areas (so they can be used again should SeaDarQ be restarted), save the XML
configuration: menu Configuration  Save XML Configuration. You will have to specify a file-name.
Do note that “Save XML Configuration” not only saves the blocked areas, but a collection of other settings, too.
See section II4.4 “Save configuration” in section II, “Background Topics and Concepts”, for details.
Also note: these configuration settings, including blocked areas, are specific to SeaDarQ’s processing mode.
Changing to another processing mode (from “Configuration  Oil Spill Detection from Radar” to any other
mode) will result in the discarding of any and all blocked areas. You may have to reload saved blocked areas
when changing back to “Oil Spill Detection from Radar” mode. Changes of blocked areas (including creation of
new ones) that you did not save explicitly will be lost.
12.7 (Re-) loading previously saved blocked areas

You can reload blocked areas that were previously saved in an XML configuration file by loading said file via the
menu Configuration  Load XML Configuration.
Do note that “Load XML Configuration” not only loads the blocked areas, but a collection of other settings, too.

12.8 Some properties of blocked areas

Internally, SeaDarQ saves blocked areas in coordinates relative to the ship, so they remain fixed with respect to
the ship, irrespective of the SeaDarQ setting for the range
12.9 What type and shape of area to use for selected examples
Use:
 a circle for obstructions close to the radar installation (tower / rig / ship)
 a pie segment for isolated obstructions further away
 a ring in case an isolated obstruction gives multiple echoes at the same range, e.g. due to strong side-lobes
in the transmitted radar signal
Figure 103: Structures on the ship cause radar Figure 104: Structures on the ship cause radar
shadows (radar image) shadows (radar image, detail)
Figure 106: Radar shadows caused by structures on

Figure 105: Radar shadows caused by structures on
the ship itself cause false alarms (enhanced image,
the ship itself cause false alarms (enhanced image)
detail)

Figure 107: Blocked areas constructed to prevent Figure 108: Blocked areas constructed to prevent
radar shadows from structures on the ship from radar shadows from structures on the ship from
causing false alarms (radar image) causing false alarms (radar image, detail)

II Background Topics and Concepts 13 Shadow detector
13 SHADOW DETECTOR
13.1 Description
The “Shadow Detector” is a feature in the SeaDarQ software that recognizes situations where a high-radar-
reflection object (e.g., a ship) blocks the radar-energy, resulting in a dark area behind the object (as seen from the
radar antenna): a so-called radar shadow.
13.2 Purpose
The dark areas in the radar image that represent these radar shadows may trigger the automatic oil spill detection
algorithms into raising an alarm, which will be a false alarm. To bring down the number of false alarms, the
shadow detection algorithms mark off these radar shadows in a way that prevents the oil spill detection
algorithms from triggering an alarm.
13.3 Enabling the Shadow Detector
The Shadow Detector is switched on by default in SeaDarQ. Switching it on or off is done in the Configuration
Settings dialog window, on the tab `Shadow Detector`. The Configuration Settings dialog window is accessed
through the menu “Configuration”. (See the relevant sections elsewhere in this reference guide for details.)
13.4 Use
Switch the feature on as described above.
13.5 Practical example
The areas that are blocked off by the Shadow Detector show as narrow black pie segments in the raw radar
image, and as dark blue (low probability) pie segments in the Confidence / Quality map. These blocked off areas
do not show in the enhanced image (which is the default image to use for oil spill detection operation).
The examples below show the situation with the Shadow Detector off on the left, and with the Shadow Detector
on the right. In sequence, they show the raw radar image, the enhanced image (including alarms), and the
confidence/quality map. More detail is shown in the zoomed-in images, which follow the same pattern.
Figure 110: Radar shadows behind nearby ships

dynamically blocked off by the shadow detector (radar
(radar image)
image)

Figure 112: Shadow detector prevents false alarms

Figure 111: False alarms caused by radar shadows
from radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced
behind nearby ships (enhanced image)
image)
Figure 113: High values (yellow, red) in the Figure 114: Shadow detector suppresses high values
confidence/quality map caused by radar shadows in the confidence/quality map caused by radar
behind nearby ships shadows behind nearby ships

dynamically blocked off by the shadow detector (radar
(radar image, detail)
image, detail)

Figure 118: Shadow detector prevents false alarms

Figure 117: False alarms caused by radar shadows
from radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced
behind nearby ships (enhanced image, detail)
image, detail)
Figure 119: High values (yellow, red) in the Figure 120: Shadow detector suppresses high values
confidence/quality map caused by radar shadows in the confidence/quality map caused by radar
behind nearby ships (detail) shadows behind nearby ships (detail)

II Background Topics and Concepts 14 Coastline database and land-mask
14 COASTLINE DATABASE AND LAND-MASK

14.1 Description
The Coastline Database is a repository of geographic information about coastlines, spanning the world. The
SeaDarQ software uses this database to mark off (mask) any land that might be visible in the radar image, as the
behaviour of waves impinging on the coast often leads to artefacts in the radar image that confuse the oil spill
detection algorithms. In addition, islands and peninsulas can cause radar shadows behind them, potentially
leading to false alarms. To cope with such situations, the coastline database and land mask algorithms can mask
off any radar-lines that hit the coast from the point where they hit the coast, discarding any artefacts that might
lie behind that could confuse the software.
14.2 Purpose
Especially for radar shadows related to the coast: islands, peninsulas, and so on (see also above).
Using the coastline database and land-mask, block these off and prevent their disruptive influence.
14.3 The Coastline database in SeaDarQ
The Coastline Database is factory-installed with SeaDarQ; its location is specified on the tab “Coast Line
Server” in the “Configuration Settings” dialog window.
Settings for the Land Mask and the behaviour when a radar line hits land are specified on the tab “CoastLine
Settings”, also part of the “Configuration Settings” dialog window.

II Background Topics and Concepts 15 AIS
15 AIS
15.1 Description
AIS is the Automatic Identification System, by which ships transmit information about their identity, location,
course, and speed (amongst others). SeaDarQ can display some of this information on the radar image, provided
an AIS receiver (aka base station) is connected to one of the NMEA input ports on the SeaDarQ Acquisition
Unit.
15.2 Purpose
The primary purpose is to identify other ships that are in the field of view. It can for instance be useful to know
which ships are participating in oil spill recovery operations and which ones are marine traffic.
15.3 AIS display options
If an AIS receiver with NMEA output is installed, it can be connected to the SeaDarQ system via one of the
NMEA input ports on the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit.
The level of detail that is shown about each ship transmitting AIS information depends on the settings in the AIS
menu, and on the visibility setting of the AIS layer:
 If the AIS layer is visible (or transparent), each ship transmitting AIS information is visible as a blue
dot
If the mouse is hovered over one of these ships, the AIS label of that ship is shown in red, and if tracks
are shown, its track is indicated as a series of red dots
 If “Show Labels” is enabled in the AIS menu, the AIS labels for all ships are shown continuously in
blue
 If “Show Tracks” is enabled in the AIS menu, the track of each ship is shown as smaller dots.
15.4 Use
Have the AIS layer visible and transparent; whether or not to enable tracks and labels depends on how much ship
traffic there is. If there are many ships nearby, switch off the label display, but maybe leave the tracks enabled. If
the tracks clutter and confuse the display too much, switch these off, too.
To identify a ship, hover over the blue dot indicating its position.
To view a ship’s track, select to show tracks, and hover over the blue dot indicating the ship’s position to have its
label and track both highlighted in red.
Figure 121 to figure 126 show some examples of the various options there are for AIS information display.
Figure 121 shows the enhanced image without any AIS information (the AIS layer is switched off).
Figure 122 has the AIS layer visible, and both options to show labels and tracks enabled. There are many ships
nearby, and the display is quite cluttered.
Figure 121: AIS layer hidden Figure 122: AIS labels and tracks both enabled

II Background Topics and Concepts 15 AIS
Figure 123 has the AIS layer visible, but the menu options to show labels and tracks are both turned off. In this
situation, the positions of the ships as transmitted via AIS are indicated by blue dots. If you hover the mouse
over one of these dots, the ship’s identifying information, as transmitted via AIS, is shown highlighted in a red
label, similar as in figure 124 (except that in figure 124 the tracks are shown).
Figure 124: AIS tracks enabled, labels disabled, but

Figure 123: AIS layer visible, both labels and tracks
the label shows highlighted in red when the mouse
not enabled
hovers over a (stationary) ship
Figure 125, similar to figure 124, has tracks enabled and labels disabled. Figure 126 shows how both the label
and the track are highlighted in red when the mouse is hovered over a moving ship.
Figure 126: AIS tracks enabled, labels disabled, but

Figure 125: AIS tracks enabled, labels not enabled label and track show (highlighted in red) when the
mouse hovers over a (moving) ship

II Background Topics and Concepts 16 Line- and histogram windows
16 LINE- AND HISTOGRAM WINDOWS

See description under “Line Window” and “Histogram Window” in the section “Dialogs”
Also refer back to “Background correction / range correction” earlier in this section “Background Topics and
Concepts”.
16.1 Line window / range curve
16.1.1 Description
The Line Window shows a curve of the intensity of the returned radar signal (the radar echo) as a function of the
distance to the radar antenna, and allows selection of a number of pre-defined range correction curves or manual
editing of a range correction curve.
16.1.2 Purpose
The intensity of the radar echo drops off with distance, which can make it difficult to distinguish the diminished
radar echo caused by an oil slick from the background. The range correction curve that is available in the Line
Window makes it possible to have a background intensity that is corrected for this drop-off with distance,
resulting in a uniform background intensity. This makes oil slicks at greater distances easier to distinguish.
16.1.3 Accessing the Line Window

The Line Window can be opened via the menu-item “Line Window” in the “View” menu, or by clicking the
toolbar button “Line Window”.
16.1.4 Use
The use of the Line Window, in particular the range curve, is mentioned in the section “Background Correction /
Range Correction”, and described in detail (the “mechanics”, so to speak) in the sub-section “Line Window” in
the section “Dialogs”.
16.2 Histogram window:
16.2.1 Description
The Histogram Window shows how often each (radar echo) intensity occurs over the entire radar-image, by
means of a histogram (i.e., the relative number of pixels of each intensity in the image).
16.2.2 Purpose
The histogram window is still present in the software, but this is for historical reasons mostly;
manipulation of the histogram affects the display, but it does not affect the detection algorithms.
16.2.3 Accessing the Histogram Window

The Histogram Window can be opened via the menu-item “Histogram Window” in the “View” menu, or by
clicking the toolbar button “Histogram View”.
16.2.4 Use
The use of the Histogram Window (the “mechanics”, so to speak) is described in the sub-section “Histogram
Window” in the section “Dialogs”.

II Background Topics and Concepts 17 Using polygons
17 USING POLYGONS
17.1 Purpose
Polygons were a tool in SeaDarQ v 2.x to assist in estimating the extent and volume of a (potential) oil-spill. In
later versions of SeaDarQ, this tool is still available, although the information displayed in the “Oil Spills
Detected” panel now covers a large part of this functionality.
One important use of polygons was estimating the size (surface-area) and volume of an oil spill. To this end,
SeaDarQ calculates the surface area of each polygon (in corresponding real-world units, either km2 or nm2).
Combined with an estimate for the oil slick layer thickness (default 0.1 mm, but this can be adjusted by the
operator), SeaDarQ also calculates the volume (in m3).
In later versions of SeaDarQ (v 3 and later), the surface area of automatically detected (potential) oil spills is also
calculated (and continuously re-calculated as the detected area changes over time).
Polygons can also be used to communicate the location and extent of a detected oil spill (or other feature), as the
user-specified polygons can be saved to file, in terms of the geographic location of the control points. Such a file
could be transferred, e.g., to other Oil Spill Response Vessels, to communicate location and extent.
Polygons and lines can also be used to aid in determining changes to an observed feature, in terms of location
and extent. A feature of interest could be marked out by a bounding polygon; if the feature moves very slowly
over time, comparison to the geographically stationary polygon or line can make this movement better visible.
Note that “line” in the current context means a multi-segmented line.
17.2 Practical use
17.2.1 Creation
Create a new polygon by either selecting “Add Polygon” from the Polygon menu, or by clicking the New
Polygon button on the toolbar. The new polygon will have three control points, and will have its lower edge
centered on the origin (i.e., the radar location).
Create a new line by either selecting “Add Line” from the Polygon menu, or by clicking the New Line button on
the toolbar. The new line will have two control points, and will be centered on the origin (i.e., the radar location).
17.2.2 Editing / Manipulation

The control-points of a polygon or line are indicated by yellow dots. They become editable by hovering the
mouse close enough to them. Editability means you can click-and-drag the selected point to another position, or
you can delete it by right-clicking it (it will disappear without further warning or question, and there is no undo-
function). The selected control-point (i.e., the control-point that the mouse is closest to) will be displayed in red.
By removing control-points, you cannot remove the polygon or line itself; right-clicking on a control-point of a
polygon that has only three control-points, or of a line with only two control-points, has no effect.
You can add a control-point by clicking the mouse close to or on a line-segment of a line or polygon. The cursor
will have a red dot added to it to indicate that it will add a control-point if clicked, and the polygon or line that
the control-point will be added to will become semi-transparent. If you click some way off a line-segment while
the cursor still has a red dot attached to it, the new control-point will be added at the location of the cursor, and
the new line-segments will jump to be connected to it. If you click-and-drag while the cursor has a red dot
attached, you can drag the new control-point to a desired position immediately. If you click close to a line-
segment, but not close enough (without the cursor having a red dot attached, and without the polygon or line
becoming semi-transparent) you will execute the zoom function instead of adding a control-point, if the cursor is
outside the polygon. If you move the mouse inside a polygon, the polygon will turn semi-transparent. If you
click-and-drag inside a polygon while the cursor is too far away from an edge to add a control-point, you will
move the entire polygon. You cannot move a line this way.
17.2.3 Properties
A line will constantly be labelled with the distance (in km or nm, depending on the setting in the View menu)
between each pair of consecutive points.
A polygon will constantly be labelled with the enclosed area (in km2 or nm2, depending on the setting in the
View menu), and with the volume in m3. The volume is calculated using the thickness (in mm) of the polygon. A
new polygon is created with a default thickness of 0.1 mm, whatever the setting in the Polygon Settings dialog
window.

You can change the thickness for all polygons in the image by using the Polygon Settings dialog window,
through a right-click on the Polygon menu and changing the value there. Note that this will only change the
thickness for all polygons present at that time; new polygons will still be created with the default thickness of 0.1
mm.
You can change the thickness of an individual polygon by right-clicking it, and selecting “Settings…” from the
pop-up menu that will appear. The Polygon Settings dialog window that will appear is identical to the one that
shows after a right-click of the Polygon menu, except:
 It only applies to the polygon it was popped-up from
 It does not have the “Font” tab
Note that a subsequent change of the “general” thickness through the general Polygon Settings dialog window
(via right-clicking the Polygon menu) will override any previously set individual layer thicknesses.
17.2.4 Saving and loading

You can save all polygons and lines currently defined via the menu item “Save to File …” in the Polygon menu,
or via the “Save Polygons” button in the toolbar. The coordinates of the polygon- and line- control-points will be
saved in terms of degrees latitude and longitude (regardless of the setting for degrees or UTM in the View
menu).
You can reload previously saved polygons and lines via the menu item “Load from File …” in the Polygon menu
or via the “Load polygons” button in the toolbar.
Some notes:
 Any assigned thickness of polygons, be it individual or general, will not be saved, and hence will not be
restored. Polygons loaded from file will have the default thickness of 0.1 mm again.
 Control-points of a polygon or line are geographic positions: they do not move with the ship. This also
means that they may lay outside the visible image if they are (re-) loaded from file.
 Loading polygons and/or lines from file removes any and all currently defined polygons and/or lines
17.2.5 Deletion of a single polygon or line

If you right-click on or close enough to a line or polygon so that it is selected (recognizable by it becoming semi-
transparent) – but not so close to a control-point that you delete the control-point instead – a pop-up menu will
appear. For a line, the only entry in the menu will be “Remove line”; for a polygon, “Remove Polygon” will be
the first entry in the pop-up menu. Selecting the Remove … item will result in the relevant line or polygon being
deleted.
17.2.6 Deletion of all polygons and/or lines

You can delete all polygons and/or lines in the image by selecting the menu item “Remove all” in the Polygon
menu, or by clicking the Remove button in the toolbar.
17.2.7 Summary
The following table summarizes the instructions given above.
what how remarks
create polygon menu Polygon ► Add Polygon lower edge centered on

toolbar, button Add Polygon the origin
create line menu Polygon ► Add Line centered on the origin

toolbar, button Add Line
move polygon move mouse inside polygon (but away from edges)
and click-and-drag to new position
move line only by moving the individual control-points

delete one polygon right-click inside the polygon (but away from
control-points) and select “Remove Polygon” from
the pop-up menu
delete one line right-click on a segment of the line (but away from
control-points) and select “Remove Line” from the
pop-up menu

what how remarks
delete all polygons and menu Polygon ► Remove All

lines toolbar, button Remove Polygons
add a control point position the mouse over an edge of a polygon or a click and miss will execute
line-segment of a line until a red dot is attached to the zoom-in
cursor, and click for a new control-point at that
location, or click-and-drag to create a new control-
point at the location where the mouse is released
move a control point move the mouse close to or over a control point until
its colour changes from yellow to red, then click-and-
drag the control-point to its desired new location
delete a control point right-click on or close to a control-point instant, without undo
change layer thickness for right-click inside the polygon (but away from
one polygon control-points) and select “Settings …” from the pop-
up menu; change the layer thickness in the “Polygon
Settings” dialog window that appears
change layer thickness for right-click the “Polygon” menu, and change the layer
all polygons thickness in the “Polygon Settings” dialog window
that appears
save all polygons and lines menu Polygon ► Save to File … does not save layer
to file toolbar, button Save Polygons thicknesses
load polygons and lines menu Polygon ► Load from File … deletes all current
from file toolbar, button Load Polygons polygons and lines

II Background Topics and Concepts 18 Difference between “snapshot” and “Geo snapshot”
18 DIFFERENCE BETWEEN “SNAPSHOT” AND “GEO SNAPSHOT”

SeaDarQ offers two different options to create snapshots of the screen and/or (processed) radar image: “(regular)
snapshots” and “Geo snapshots”. Both result in Geo-encoded TIFF files, so-called GeoTIFF files. The Geo-
encoding means that these files contain additional (machine-readable) information about the geographic location
of the image contained in the file.
The difference between the two lies in the image that is captured:
 regular snapshots capture the screen-image as it appears on-screen, minus the on-screen menus and
controls (it captures the view and layers as they appear)
 Geo snapshots capture the full-screen, zoomed-out processed (enhanced) radar-image regardless of the
current view settings (it captures the enhanced layer, whatever the view settings)
Regular snapshots do reflect settings like zoom and layer visibility, as they are at the moment the snapshot is
taken. They can, e.g., include AIS labels and tracks (even highlighted, with some skill), or the confidence map
(a.k.a. the Quality map).
Both types of snapshot can be taken automatically, at specified time-intervals. Automatic regular snapshots and
automatic Geo snapshots can run concurrently.
For details of using regular snapshots and Geo snapshots, see the relevant sub-sections in the “Dialogs” and
“Menus” sections.
19 LOADING AND USING A GEO-ENCODED IMAGE

The Image menu loads a GeoTIFF encoded image on the image layer. The image is loaded under the radar image
and provides a means to display data from G.I.S. systems or to load a previously taken snapshot as an underlay
to evaluate changes
The layers on top of the image must be transparent or switched to off to make the image visible.
Use the “Load from File” to select the image to be loaded. The system will load the file and checks if the image
contains relevant information. No image is loaded if the image data is outside the radar area.
With the “Remove”, a previously loaded image is removed from the image layer.
Use the “Alignment” menu to compensate for small misalignment between the radar image and the loaded
image.
The Offset X, Y and Rotation translates and rotates the loaded image so it perfectly matches the radar image.
Note: Snapshots taken with the SeaDarQ system do not have to be translated or rotated.
Geo-encoded image can be used for:

 Is/was comparisons: take a snapshot at a certain time, and load it as an image to compare it to the
current situation
 In case of a static installation (harbour, radar tower): an image of the coast etc. (See the example of
Rotterdam harbour that is provided with the SeaDarQ software)
20 LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE IN DEGREES VERSUS METERS

UTM
SeaDarQ allows two options for the geographic coordinate system: latitude and longitude can be either in
degrees or in meters UTM.
The option to have the latitude and longitude available in meters UTM, too, is there because meters UTM is the
preferred system in disciplines that might use the Hydrography and Wave Processing mode of SeaDarQ.
Which one to use is a matter of preference.
The choice of geographic coordinate system can be made in the menu “View”; see its description in the section
“Menus”.

II Background Topics and Concepts 21 Recording data
21 RECORDING DATA
There are several options in SeaDarQ to document a case by recording data. These options range from taking a
snapshot of the screen to writing the radar video data to a raw recording (which will include the NMEA inputs).
 Single snapshot
 Multiple snapshots at specified intervals
 Geo snapshots
 Recording of raw radar lines (including NMEA signals)
Note: recording the raw data also creates an XML configuration file, using the same filename as the recording
(but with an XML extension). When exchanging recordings, exchanging the XML configuration files alongside
with them will ensure viewing options and other settings (e.g. blocked areas) are the same as when the recording
took place.
It is also possible to create a log-file of the detections made by SeaDarQ. See the description of the “Alarm
Settings dialog”, where this logging can be enabled, a file-name can be specified, and what to log can be
specified.
The log-file is readable text, and contains latitude-longitude information of the points marking out the
detection/alarm area(s).

II Background Topics and Concepts 22 Hydrography
22 HYDROGRAPHY
22.1 General background / Theory of operation
22.1.1 Introduction
The "hydrography" module (formerly "Wave processing") can calculate a number of hydrographic parameters
from the SeaDarQ radar images. These parameters include the currents, wavelengths, and depths at chosen grid
points. This can be done because the sea surface clutter, that reflects the radar waves, also makes it possible to
observe features of the larger waves that the ripples and surface clutter ride on. This makes it possible to measure
important parameters of the waves, such as wavelength, wave period or frequency, and wave direction. By
exploiting the dispersion relation, which is a relationship between wavelength, wave period, water depth, and
current, it is possible to calculate the water depth and the magnitude and direction of the water current.
22.1.2 Purpose
Being able to determine the local water currents has some application to the Oil Spill Detection module, as it
may aid in estimating the expected behaviour of a spill. Note, however, that wind is generally speaking more
important in estimating spill movement.
Next to this application to oil spills, being able to determine the currents and waves at a (large) number of points,
simultaneously, is of interest on its own, for applications outside of oil spill detection. For instance, it can be
used to get an overall impression of the behaviour of currents and/or waves in an area, and over time. Based on
this overall view, it might then be decided which locations are most promising to do more detailed, point-wise
measurements with current- and/or wave meters and/or buoys.
22.1.3 Use
In SeaDarQ 5, the hydrography module can be used concurrently with the Oil Spill Detection mode. (For the
limited Workboat version, this is limited to a single calculation point.) The next paragraphs illustrate how to
operate this feature.
22.1.4 Prerequisites
Using the hydrography module (enabling the hydrographic calculations) requires a few decisions up-front:
 Do the calculation results need to be saved to file for later post-processing? (This is separate from the
possibility of recording the raw radar data.)
 At what points (in what area) do the calculations need to be performed?
 Are the standard, default calculation settings sufficient?
 Is there a particular calculation result that is of most interest?
Note that using non-standard calculation settings, i.e., changing the calculation parameters, is not trivial, and
should only be undertaken if you know what you are doing.
22.1.5 Assumptions
The same base prerequisite exists as for oil spill detection: the process depends on the presence of sea surface
clutter to make other features of the sea surface detectable. This means there needs to be a wind speed of at least
2 m/s; otherwise, there will be insufficient sea surface clutter to make the surface visible to the radar. (There is
also relation between the sea state and the range at which sea surface features can be observed by radar; see
section II-3.2.3, Detection range)
In order to calculate currents, waves need to be present and detectable in the radar image, and the wavelength of
these needs to fit at least several times into the area used for the calculations for each point. Usually, this will not
be a problem, but especially when changing the calculation parameters, this needs to be taken into account (for
details, see section II-22.3.3 Calculation Parameters).
The detailed information that is required for successful calculations, which needs to be extracted from the radar
image, means that the range should be kept relatively short; say between 3 and 6 km (2 to 3 nm).
22.1.6 Practical and operational use

For the simplest case, consider the following set-up:
 only visualize the results on-screen, no need to save results to file
 do the calculations on a standard grid, spread over the full radar range (which is kept to around 3 km)
 keep all calculation parameters to the default settings
 show vectors for current and wavelengths, and show depth contours and gradient as semi-transparent

Note that the example will indicate what settings and options to use in SeaDarQ, but will not go through the
details of how to effect these settings; refer to the other sections in the Reference Guide for those details.
Steps:
 Make sure SeaDarQ receives the radar data (either have the radar layer shown or semi-transparent, or the
enhanced layer, and verify the red rotation marker is moving around the edge of the radar image).
 Select an area to generate the grid: for this example, select the full area via the menu "Hydro", item "Full
Area".
 Make sure to switch the Current and (wave) Length layers to Show.
 Start the calculations: menu "Hydro", "Start".
At this point, SeaDarQ starts pre-processing the radar stream: gathering data from 64 radar revolutions. This is
indicated on the status bar at the bottom of the SeaDarQ window, with the notification "Hydro:PreProcessing",
followed by a percentage. Other than this increasing percentage, there will no indication yet that the
hydrographic calculations are happening.
Once enough data has been gathered (PreProcessing at 100%) SeaDarQ will start drawing current vectors and
wavelength/direction vectors at each grid point, starting at the lower left, and will start interpolating the
calculated depths.
When you hover the mouse over one of the grid points, the panel at the bottom right will show the numerical
values (depth, current, (wave)length, and height) for that point.
Which parameters are shown as an overlay over the radar image is in large part controlled by the visibility
settings of the relevant layers in the Layers panel (top left of the screen; see section II-6.7 for details).
The relevant layers are:
 depth shows the numerical values of the calculated depth at each grid point -- hide is good for this
one, otherwise the other layers risk being totally obscured by all the numerical values at each
grid point ...
 current shows (yellow) vectors for the calculated current magnitude and direction
 length shows (red) vectors for the wavelength and -direction
 dcontour shows contour lines and an interpolated gradient for the calculated depths
Figure 127: The Layers panel, including extra layers for hydrography
22.2 Advanced use and options
22.2.1 Saving the results

If it is necessary to save results to file for later post-processing, it is necessary to know this (and configure this)
before starting the hydrographic calculations, as most results cannot be written to file after the fact.
In particular, the requirement to write the calculation results for each grid point to file needs to be specified
before starting hydrographic processing, by selecting "Generate report" on the tab "Wave Report" of the
Hydrography Settings dialog window – see section III-17.3.5 for details, including optional automatic generation
of the file name, and detailed data format for the grid locations. Some of these pre-calculation settings are
especially important if multiple automatic calculation runs will be performed (with the need to save these
results).
The only result that can be saved after a (single) calculation run has finished, is the collection of depth contour
lines. The depth contour lines can be saved via the item "Save Depth Contour" in the "Hydro Info" menu. See
section II-22.3.8 and section IV-15 for details.
Part V gives details on the formats that are used for the various files.

22.2.2 Area selection and manipulation of controls

The example above (section II-22.1.6) used the full area of the radar image to generate grid points where the
hydrographic calculations were to be done. Often, however, for hydrographic application of the SeaDarQ
system, the radar will be situated on land, with a view of the sea nearby. If the local geography is simple enough,
or if the region of interest is of simple geometry, one of the built-in area selection methods can be used to limit
the calculation grid points to the actual area of interest. This will reduce the overall processing time required, and
simplify the interpretation of the resulting wave report file(s).
Next to "Full Area", the "Hydro" menu allows selection of a circular, pie-shaped, or rectangular area, through
corresponding menu items. Each of these options allows manipulation of the area selected through on-screen
controls: a white line indicates the boundaries of the area selected, and yellow dots on these boundaries allow
their manipulation.
The different area options, and the way to use the control points to define its shape, are:
 The circle can actually be an annulus, one dot controlling the outer radius, the other the inner radius.
 For the pie area, one dot controls both the outer radius and the starting angle, the other the inner radius and
the end angle.
 For the rectangle area, one dot controls the bottom and left edges, the other the top and right edges.
 Changing from one area type to another leaves the control points where they were.
 Moving one control point past the other may swap the edges being controlled in a way to make sure the area
bounded by the control points still conforms to the shape implied. E.g., moving the control point for the
bottom edge for a rectangle higher than the control point for the top edge will make the first control point
take over the top edge. In other words, you cannot turn a shape "inside out".
 To visualize the grid, enable (by selecting) "Lock grid" from the "Hydro" menu. Pale yellow dots will show
the grid points. Note that enabling "Lock Grid" disables further changes to the control points, and these are
no longer shown. Disabling "Lock Grid" (by selecting this menu option again) will re-enable the control
points (but will no longer show the individual grid points).
 Note that whatever the boundaries, the grid is generated starting from the radar location.
 Note that for more complex geometry/geography (e.g., an island), it is possible to use an "exclusion map"
(exclusion file) to mark off areas where the calculations should not be performed. See section II-22.3.5 for
further details.
 Note that for a non-stationary radar location (i.e., on a moving ship), the grid will move with the ship. In
particular, the grid orientation will move with the ship's heading line. Locking the grid will fix it in space;
with a locked grid and a moving ship, the grid will be left behind as the ship moves. Calculation results of
course apply to the geographic points they were calculated for, and will remain there. Internally, an unlocked
grid will be temporarily locked just prior to and during the calculations.
22.2.3 Wave buoys

The hydrographic calculations can also be performed at locations defined by so-called virtual wave buoys.
Virtual wave buoys can be located anywhere, independent of the grid. In fact, hydrographic calculations can be
performed on virtual wave buoys even with no grid defined (= no area selected). For details on their use and the
different possibilities to define them, see section II-22.3.4.
Virtual wave buoys can be useful for comparison of the SeaDarQ hydrographic calculation results with actual
wave buoys or other instruments deployed at sea, by specifying the location of a virtual wave buoy at the same
location as the real instrument. Virtual wave buoys can also be used in situations where it is desirable to have the
calculations performed at precisely specified locations, e.g. on a grid generated outside of SeaDarQ (for
subsequent post-processing or comparisons exactly on that grid). One important detail to know about externally
generated virtual wave buoy locations is that they need to be specified in UTM coordinates. See section II-22.3.4
for further details.
22.2.4 Timers and multiple runs

The hydrographic calculations can be repeated automatically, multiple times, at specific times, and/or at specific
time intervals. These aspects are all controlled by the settings on the tab "Hydro Timers" in the Hydro Settings
dialog window. Section III-17.3.2 describes the details on Hydro Timers tab.
The default is to do the calculations over all grid points and all virtual wave-buoys only once. The most common
alternative setting is to repeat the calculations ad infinitum, until they are stopped (aborted) explicitly. To switch
from once to unlimited, change the value in the box "Number of Runs" from 1 to -1. There is another setting that
needs to be made if the calculations are set to repeat. In between calculation runs, SeaDarQ needs a brief respite
from the calculations, so internal buffers can be emptied. To allow for this, typically enable Timer 1, with an
interval setting of 15 minutes (00:15). Depending on the number of grid- and wave buoy points, it is wise to

check that this interval is sufficient to finish a calculation run. In between runs, the status bar will show the
message "Hydro:Armed", to indicate that another data-collection and -processing run is pending.
In order to save the calculation results of all runs to file, not only should the writing of the results to file be
enabled (tab "Wave Report", item "Generate report" ticked), but the option to generate filenames automatically
should be enabled, too. Enabling the option to use the creation time as part of the filename tends to be the most
convenient choice. For further details, see the section III-17.3.5 Tab "Wave Report".
The time needed for the calculations per grid point (or virtual wave buoy) can be estimated at 3 seconds. (The
reference for this is a computer with a 2.1 GHz Intel Xeon E5 with 16 GB of RAM).
22.2.5 Result presentation (visualization and data-file)

The calculation results are presented and available in various forms:
 Shown as an overlay on the radar image:
o Yellow vectors show the currents (in each grid point or virtual wave buoy).
o Red vectors show the wavelength and direction (of the dominant waves).
o A colour gradient (interpolated between the grid points) shows the calculated depths.
o Contour lines show the calculated depths.
o Depths can be shown in numerical form at each grid point.
 Hovering the mouse over a grid-point shows the calculated parameters for that point in numerical form
(depth, current strength, wavelength, wave height)
 Results can be written to file (provided this option is selected/activated prior to starting the calculations). See
section III-17.3.5 Tab "Wave Report" for details on preparing for this, and section V-2 Wave Report (file-
formats) for details on how the data is organized in the wave report files.
22.3 Advanced topics
22.3.1 Introduction
There are a number of special cases that the software allows for:
 You can specify the detailed parameters for the calculations. See section II-22.3.3 Calculation Parameters.
 You can add virtual wave buoys at locations of your own choice, to have the software calculate the
hydrographic parameters at specific points. See section II-22.3.4.
 You can load an exclusion file, to prevent calculations in non-simple areas where the calculations do not
make sense (for example, on an island). See section II-22.3.5.
 You can pre-specify the depth. See section II-22.3.6 Depth Map.
 You can set up the software to repeat the calculations at specific times and/or intervals. See section II-22.3.7.
 You can have the software show the depth contours it calculates, and you can export these to file. See section
II-22.3.8.
 Wave height and Wave spectra are special topics that this manual does not describe in detail. Sections II-
22.3.9 and II-22.3.10 touch upon some reasons for that.
The following sections describe backgrounds and use for these advanced special cases. The menu options and
dialog windows that play a role in these cases are mentioned, but details of these menus and dialogs are
described separately.
22.3.2 Calculation overview

For each point where the hydrographic parameters are calculated, the calculation needs
 Information (data) from an area around that point (by default 128 pixels in each direction)
 Information (data) in time (by default 64 time-slices = 64 radar images = 64 radar rotations = 64*(time per
rotation) )
Points to do the calculations on can be specified:

 As a regularly spaced grid (possibly limited to a specific area, e.g., to avoid calculations over land or water
that is too shallow)
 As one or more individual points (virtual wave buoys)
The calculations are done in two overall steps:

 pre-processing
 processing

In pre-processing, data is gathered. In particular, the radar images from a number of consecutive radar rotations
are needed, as many as the cubic depth (see section II-22.3.3: Calculation Parameters).
In the second step, processing, data in space (neighbouring points) and time (consecutive radar images) is used
for each calculation point to determine the hydrographic parameters. This involves Fourier transforms to ω-k
space, and fitting to a 3D version of the dispersion relation.
Note that saving the general SeaDarQ configuration after a hydrographic calculation will also save the Fourier
coefficients that were calculated, related to the (calculation/cube) grid. As long as this grid is not changed, these
pre-calculated Fourier coefficients can be re-used in subsequent calculations, saving some calculation time. (This
calculation of Fourier coefficients is also behind the fact that the first round of hydrographic calculations always
takes longer than subsequent ones, in a series of calculations).
Note that the grid on which the hydrographic parameters are calculated (i.e., the grid on which the results are
presented) is not the same as the "neighbouring points in space" used for the calculations. The "points in space"
used for the calculations are related to the radar data acquisition (in fact, the pixels in the Cartesian image that
the radar data is mapped to). See figure 130 in section II-22.3.3 for an illustrative sketch.
22.3.3 Calculation Parameters

Section III-17.3.1 details the various possible settings on the tab "Wave Module" of the dialog window "Hydro
configuration". Here, we provide some backgrounds to these settings, and how they influence the calculations.
Two separate grids play a role in this description.

The first grid, let's call it the calculation result grid, is the grid on which the results are shown (as current- and
wave -vectors). The second grid ("the calculation data grid") is the calculation grid per point of the first grid.
Due to naming in certain dialog windows in SeaDarQ, this second (calculation) grid is mostly referred to in this
manual as "the cube-size grid"
Considerations for the size of the first grid (the points where the hydrographic calculations are done):
Choosing a small grid distance leads to too many grid points where calculations are done, which has the
following consequences:
 long calculation time (O(3s) per point)5
 oversampling (too much overlap in pixels used per grid point, so the results in each grid point are not
independent)
Note that there is also a limit inside the software on the maximum number of grid points; this is O( 5000 ).
Choosing a large grid distance, and hence fewer grid points for the calculations does not lead to intrinsic
disadvantages. It does lead to a sparse sampling of the field.
To give some rough estimates for the expected calculation times, consider the following situation:
 standard grid = 300m
 assume 3.84 km range (= radius of radar circle), leading to a pixel size of 7.5m
512 samples per radar line give a 1024x1024 Cartesian image.

If the grid covered the entire Cartesian image, a range of 3.84 km and a grid spacing of 300m would give a grid
of roughly 25x25 points.
Considering:
The surface area of a circle is: πr2
The surface area of a square is: (2r)2 = 4r2
This means the ratio of the areas is: π/4~¾
This means about 468 grid points lie within the radar circle (instead of the 625 that lie within the square)
(An actual count, see figure 128 below, gives 441 grid points for this particular situation)
5
Note that on multi-core processor computers, points are allocated to different cores as available, so processing
does happen in parallel. The examples do not take this into account.

Figure 128: Grid points within the radar range
With a calculation time of 3s per point, this would give (for a single processing core):
468 *3s -> 1404 s = 23'24"
441 * 3s -> 1323 s = 22'03'
This does not take the pre-processing phase into account, in which the required number of radar images --64 by
default-- is gathered, taking the time of a radar revolution each.
The estimate for the calculation time of 3s per point assumes the following other settings and situation:
 cube size 128
 cubic depth 64
 depth between 5 and 40 m
 a situation with both enough surface clutter to make the waves visible (wind speed > 2 m/s)
 a developed wave field within the range of the radar
The settings have a straightforward influence on the calculations. The situational requirements (wave field and
wind speed) are meant here to ensure the calculations converge quickly.
Some notes regarding situations for which the calculations of the hydrographic parameter results at a grid point
are skipped:
 the calculation cube should contain at least 80% water (as opposed to land)
 the result grid point itself should not be on land
The distinction land or water is made based on the exclusion file (if that is in use). If no exclusion file is used,
these considerations do not apply, and calculation attempts are made regardless of whether the grid point is over
land or not.
For the calculations on each of the grid-points, data from the surrounding "cube-size" area is used (in essence,
pixels in each direction), in a time-stack of "cubic depth" (see figure 129). "Cubic" or not determines whether
this is truly cubic (equal in both the number of pixels in the spatial dimensions and in the number of time-slices).
Figure 129: The calculation grid: cubic size and cubic depth

Figure 130: The results grid points and their individual calculation grids
The cube size should be chosen such that the longest wavelength expected fits in this area several times (see the
sketch in figure 129). The cube size (in meters) follows from the pixel size in the radar image. This pixel size in
turn follows from the radar range, and the number of sampling points per radar line, which is 512 by default.
This leads to the criterion that ( (radar range) / 512)*(cube size) > n*(max wavelength), where n = O( 5+ ).
As an example, for a pixel size of 7.5 m, i.e., a radar range of 3.8 km (~ 2 nm), and a default cube size of 128,
the maximum wavelength that can be determined is about 190 m.
The smallest wavelength that can be determined is 2 pixels (the situation here is more complicated than a
straightforward application of the Nyquist-Shannon sampling theorem). With the example values, that would be
a wavelength of about 15 m.
The calculations include a Fourier transform into ω-k space, where a fit to the (transformed) dispersion relation
is done. This fit is an iterative approximation, where in each step the local water depth is solved for first, and the
currents are solved for next. There are situations where it helps to limit the solution search space (and speed up
convergence to the solution) by introducing constraints. Constraints can be specified for minimum and maximum
depth (used for the current calculation step), for maximum current (used for the depth calculation step), and for
maximum wavelength. If the water depth is expected or known to be "deep" (>> wavelength), in practice deeper
than 30 or 40 m, a fixed depth should be specified.
The number of radar images used per calculation (64 by default) represents the time dimension. These are also
referred to as "radar (time) slices". Choosing fewer radar slices decreases the calculation time per point, but
using fewer points in time does lead to less stability in the calculations (i.e., more grid points where the
calculations do not converge, and hence do not give a result). Choosing too many radar slices at some point leads
to many extra calculations that do not contribute to the results.
The number of “cube” points, i.e., cubic size and cubic depth, has an influence on the minimum and maximum
dimensions in Fourier space. Too many cube points do not lead to more data. Instead, the data stays where it is,
but empty ω-k space is added. Figure 131 illustrates this.
Figure 131: Altering parameters influences the minimum and maximum dimensions in ω-k space, and may add
empty space

Altering the calculation parameters can lead to better or faster results. However, altering the parameters without
proper understanding of their effect can have adverse effects, rendering the calculations useless. Tread carefully.
Most of the calculation parameters can be altered via the Hydro configuration dialog window. See section III-17
for details on the Hydro configuration dialog window.
22.3.4 Virtual Wave Buoys

Virtual wave buoys are individual points in the calculation area, for which hydrographic parameters are
calculated. These particular points are not part of the regular grid. In fact, it is possible to do the calculation on
virtual wave buoys only, with no area selected (and therefor no grid generated).
The user can drag these points, virtual wave buoys, to the desired location (see below, and section IV-14 for the
mechanics of this). The exact position of a virtual wave buoy can be read off the cursor location (see section 0),
either absolute, as latitude and longitude, or relative, as bearing and distance with respect to the ship.
One example where it may be very useful to specify exactly where SeaDarQ should perform its hydrographic
calculations is for comparison with a (real) wave- or current measurement buoy, or some other instrument
deployed at sea. By defining a virtual wave buoy at the same coordinates, a direct comparison (possibly in post-
processing) will be possible.
Another example is to define a much smaller number of points where SeaDarQ should perform its calculations,
in order to reduce the calculation time required. Yet another example is to generate a grid outside of SeaDarQ, in
order to have the SeaDarQ results on the same grid as that used in some other software.
Such a smaller set of points could be selected from grid points originally generated by SeaDarQ itself. This takes
a number of steps.
 Virtual Wave Buoys use either relative coordinates (meters East and North with respect to the ship and its
heading) or absolute coordinates (in meters UTM).
 To generate a grid in UTM coordinates, switch the SeaDarQ coordinate system to UTM (menu "View", item
"UTM").
 Select an area (using the applicable menu-options and controls, see section IV-14) where you want SeaDarQ
to generate the grid (you can visualise it by selecting "Lock Grid" from the menu "Hydro").
 Instruct SeaDarQ to generate a wave report with coordinates in UTM (see section III-17.3.5); specify a
specific filename (and possibly location) for the wave report (see section III-17.3.5).
 Do one cycle of wave processing (menu "Hydro", item "Start"); SeaDarQ will first need to do its pre-
processing, and after doing the actual calculations, write the results to file (the wave report).
 Based on this wave report file in UTM, you can now make a selection of the points you want to use, and put
these into a file in wave buoy format (*.buo, see section V-3).
An alternative is to generate a sparse grid by script, especially in relative mode. Just choose your own grid size
(in meters), and remember that the radar is the grid origin (0,0). See also the virtual wave buoy file format
specification and example (in section V-3).
Adding one or more wave buoys "by hand" can be done via the menu "Hydro", item "Add buoy". This will add a
virtual wave buoy in the radar location, which can subsequently be dragged to its desired location (provide the
grid is not locked). Right-clicking a wave buoy will allow specification of some of its individual
parameters/properties. The menu item "Buoy settings ..." allows changing the default properties for all the buoys
that are defined. A right-click on a wave buoy and selecting "Settings ..." allows setting of the properties of this
specific wave buoy.
Another option is to use predefined virtual wave buoys, by reading them in from file. This is done via the Hydro
configuration menu, using the option "Use wave buoy file" on the tab "Wave module".
Wave buoys can have an absolute geographic location, or a relative location. If the radar is on a moving ship, a
wave buoy with a relative location will move along with the ship.
22.3.5 Exclusion File

An exclusion file is an image overlay that blocks the hydrographic calculations in specified areas. The file-
format is GeoTIFF, which is a TIFF image file with embedded geographic location information.
This allows the exclusion from the calculations of areas that are difficult to mask off using only the area
selection.

This is the primary method of preventing hydrographic calculations over land. Although the software uses a
coastline database and land-mask feature for oil spill detection, application of these to the hydrography part has
not been implemented yet.
You can load an exclusion file via the "Hydro" configuration dialog window: it is the option "Use exclusion file"
on the tab "Wave Module".
Section V-6, file format of an exclusion file, gives most of the details needed for the use of an exclusion file
(including the creation).
22.3.6 Depth Map

A depth map is a file that specifies different depths to be used in the radar image. The image is divided into a
regular grid for this. Each grid cell can have a different depth assigned. The default number of areas (cells) is 16
x 16. (Currently, this number cannot be changed.)
Normally, the SeaDarQ hydrographic calculations include a calculation of the depth for each grid point. In cases
where the bottom topography is complicated, this can hamper the convergence of the SeaDarQ calculations,
either leading to long processing times, or even leading to non-convergence of the calculations (meaning no
results for that grid point). Especially in cases where there is a sharp transition from shallow to deep within a
calculation grid, the software cannot cope: within that grid, there are 2 different dispersion relations, one for the
shallow part with short waves, and a different one for the deep part with longer waves. To help the calculations
at that point, it is possible to fill in a local depth via the depth map.
Note that it is not necessary to specify depths for every depth map cell; just the ones where the bottom
topography would/could cause problems.
Figure 132: Short and long waves over the shallow and deep parts of a gully
Figure 133: The dispersion relations are different over the shallow and deep parts of a gully
You can load a previously created depth map via the "Hydro" configuration dialog window, via the option "Use
depth map".
You can create a depth map via the menu option "Create Depth Map" in the menu "Hydro"; this toggles the
"depth map mode" on. After specifying the values for each of the 16x16 cells (see below for details), you can
save this depth map to file by right-clicking in the image and selecting "Save to file" from the pop-up menu.

Creating a depth map takes a number of steps.

 Enter the "depth map mode" by selecting the menu option "Create Depth Map" from the menu "Hydro". This
will also cause the tick-box "Use depth map" in the Hydro configuration dialog window to be ticked, and the
corresponding filename to be filled in as "<unnamed>". (Do note that you cannot enter "depth map mode"
with an empty depth map by only ticking the box "Use depth map", but leaving the file to use empty.)
 Once in "depth map mode", selecting the menu option "Create Depth Map" again will reset the depth map to
"no value assigned to any cell", and will also reset the filename of the depth map in use to "<unnamed>" (in
the Hydro configuration dialog window, under the option "Use depth map"). However, this will not exit
"depth map mode"; that can only be done by clearing the tick-mark "Use depth map" in the Hydro
configuration dialog window.
 In "depth map mode", the radar image is divided into 16x16 cells. Double-clicking on the radar image
(within the range limits, but extended to a square) will now open the depth map cell assignation dialog box,
where you can specify the depth (in m) to be used for that cell (see figure 181 in section III-21). Any cell
with a depth assigned will be shown in a (semi-transparent) brightness overlay that scales between the
highest and lowest depth value assigned so far. Double-clicking a cell that already has a depth assigned will
show that depth value filled in in the box "Depth" in the dialog (again, see figure 181).
 In "depth map mode", right-clicking in the image will pop up the two-line menu shown in figure 197 in
section IV-16. Selecting the option "Save to file" will open a standard Windows "save file as" dialog,
allowing you to save the depth map created to a file and location of your choosing. (The default file-
extension is .dpt).
 Once the depth map has been saved to file, you could edit it in an external editor; sometimes, this can be a
more convenient way to assign all depth-values (see also under "advanced use" below).
 You can (only) exit "depth map mode" by clearing the tick-mark in the box "Use depth map" in the Hydro
configuration dialog window (see section III-17.3.1 Tab "Wave Module").
 The alternative to creating a depth map this way, is loading one that was created earlier. Do this via the
Hydro configuration dialog window, by ticking the box "Use depth map", and selecting an existing depth
map file in the file selection box underneath it. Once a depth map file is loaded this way, SeaDarQ is in
"depth map mode”. In this mode, all options described above are available: you can alter the depth value of a
cell by double-clicking it; you can save the file by right-clicking anywhere on the cell-grid and selecting
"Save to file"; and you can reset the entire map be selecting "Create Depth Map" from the Hydro menu.
Figure 134: The grid cells for a depth map

An entirely different approach to creating and editing a depth map file is of course also possible: the depth map
file format is in plain text, so with care, it is possible to carefully edit a pre-existing file, and load that via the
Hydro configuration dialog window (as described above).
22.3.7 Timers
See also section III-17.3.2 for the details of the Hydro Timers tab.
The timer controls on the tab "Hydro Timers" in the Hydro configuration dialog window control the repetition of
the hydrographic calculations. The default is to do only a single run of the hydrographic calculations, but using
the controls in the "Hydro Timers" configuration tab, the calculations can be repeated multiple times, at specified
times or intervals.
The timers and associated controls allow multiple runs of the hydrographic calculations.

The "Hydro Timers" tab is part of the "Hydro" configuration dialog window, which is accessed by right-clicking
the "Hydro" menu.
Section III-17.3.2 gives details for each of the controls on the "Hydro Timers" configuration tab.
It is common to combine the repeated hydrographic calculations with the (automatic) generation of wave reports,
so the results can be used and/or analysed in post-processing.
Specifying "-1" for the number of runs will result in the calculations being repeated ad infinitum.
It is strongly advised to not repeat the calculations without pause in between, as this would prevent SeaDarQ
from cleaning up internal buffers in between the calculations. It is best to use a timer interval such that there is a
little respite after finishing a calculation run. The exact interval for this needs to be checked "experimentally", as
the total processing time for a run depends on the calculation parameters, in particular the number of grid points
for which the calculations need to be performed. Limiting the grid by selecting a suitable area for the
calculations may help.
Notes:
 The number of grid points is determined indirectly, through the radar range and the grid distance selected on
the "Wave Module" tab (and possibly reduced through selection of an area to limit the calculations --or rather
the grid generation-- to).
 Selecting a non-default number for the cube size and the cubic depth will also influence the calculation time.
 Other than triggering on a timer, it is also possible to trigger on an external event. However, this option has
not seen active use since Windows XP. The external program to support this mechanism is only available by
special request, and would first require some in-house testing. See footnote 6 on page 82 for a few more
details.
22.3.8 Depth Contours

Depth contours are lines of equal depth. They are interpolated in between the grid points where SeaDarQ
calculated hydrographic parameters (of which depth is one).
The depth contours can give a good indication of the bottom topography in the area.
Depth contours, and a false colour gradient in between them, are visualised on the DCONTOUR layer. To still
be able to see layers lower in the stack, it is common to set this layer to "transparent" (see section II-6.7 Layers
for details). Once calculated, the depth contour lines can be saved to file via the menu "Hydro Info", item "Save
Depth Contour". The contours are saved to file as a series of geographic points forming each line, for each of the
contour line values. (See the description of the depth contour file format in section V-5 for a bit more detail.)
Note that the false colour gradients in between the contours are not saved to file.
Saving the depth contours to file is a "one-shot operation"; it is not possible to save the contours automatically
after every calculation round. However, the depth values at the grid points are part of the information saved with
"wave reports", so if depth information is needed for each calculation round, that is the way to get it. (See section
V-2 for information on the wave report file format.)
The bottom topography, as derived from the depth results from the hydrographic calculations, is only available if
the water is shallow enough for this to make sense. If the expected depth is more than 40m (or rather, such that
the water is "deep" with respect to the waves, i.e., the depth is more than the wavelength), a fixed depth should
be specified (in the Wave Module configuration), otherwise the SeaDarQ calculations may not converge.
The default is for 5 contour lines, evenly spaced between the minimum and maximum depth values encountered.
This can be changed on the tab "Depth Contour Settings" in either the Hydro configuration dialog window
(section III-17.3.4), or in the Hydro Info configuration dialog window (see section III-18.3.2).
Sometimes, the contour-lines can exhibit a lot of jaggedness. This can be reduced via the setting for "Limit
Edge" on the tab Depth Contour Settings in the Hydro configuration dialog. This limit edge is the maximum
distance the algorithm accepts to look for points in order to smooth out the contour line. (See figure 135.)

Figure 135: The "Limit Edge" value may help to reduce the jaggedness of contour lines
22.3.9 Wave Height

Although wave height measurement is a subject of considerable interest, it is to our best knowledge currently
still not possible to use only regular HH or VV radar data to derive reliable and reproducible wave heights. It is
possible to calculate indicative wave heights if additional reference data is available (in particular, a wave buoy
in the field of interest, against which the data can be calibrated). However, even this approach should still be
considered experimental, and will give only qualitative results: the error bars will be substantial.
Customers wishing to explore this approach should contact Nortek BV for further discussion of the possibilities.
22.3.10 Wave Spectra

Wave Spectra calculations are part of a separate module, which is not part of the standard installation or
licensing (amongst others, because of high processing time requirements).

III Dialogs 1 Overview
III Dialogs
1 OVERVIEW
The following table, table 10, lists important dialog windows that are available and can be encountered in
SeaDarQ.
The column “remarks” mentions how a dialog window can be accessed.
The next sections describe each dialog window, including the different tabs that some of them have.
Note that the standard buttons “OK”, “Cancel”, and “Apply”, are mentioned as standard Windows buttons, and
not explained. Their meaning and intended use is assumed to be obvious.
Table 10: Overview of dialog boxes and windows in the SeaDarQ software
Dialog box / window name section how to access this dialog

Layers dialog III-2 Right-click Screen menu
Recording dialog III-3 Right-click Recording menu
Image alignment dialog III-4 Right-click Image menu
Polygon settings dialog III-5 Right-click Polygon menu
Snapshot Settings dialog III-6 Right-click Snap Shot menu
Alarm Settings dialog III-7 Right-click OSD View menu
GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog III-8 Right-click Geo Snap Shot menu
Font Selection dialog III-12 Right-click AIS menu
Also, a separate tab in:
Polygon Settings dialog
Hydro configuration dialog window
Hydro Info configuration dialog window
Alarms Settings dialog (OSD View settings)
File Settings dialog III-16 Right-click File menu
Line window III-13 View ► Line Window
Histogram window III-14 View ► Histogram Window
Configuration Settings dialog III-15 Configuration ► Setup …
Diagnostics Window III-9 Diagnostics ► Show Diagnostics
or Right-click Diagnostics menu
NMEA log window III-10 Diagnostics Window, button “Show Nmea”
Statistics Window III-11 Configuration ► Statistic …
Hydro configuration dialog window III-17 Right-click Hydro menu
Hydro Info configuration dialog window III-18 Right-click Hydro Info menu
Wave Buoy Settings dialog III-19 Hydro ► Buoy Settings…
Individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog III-20 Right-click an individual virtual wave buoy
Depth Map cell assignation dialog III-21 Double-click an area in the radar image, when mode
“Create Depth Map” is enabled

III Dialogs 2 Layers dialog
2 LAYERS DIALOG
2.1 Accessing the Layers dialog
The Layers dialog window can be opened in several ways:
 by a right-click on the “Screen” menu
 by selecting the item “Layers …” in the “Screen” menu
 by clicking the “Layers” button in the Button or Tool Bar
2.2 Purpose and use
The Layers dialog window allows adjustment of various aspects of the different layers that are used in the main
SeaDarQ image. This includes the possibility of switching individual layers on or off.
The aspects of each layer that can be adjusted are:
 its visibility (whether it is visible at all – but note that layers higher in the stack may obscure lower
layers)
 its transparency (whether lower layers “shine through” or not, and if so, to what degree)
 the main colour used for items in this layer, with separate choices for the colour used “during the day”
and the one used “during the night” (where day and night in this case refer to the relevant choice in the
“View” menu)
2.3 Details
Note that which layers are listed in the
Layers dialog (and which ones are
available via the on-screen Layers
panel) depends on the modules and
licenses that are active in SeaDarQ.
Examples in this section assume a
combined license for the Oil Spill
Detection and Hydrography modules.
The list (in figure 136) at the left shows
the layers available in the system, in
order.
Whether a specific layer is visible on
the screen or not, is first of all
determined by the setting for that layer
in the column “Show”. A tick-mark in
that column indicates that the layer is
visible.
The order of the layers means that a
layer higher in this list will obscure a
layer lower in the list, provided both
are marked “Visible”, i.e., “Show”.
A layer marked “Transparent” will
allow lower layers to “shine through”.
The slider for “Alpha”, in the right-
most column, determines the level of
transparency that applies to this layer if
“Transparent” is selected.
By default, each layer has a specific
colour for display during daytime
hours, and a more muted colour for
night-time hours. The drop-down
selection boxes in the columns “Day
Color” and “Night Color” allow the
Figure 136: Layers dialog window user to select different colours to their
own liking instead.

Display using day- or night-time colours is determined by selection of the appropriate option in the menu
“View”:
 The Daytime colours are used when the option “Day” is selected in the “View” menu.
 The Nighttime colours are used when the option “Night” is selected in the “View” menu.
Visibility and transparency of a number of layers can be controlled from the “Layers” panel in the main screen.
These layers are “Image”, “Enhanced”, “Radar”, “Depth”, “Current”, “Length”, “DContour”, and “AIS”. Use of
the “Layers” panel is described in the section “User Interface Elements”.
The table below (table 11) lists the layers again, with a short description of each layer, and if relevant, an
indication of where to find additional details.
The table following it (table 12) summarizes the options for each layer (i.e., the columns in the dialog window).
Table 11: List of layers and their use

layer name description reference
DEPTH MAP the Hydrography module (if active) uses this layer to see section II-22.3.6,
display the depth map, if that option is activated Depth Map
KEEP OUT the Hydrography module (if active) uses this layer to see section II-22.3.5,
display the exclusion areas (where hydrography Exclusion File
results are not calculated), if this option is in use
AIS information from the Automatic Identification
System, provided this information is fed into the
SeaDarQ system via NMEA
POLYGON in this layer polygons can be drawn to assist in
analysing a (potential) oil spill
LENGTH the Hydrography module (if active) draws the vectors
for the wavelength (magnitude and direction) at each
grid point in this layer
DCONTOUR the Hydrography module (if active) draws calculated
depth contours (interpolated between the grid points)
in this layer
DEPTH the Hydrography module (if active) displays the
calculated depth values at each of the grid points in
this layer
CURRENT the Hydrography module (if active) draws the current
vectors at each grid point in this layer
CURSOR this layer is used to display the cursor
SCALE distance rings (if enabled) and angle markings
(compass rose) around edge of radar image
HEADING heading line, which indicates the direction the ship is chapter “User Interface
traveling in, and CoG (Course-over-Ground) Elements”, section
indicator “Radar Image”
LANDMASS any land within range of the radar will be shown in
this layer (from the geographic information in the
coastline database)
COAST LINE the coastline of any land within range of the radar
will be shown in this layer (from the geographic
information in the coastline database)
RADAR the raw radar image
ENHANCED the enhanced, processed radar image

layer name description reference

QUALITY aka the “Confidence map”
IMAGE if an image has been loaded, this is the layer that
contains it
BACKGROUND allows changing the background colour, e.g. to white
before printing via printscreen
Table 12: Options for each layer, as available in the layers dialog window
option / column description reference
Layer The name of the layer
Show Visibility of the layer
Transparent Whether the layer is transparent or not
Day color The colour to use for the items in this layer, when menu “View”
“Day-time colors” are active
The drop-down selection box leads to a standard
Windows colour selection dialog, allowing another
colour to be chosen
Night color The colour to use for the items in this layer, when menu “View”
“Night-time colors” are active
The drop-down selection box leads to a standard
Windows colour selection dialog, allowing another
colour to be chosen
Alpha The level of transparency that applies to this layer, if
the corresponding checkbox in column “Transparent”
is ticked. The sliders allow adjustment of the
transparency for each layer.
Moving the slider to the left increases the
transparency (i.e., allows more of lower lying layers
to shine through), moving the slider to the right
decreases the transparency (i.e., allows less of lower
lying layers to shine through).
By default, the slider is in the middle, corresponding
to a transparency of 50%.

III Dialogs 3 Recording dialog
3 RECORDING DIALOG
3.1 Accessing the Recording dialog
The Recording dialog window can only be opened by a right-click of the “Recording” menu.
3.2 Purpose and use
The recording dialog window contains the settings for the raw radar recordings that SeaDarQ can make. It has 2
tabs. The “Recording” tab allows for the specification of the file the recording should be saved in. The tab
“Conditions” allows for specification of when the recording or recordings should start.
Recording stores the unprocessed radar lines on disk, with the addition of the NMEA data that is fed into the
SeaDarQ system (typically data from the ship’s navigation instruments and the received AIS data from ships
nearby). The system supports multiple, timed, and triggered recordings with recording limits. The storage time is
limited by the capacity of the used disks and the number of disks.
To start recording, select “Start” from the “Recording” menu. If no start conditions are set, the recording will
start immediately. If start conditions are set, the recording will start automatically when one of the conditions is
met. The recording will stop when the recording limit is reached, or when “Stop” is selected from the
“Recording” menu.
The status bar at the bottom of the screen shows the state of the recording (“Stopped”, “Writing”, or “Armed”,
the last state indicating it is waiting for one of the start conditions to be met).
Note that when making multiple recordings, you should let the system create filenames automatically, otherwise
the filename you specify will be re-used, and the file overwritten. Automatically generated filenames are
constructed from the date and time the recording starts, thereby making sure each filename is unique and files
will not be overwritten.
3.3 Details
3.3.1 Tab “Recording”
Figure 137: Recording dialog window, tab "Recording"
The elements in the “Recording” tab of this dialog are described in the next list:

element description remarks

Create a file name If multiple recordings are to be made, this option will
automatically automatically generate file-names of the form
YYYYMMDDhhmmss.drq
File name If the option to generate filenames automatically is
not switched on, you can specify a filename here.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-
selection dialog.
Location The directory where the raw recording files are to be Do not select a directory
stored on the system disk; see the
notes below.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-
location selection dialog
Start recording on Automatically start recording when the program is
program start started (e.g., after a system reboot). This is useful for
installations where recording should happen always
(subject to the timer settings on tab “Conditions”).
Recording Limit The maximum size of the raw radar recording. See below for some
Options are: warnings
Unlimited
100 MB
200 MB
400 MB
800 MB
1 GB
4 GB
8 GB
16 GB
32 GB
Progress Shows how many MB of data have been written to
file so far (for this current recording session or file)
OK / Cancel / Apply (Standard elements of Windows)
When choosing the maximum size for a recording file (the “Recording Limit”), please keep the following in
mind:
 At the default resolution (1024 points per radar line), 4 GB of data corresponds to about 15 minutes of
recording
 Certain file-systems have a limit to the maximum file size it can handle. In particular, the FAT file
system cannot handle files larger than 4 GB. This problem can crop up if you want to transfer the
recorded file or files to a DVD or USB stick. (Single-layer single-sided DVDs have a size limit of 4.7
GB anyway)
 Selecting “Unlimited” for the recording limit has the potential of filling the disk that the file is saved to
completely. Use this option with care, and only when an operator is present continuously. Manually
stop the recording before the disk is filled completely.
 Do not store recordings on the Windows system disk. The recording sub-system does not check whether
it might fill the disk completely, it just goes ahead and records. Completely filling the Windows system
disk will render the system inoperable.

3.3.2 Tab “conditions”
Figure 138: Recording dialog window, tab "Conditions"
The following table lists the elements in the tab “Conditions” of the Recording Settings dialog box:

Number of recordings The number of consecutive radar recording files that
should be created (each of the size specified on the
“Recording” tab).
A value of -1 corresponds to “Unlimited”
External event An automatic recording can be started (triggered) by see footnote 6
an external event.
Timer 1, 2, 3, 4 Automatic recordings can be triggered by up to 4
different timers, each of which can have an interval
associated with it. Which timers are active is selected
by means of the tick-boxes before each timer label.
Start time When a timer is enabled, you can select the time that
the recording should start.
Interval When a timer is enabled, you can select an interval
after which a new recording should be started. New
recordings will be started after each interval after the
set time, until the number of recordings is reached
(unless the number of recordings is set to -1, in which
case there is no limit to the number of recordings
until the disk is filled).
6
This requires the program ExternTrigger.exe. ExternTrigger.exe is not part of a default installation; it is
available at special request. However, this option has not seen active use since Windows XP. ExternTrigger.exe
is only available by special request, and would first require some in-house testing. The program works by
monitoring the CTS line (pin 8) of serial port 1 (COM1). An external signal should take this line high to activate
the trigger.

III Dialogs 4 Image alignment dialog
Remarks:
 For an unlimited number of recordings, the same warnings apply that do to an unlimited file size.
4 IMAGE ALIGNMENT DIALOG

4.1 Accessing the Image Alignment dialog
The Image Alignment dialog window can be opened in several ways:
 By means of a right-click on the “Image” menu
 By selection of the item “Alignment …” in the “Image” menu
4.2 Purpose and use
[See “Image” menu, and section “Loading and using a Geo-encoded image”.]
The image alignment dialog allows compensation of small misalignment between the radar image and the loaded
image.
4.3 Details
Figure 139: Image alignment dialog window
element description
Offset X translate the image this amount in the X direction
Offset (Y) translate the image this amount in the Y direction
Rotation rotate the image by this number of degrees (clockwise or counter clockwise)

III Dialogs 5 Polygon settings dialog
5 POLYGON SETTINGS DIALOG

5.1 Accessing the Polygon Settings dialog
The Polygon Settings dialog window can be opened by means of a right-click on the “Polygon” menu.
5.2 Purpose and use
See the sub-section “Using Polygons” in the section “Background Topics and Concepts” elsewhere in this
Reference Guide.
See also the description of the “Polygon” menu.
5.3 Details
5.3.1 Tab “Polygon Settings”
Figure 140: Polygon Settings dialog window, tab "Polygon Settings"
element description
Layer thickness Specify the layer thickness (in mm) used to calculate the volume in all polygons
defined on-screen
5.3.2 Tab “Font”

→ See Font Selection dialog

III Dialogs 6 Snapshot Settings dialog
6 SNAPSHOT SETTINGS DIALOG

6.1 Accessing the Snapshot Settings dialog
The Snapshot Settings dialog window is accessed by means of a right-click on the menu “Snap Shot”
6.2 Purpose and use
Use the “Snap Shot” menu to capture screen images from the system as they appear on-screen.
The images are fully GeoTIFF encoded and can by loaded back into the system for visual comparison. When the
images are edited in an image-processing tool, the geo-encoding might be lost; in that case, the image cannot be
loaded back in.
The GeoTIFF image format includes a binary encoding of location and timestamp.
To take a single snapshot:

 Select the menu-item “Take Snap Shot” form the menu “Snap Shot”
or
 Click on the “Snapshot” button on the button-/toolbar (see “User Interface Elements”, “Button Bar /
Toolbar”)
To take a sequence of snapshots, according to the parameters set in the Snapshot Settings dialog:
 Select the menu-item “Start Automatic” form the menu “Snap Shot”
Note: for the difference between a “regular” snapshot and a “Geo” Snapshot, see the section “Difference
between ‘Snapshot’ and ‘Geo Snapshot’ ”.
6.3 Details
Figure 141: Snapshot Settings dialog window
element description
Create a filename When checked, the system will generate filenames based on the date and time, in
automatically the format “screen at yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ssUTC.tif”
When un-checked, the system will overwrite the selected file
File name If the option to generate a filename automatically is not switched on, you can
specify a filename here.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-selection dialog.
If the filename selected corresponds to an existing file, this file will be overwritten.
Location The directory where the snapshot(s) will be stored.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-location selection dialog.

III Dialogs 6 Snapshot Settings dialog
element description
Put Location and Time on If this option is checked, the geographic information (latitude and longitude in
Image degrees or UTM, depending on the relevant selection in the “View” menu) and time
(in UTC) will be printed at the bottom of the image.
Automatic Snapshot In this area, parameters controlling the automatic, repeated taking of snapshots can
be specified.
Time between snapshots The time-interval in minutes between snapshots.
Number of images The maximum number of snapshots to take in one sequence (an automatic stop
criterion).

III Dialogs 7 Alarm Settings dialog
7 ALARM SETTINGS DIALOG

7.1 Accessing the Alarm Settings dialog
The Alarm Settings dialog window is accessed by means of a right-click on the menu “OSD View”
7.2 Purpose and use
In this dialog window, some limited settings to do with alarms can be set; see the details below.
7.3 Details
7.3.1 Tab “Alarms Settings”
Figure 142: Alarm Settings dialog window, tab "Alarms Settings"

Sound to Play an on-screen oil spill alarm can be accompanied by a
sound of your choice (by means of a .wav file)
7.3.2 Tab “Font”

→ See Font Selection dialog

III Dialogs 8 GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog
8 GEOTIFF SNAPSHOT SETTINGS DIALOG

8.1 Accessing the GeoTIFF Snapshot Settings dialog
The GeoTIFF Snapshot Settings dialog window is accessed by means of a right-click on the menu “Geo Snap
Shot”.
8.2 Purpose and use
Use the “Geo Snap Shot” menu to record enhanced images as they are stored in memory. The Geo Snapshot
images are always full resolution, full size, and independent of contrast enhancement or zoom factor.
Beyond that, they have the same properties as regular snapshots:
 fully GeoTIFF encoded
 can by loaded back into the system for visual comparison
 when edited in an image-processing tool the geo-encoding might be lost; in that case, the image cannot
be loaded back in
 the GeoTIFF image format includes a binary encoding of location and timestamp
Geo Snap Shots are especially used to create image sequences that should not be disturbed by operator actions
like zooming in, e.g., to create animations, sequences to transmit to other locations, or a “historical” sequence of
the situation.
To take a single Geo Snap Shot:
 Select the menu-item “Take Snap Shot” form the menu “Geo Snap Shot”
To take a sequence of Geo snapshots, according to the parameters set in the Geo Snapshot Settings dialog:
 Select the menu-item “Start Automatic” form the menu “Geo Snap Shot”
The Geo Snap Shot feature does not have a stop criterion; it is up to the user to select “Stop Automatic” from the
menu “Geo Snap Shot”.
Notes:
 for the difference between a “regular” snapshot and a “Geo” Snapshot, see the section “Difference
between ‘Snapshot’ and ‘Geo Snapshot’ ”
 to make settings in this dialog window permanent, use “Save Configuration” from the “Configuration”
menu
8.3 Details
Figure 143: GeoTIFF Snapshot Settings dialog window
element description
Create a file name When checked, the system will generate filenames based on the date and time, in
automatically the format “yyyy-MM-dd hh.mm.ssUTC.tif”
When un-checked, the system will overwrite the selected file

III Dialogs 8 GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog
element description
File name If the option to generate a filename automatically is not switched on, you can
specify a filename here.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-selection dialog.
If the filename selected corresponds to an existing file, this file will be overwritten.
Use creation time for If this check-box is not ticked, instead of the date and time of creating the snapshot,
filename the data and time of the original recording is used to construct the filename.
This is mostly useful when processing pre-recorded radar-data, in “… from file”
operational modes
Location The directory where the snapshot(s) will be stored.
The button “…” leads to a standard Windows file-location selection dialog.
Time between snapshots The time in minutes between snapshots.
Note that in the case of processing pre-recorded radar-data (in “… from file”
operational mode), the time between snapshots is the elapsed computer-time, not
the time that is inherent in the recording. The distinction is especially important as
the playback time of a recording does not necessarily correspond to the original real
time, so to speak.
Use Recording Time If this option is checked and the snapshots are made from a recording that is played
back, the timestamp used to automatically name the snapshots (if selected, see “Use
creation time …” above) is based on the timestamps embedded in the recording, not
the system time at the moment of playback.
If this option is checked and snapshots are made from live data, the system time is
used.
Put Location and Time on If this option is checked, the geographic information (latitude and longitude in
Image degrees or UTM, depending on the relevant selection in the “View” menu) and time
(in UTC) will be printed at the bottom of the image.
Auto Start If this checkbox is ticked, automatic taking of snapshot will start immediately when
the system starts (using the settings saved with “Save configuration”)
Create Tiff with 16bit gray If this checkbox is ticked, the Tiff images that are created will use a 16-bit
scale grayscale. As not all image processing software can read in 16-bit images, it is
possible to save he images as 8-bit grayscale images instead by unticking this box
Note: if “Create a file name automatically” is un-ticked, the internal time-stamp of the recording is used for the
filename.

III Dialogs 9 Diagnostics Window
9 DIAGNOSTICS WINDOW
9.1 Accessing the Diagnostics Window
The Diagnostics window is reached by either
 a right-click on the Diagnostics menu,
or
 selection of the Show Diagnostics item in the Diagnostics menu.
9.2 Purpose and use
The Diagnostics window allows the inspection of a number of parameters that indicate the status of certain
operational aspects of the acquisition of radar data / radar lines.
9.3 Details
The exact contents of the Diagnostics window depend on the type of radar that the system is connected to.
Figure 144 shows the Diagnostics window with a generic radar.
Figure 145 shows the Diagnostics window with a Sperry BridgeMaster E radar, controlled by SeaDarQ.
A comparison of these figures shows that the contents of the Diagnostics window in the case of a generic radar
are a sub-set of contents in the case of a Sperry BridgeMaster E radar.
The following section lists the elements that are present in the Diagnostics Window. For more detailed guidance
on how to use the information this provides, including some suggestions on what to do if the indicators suggest
something is wrong, see the SeaDarQ Installation and Maintenance Guide.
Figure 144: Radar Settings dialog window (generic radar)

Figure 145: Radar Settings dialog window (Sperry BridgeMaster E radar, controlled by SeaDarQ)
element description references

Free buffers Indicates to what extent the internal SeaDarQ data
buffers have been filled with radar data. The
SeaDarQ program will start showing processed
results only after the buffers have been filled.
statistics description
performance counters
Angle A running count of the number of pulses from the angular encoder, which starts
over when the counter reaches the number of “Radar Encoder Pulses” set in the
device driver window
Max. angle The maximum that the angle counter reaches.
(This could be different from the “Radar Encoder Pulses” set in the device driver if
the “Radar Encoder Pulses” is set to too high a value)
Min. angle The minimum value that the angle counter reaches.
Delta time The time (in µs) between radar lines (i.e., the time between trigger pulses)

statistics description
performance counters
Max. delta time The maximum delta time encountered
Min. delta time The minimum delta time encountered
Lost lines The number of times the internal buffers stall due to lack of data.
Trigger timeouts A running count of trigger time-outs
Number of lines A running count of the number of radar lines read in (i.e., the number of trigger
pulses received)
Clear performance Reset the counters and statistics to 0.
counters
Radar Status / description references / remarks

Connection indicators
Connected This “light” is green when there is communication
between the computer and the SeaDarQ Acquisition
Unit. If there is no communication, the “light” is red.
Warming Up Red indicates the radar has not finished its warming- (Sperry BME only)
up sequence yet (this can take about 3 minutes).
Green indicates the warming-up sequence was
successfully completed.
TX RX communication Red means there is a communications problem (Sperry BME only)
error between the Acquisition Unit and the radar.
Green means communication with the radar has been
established.
TX data error Red means there is some error in the messages (Sperry BME only)
exchanged with the radar.
Green means the messages exchanged with the radar
are as expected.
Safety switch Red means the safety switch on the radar housing is (Sperry BME only)
in the open position – possibly indicating someone is
working on it. Radar operation is inhibited.
Green means the safety switch is closed, and the
radar can be operated.
Spark gap Red means there is a problem with the spark gap (Sperry BME only)
inside the radar – consult with Sperry for further
details.
Green means the spark gap is OK.
Trigger Red means the Acquisition Unit does not receive
trigger pulses from the radar.
Green means the Acquisition Unit receives trigger
pulses from the radar.
ACP Red means the Acquisition Unit does not receive
ACP pulses from the radar.
Green means the Acquisition Unit receives ACP

Radar Status / description references / remarks

Connection indicators
ARP Red means the Acquisition Unit does not receive
ARP pulses from the radar.
Green means the Acquisition Unit receives ARP
Radar Performance description (Sperry BM E only)

indicators
Tune This (green) bar indicates the tuning of the radar;
extending as far as possible to the right is optimal.
Magnetron The bar indicates the current through the magnetron
(provided the radar is transmitting); the current
magnitude in Ampere is also given numerically to the
right of the indicator bar.
Modulator The bar indicates the modulator voltage. The voltage
is also given numerically to the right of the indicator
bar.
30 Volt Indication of the actual voltage of the internal 30 V
supply.
12 Volt Indication of the actual voltage of the internal 12 V
supply.
NMEA communication description references

indicators
Com [0|1|2|3] Each of the 4 NMEA communication channels has its
own line, stating the number of good and bad
messages received.
Good Msg A count of the number of correctly understood
NMEA messages.
Bad Msg A count of the number of messages that could not be
interpreted as NMEA data.
Clear Com Status Reset all the NMEA message counters to 0.
Overrun Green indicates the system can keep up with the
incoming messages.
Red indicates an internal buffer is overflowing,
suggesting the messages come in faster (in greater
number) than the system can process.
Show NMEA Clicking this button will open the NMEA log
window.

III Dialogs 10 NMEA log window
10 NMEA LOG WINDOW

10.1 Accessing the NMEA Log Window
You can only open the NMEA Log window via the button “Show NMEA” on the Diagnostics window (see
section III-9).
10.2 Purpose and use

You can use the NMEA Log window for a detailed analysis of the NMEA data streams, should it be necessary to
look at the NMEA messages (e.g., for troubleshooting). This is also described in the SeaDarQ Installation and
Maintenance Guide.
Note that the Log Window only shows the live streams of NMEA messages that are received; the log is not
written to file. If it is necessary to “catch” a snapshot of the NMEA messages, the only option is to take a
screenshot (using the Windows facilities for this).
10.3 Details
Figure 146: The NMEA Log Window
The NMEA Log window (see figure 146) shows 3 columns:

Device
The number of the NMEA port that received the message
Status
The status of the message, which can be one of the following four:
Unused: SeaDarQ does not use this (type of) message, and has discarded it
Error: the message contains a syntactical error or cannot be identified
Blocked: the SeaDarQ system blocks this type of message on this port, because this message type is
marked to be blocked in the configuration of this port (see section III-15.3.10)
(blank) SeaDarQ accepts and uses this message
Text
The contents of the NMEA message, i.e., the actual message.
The NMEA Log window has two menus, View and Ports. A description of the items in these menus follows.

III Dialogs 10 NMEA log window
The View menu (see figure 147) has the following menu items:
Auto Scroll
Toggles between automatic scrolling (ticked) and no automatic scrolling.
When ticked (automatic scrolling enabled), new NMEA data will be
added to the bottom of the list, and the list will automatically scroll up.
Clear
Clear the list (immediate, one-time action).
Show Unused
Show Errors
Figure 147: The NMEA log
Show Blocked
window's View menu
These three menu items allow selective filtering of the NMEA messages,
by toggling them on and off. Only the messages that are checked (have a tick-mark in front of them) in the
menu will show in the Log Window.
The Ports menu (see figure 148) has one item for each port.
The items in this menu allow selection of which ports to show the
messages of in the Log Window. (This does not influence the NMEA
messages processed by the SeaDarQ system; it only changes what is
shown in the Log Window.)
Figure 148: The NMEA log

window's Ports menu

III Dialogs 11 Statistics Window
11 STATISTICS WINDOW
11.1 Accessing the Statistics Window
You get access to the Statistics Window by selecting the item “Statistics” from the “Configuration” menu.

The Statistics window shows SeaDarQ’s internal processing modules and their processing loads. On rare
occasions, this may help in troubleshooting.
11.3 Details
Figure 149: The Statistics window

The Statistics Window shows two (unlabelled) columns. The first column lists the various SeaDarQ internal
processing modules; the second column lists the loading (in fact: the processing backlog) for each module. As
the program runs, these numbers update automatically.
Under normal circumstances, the processing backlog of each module will be cleared so fast that all loads seem to
remain at 0.

III Dialogs 12 Font Selection dialog
12 FONT SELECTION DIALOG

12.1 Accessing the Font Selection dialog
The Font Selection Dialog opens as the result of a right-click on the AIS menu.
The Font Selection dialog tab is a separate tab on the dialog windows “Polygon Settings”, “Alarms Settings”,
“Hydro settings”, and “Hydro Info settings”. (Note that the Font selection tab for the “Hydro settings” and
“Hydro Info settings” is only accessible when “Advanced Options” are enabled.)
The Font Selection dialog or dialog tab allows user-control of the font and font appearance of the related on-
screen text.
menu or dialog window interface elements affected

right-click AIS menu AIS identification text of ships
Polygon Settings (tab) identification text on polygons
Alarms Settings (tab) identification text of alarms on the main image
Hydro Settings (tab) text for the contour line values, and for the depth
values
Hydro Info Settings (tab) text for the contour line values, and for the depth
values
The Font Selection dialog window or tab is a standard Windows font selection dialog window.
12.3 Details
element description
Font The font family to use
Font style The font style to use
(regular, bold, italic)
Size The font size to use (in
points)
Effects This groups together the
Color and transparency
controls
Color The colour to use for the
font
Alpha When the “Transparent”
option-box is ticked, the
slider below allows
adjusting the amount of
transparency
Transparent When ticked, makes the font
transparent; the level of
transparency can be adjusted
with the slider (Alpha)
Sample This region will show a text-
Figure 150: Font Selection dialog window (or tab)
sample with the current
selections for the font
Proof If ticked, any changes to Font (family), Font style and Font Size will be applied to the
relevant text immediately, as if Apply was clicked after every change

III Dialogs 13 Line window
13 LINE WINDOW
13.1 Accessing the Line Window
The Line window can be accessed by one of the following means:
 via the menu “View”  “Line Window”
 by clicking the toolbar button “Line Window”
The exact appearance and the available functionality depend on whether Advanced Options are enabled or not.
In the sub-section “The details”, these differences are addressed where relevant.
In the Line window, it is possible to look at the details of the radar-intensity versus distance, for a selected angle
(pie) from the radar outwards. With “Advanced Options” enabled, this can be used for manual background /
range correction. Details of the interface elements (the mechanics, so to speak) will be described here; details of
practical use will be described in the sub-section “Background correction” of the main section “Background
Topics and Concepts”.
13.3 Details
13.3.1 “Advanced Options” disabled

Figure 151 shows the appearance of the SeaDarQ window after opening the Line Window, with “Advanced
Options” not enabled. The main screen shrinks to make room for the extra window. Note that the relative vertical
sizes of the sub-windows can be changed by dragging the dividing border until the desired sizes are obtained.
Figure 151: Line Window, Advanced Options NOT enabled
It is not possible to change the top-to-bottom order of these sub-windows, nor is it possible to arrange them side-
by-side instead of vertically.

Another element to note is the two radial lines that appear in the main radar/enhanced image. These lines
demarcate the pie-sector for which the radar-line intensities versus distance are shown in the Line Window. At
the end of these axial lines is a small yellow dot that changes colour to red when the mouse pointer is hovered
over them. By clicking-and-dragging these dots, these demarcation lines can be moved (rotated about the centre)
individually. Figure 152 shows a close-up of these lines and the dots at their ends.
Figure 152: Demarcation lines (with yellow dots) determining the Figure 153: Histogram overlay can be
radar lines that are used in the Line Window (detail) repositioned by dragging the green
arrow left or right
The Line Window in fact shows a color-coded histogram of the radar intensities within the demarcated pie area,
as it changes with distance. This color-coded histogram can be observed in a more traditional fashion via a
sliding window within the Line Window. This more traditional histogram is rotated a quarter turn from its truly
traditional appearance. Figure 153 shows a close-up.
The radial distance for which this “traditional” histogram is shown is selected by means of the base-line of this
histogram. This base-line is indicated as the heavier white line at the left-hand side of the sliding window, and by
the green arrow at its bottom. The base-line / distance can be changed by dragging the green arrow (which
changes colour to red when the mouse hovers over it) to the desired location (distance) in the Line Window.
As the base-line / arrow is dragged to another location, it continuously updates the histogram to show the
distribution (relative abundance) of radar intensities at that distance (within the demarcation pie).
Do note that the entire radial collection of histograms (as visualised by the colour-banded curve) is built-up over
a number of consecutive radar revolutions. In other words, it can take some time before the curve is fully built
up.
13.3.2 “Advanced Options” enabled

When “Advanced Options” are enabled (Configuration  Enable Advanced Options), the Line Window slightly
changes appearance, as shown in figure 154; it acquires a menu (see also figure 155), and a toolbar with two
buttons (provided View  Toolbars is enabled). Some of the menu-items and the two toolbar buttons are greyed
out and not selectable, unless “Manual Range Correction” is selected.

Figure 154: "Range Correction Curve" menu Figure 155: Menu items and sub-menu in the "Range
appears by enabling Advanced Options Correction Curve" menu
The next table describes the menu-items as well as the two toolbar buttons.
menu item description remarks

No Range Correction Completely switch off all automatic and non-
automatic background / range correction
Automatic Range Correction Use the SeaDarQ built-in algorithms for
automatic correction of the background intensity
with range (distance)
Normal Mode Use the normal algorithms This is the default
Rain Mode Use algorithms that take into account the
distorting influence of possibly passing rain
Manual Range Correction Apply the range correction as specified by the
range-correction curve constructed (or loaded) by
the user.
If a range correction curve was previously built-
up in the current SeaDarQ session, it will still
exist and become both active and editable.
If no range correction curve was previously built-
up in the current SeaDarQ session, the default
range correction curve will be selected (see below
under “reset”)
Selecting this option (“Manual Range
Correction”) enables the following 4 menu-items,
as well as the two toolbar buttons, and the built-in
line-editing facilities.
Reset Reset the range correction curve to its default,
corresponding to no range correction: an even,
flat curve (line), with no amplification and no
attenuation at any range. The range correction
curve will start out with two control points, one at
either end.

menu item description remarks

Add Point Add a control point right in the middle of the amplification / attenuation
window (i.e., in the middle of the distance range, factor on the scale to the
and with no amplification or attenuation (i.e., left of the window:
neither). See the next section, “Editing the
0..50 attenuate,
correction curve”, for details on manipulating the
50 none,
curve.
50..100 amplify;
Save Range Correction Curve Save the range correction curve, in terms of the
location of its control points, to a file.
Selecting this options will lead to a standard
Windows “Save to file” dialog window. Range
correction curves are saved by default with the
extension “.rng”.
Load Range Correction Curve Load a range correction curve, in terms of the
location of its control points, from file.
Selecting this option will lead to a standard
Windows “Open file” dialog window. Range
correction curve files by default have the
extension “.rng”.
toolbar button description

“Add a control point to the range correction curve”;
see above under the menu-item “Add Point”
“Reset the range correction curve to the default”;
see above under the menu-item “Reset”
13.3.3 Editing the correction curve

Editing the correction curve is done by editing control points, in a way that is very similar to editing the control
points of polygons.
The control-points of the range correction curve are indicated by yellow dots. They become editable by hovering
the mouse close enough to them. Editable means you can click-and-drag the selected point to another position, or
you can delete it by right-clicking it (it will disappear without further warning or question, and there is no undo-
function). The selected control-point (i.e., the control-point that the mouse is closest to) will be displayed in red.
You can add a control-point by clicking the mouse very close to or on the range correction curve. The cursor will
have a red dot added to it to indicate that it will add a control-point if clicked. If you click-and-drag while the
cursor has a red dot attached, you can drag the new control-point to a desired position immediately.
The alternative is to click the “Add a control-point” toolbar button, or to select the “Add point” item from the
“Range Correction Curve” menu (local to the range correction/ Line window). In either of these cases, a control
point will be added in the middle of the window.
You can remove a single control-point by moving the mouse very close to or over it. When the control point
turns red, a right-click will delete it.
The following table summarizes the editing options.
what how remarks
add a control point position the mouse on or very close to the correction (see note below)
curve, until a red dot is attached to the cursor, and
click for a new control-point at that location, or click-
and-drag to create a new control-point at the location
where the mouse is released
add a control point in the either click the toolbar button “Add Control Point”, (see note below)
middle of the window or select the menu-item “Add Point” from the (local)

what how remarks
menu “Range Correction Curve”

delete one control point right-click on or close to the control-point (move the instant, without undo
mouse close to or over the control point until its
colour changes from yellow to red)
reset the range correction either click the toolbar button “Reset”, or select the
curve to its default “Reset” menu-item from the (local) menu “Range
Correction Curve”
Note: if you manually remove all control-points, including the ones at the very ends of the curve, the first two
control-points you then add (either with the mouse or through button or menu-item) will automatically be added
at the two ends of the curve, irrespective of the location on the curve you are trying to add these first two points.
Resetting the curve to its default will always result in a flat curve with one control point at either end.

III Dialogs 14 Histogram window
14 HISTOGRAM WINDOW
14.1 Accessing the Histogram window
The Histogram window can be accessed by one of the following means:
 via the menu “View”  “Histogram Window”
 by clicking the toolbar button “Histogram View”
The exact appearance and the available functionality depend on whether Advanced Options are enabled or not.
In the sub-section “The details”, these differences are addressed where relevant.
The histogram window is there for historical reasons, mostly. It shows the relative abundance of intensities over
the entire radar image (i.e., the relative number of pixels of each intensity in the image). It is not influenced by
the selection-area for the Line Window (the “pie” in between the “demarcation” lines), but it is influenced by the
range correction selected in the Line Window (be that none, one of the standard automatic ones, or a user-
constructed custom correction curve).
When “Advanced Options” are not enabled (see Configuration  Enable Advanced Options), the Histogram
Window only shows this relative abundance of intensities over the entire radar image (i.e., the number of pixels
of each intensity in the image, a.k.a. the intensity distribution). The horizontal axis shows intensities, where 0
corresponds to the lowest intensity (black), and 100 corresponds to the highest intensity (white, or rather, the
brightest green). The blue (filled) shape indicates the relative abundance of each intensity.
With “Advanced Options” enabled, the Histogram Window offers the option to perform histogram intensity
mapping, of the enhanced image and of the radar image. In this case, it still shows the intensity distribution in
blue, but it also shows two intensity mapping curves. Manipulation of these intensity-mapping curves is
described here under “The details”, “Advanced Option enabled”.
14.3 Details
14.3.1 “Advanced Options” disabled

Figure 156 shows the appearance of the SeaDarQ window after opening the Histogram Window, with
“Advanced Options” not enabled.
Figure 156: Histogram Window, Advanced Options NOT enabled

The main SeaDarQ screen shrinks to make room for the extra window. Note that the relative horizontal sizes of
the sub-windows can be changed by dragging the dividing border until the desired sizes are obtained.
As mentioned above, the histogram window shows how often each pixel-intensity appears in the entire image.
The intensities are shown on the horizontal axis, with dark being on the left-hand-side, and bright being on the
right-hand-side. The vertical axis shows how often each intensity appears in the image, relatively speaking. The
scale on the vertical axes is arbitrary in this case.
14.3.2 “Advanced Options” enabled

When “Advanced Options” are enabled
(Configuration  Enable Advanced Options), the
Line Window slightly changes appearance, as shown
in figure 157:
 it acquires two menus (see also figure 158),one
for the “enhanced” layer, the other for the
“radar” layer; each of these has its own settings
 and a toolbar with two sets of two buttons
(provided View  Toolbars is enabled).
 The window shows two colour/intensity
mapping curves, one for the enhanced image
layer, and one for the radar image layer.
 The window also acquires two threshold lines,
which can be moved by means of arrows at the
bottom of the window.
Whether each of the menus and button-sets is greyed
out and not selectable, or available, depends on the
settings for the enhanced and radar image layers: a
layer with setting “hidden” has the corresponding
menu and buttons greyed out.
Visibility of the threshold line and mapping curve for
each of the layers similarly depends on the setting
for the layers: a layer with setting “hidden” has the
corresponding features in the Histogram Window
disabled.
The two menus are shown in figure 158 (the menu-
items are identical; the difference is only in the
menu-name and the layer they affect). The tables on
the next page describe the menu-items as well as the
toolbar buttons. Following the tables is a summary of
the editing options.
The description here limits itself to the “mechanics” Figure 157: Menus in the Histogram Window with
of operation. "Advanced Options" enabled
Following the description of the menu items and
toolbar buttons for manipulation of the colour curves
is a brief description of the threshold lines.
Again, the description here limits itself to the
“mechanics” of operation.
Figure 158: Menu items and sub-menu in the “Enhanced

Color Curve” menu

14.3.3 Color curve mapping

For purposes of the mapping curves, the interpretation of the horizontal and vertical axes changes somewhat.
The horizontal axis still represents the intensities in the input radar lines, but the vertical axis and its scale now
represent the intensities that these input intensities are mapped to and displayed as.
The description below, in terms of the “mechanics” (how to manipulate the curves) applies to both the
“Enhanced Color Curve” and the “Radar Color Curve”. The difference is the layer they apply to, which is of
course indicated by their names:
 the “Enhanced Color Curve” mapping applies to the display of the image in the enhanced layer;
the “Enhanced” mapping curve is shown in white
 the “Radar Color Curve” mapping applies to the display of the input radar image in the radar layer;
the “Radar” mapping curve is shown in green
menu item description references / remarks

Add Point Add a control point right in the middle of the See the next section,
histogram window (i.e., in the middle of both the “Editing the correction
input and mapped pixel intensity ranges, mapping the curve”, for details on
half-range input intensity to the same intensity in the manipulating the curve.
displayed layer)
Reset Reset the intensity / colour mapping curve to its
default, corresponding to an identical mapping from
input to output intensities, represented by a straight
line in the Histogram window
The default mapping curve has two control points,
one at either end.
Color Fit Choose the type of fixed mapping to apply
Intensity a standard 0 – 100% greyscale mapping: this is the default mapping
for the Enhanced image
layer
0% 50% 100%
Blue – White – Red
0% 50% 100%
Note: as the radar image (layer) is green, applying the
B-W-R colour-mapping has no visible result, unless
the colour for the radar layer is chosen as white
toolbar button description

“Add a control point to the intensity / color mapping curve”;
see above under the menu-item “Add Point”
“Reset the intensity / color mapping curve to the default”;
see above under the menu-item “Reset”
14.3.4 Editing a correction curve

what how remarks
add a control point position the mouse on or very close to the correction
curve, until a red dot is attached to the cursor, and
click for a new control-point at that location, or click-

what how remarks
and-drag to create a new control-point at the location

where the mouse is released
add a control point in the either click the toolbar button “Add Control Point”,
middle of the window or select the menu-item “Add Point” from the (local)
menu “Enhanced Color Curve” or “Radar Color
Curve”
delete one control point right-click on or close to the control-point (move the instant, without undo
mouse close to or over the control point until its
colour changes from yellow to red) see note below
reset the mapping curve to either click the toolbar button “Reset”, or select the
its default “Reset” menu-item from the (local) menu “Enhanced
Color Curve” or “Radar Color Curve”
Note: if you try to remove a control-point at the right-hand end of a mapping curve, SeaDarQ will crash.
14.3.5 Threshold
Each of the layers that have mapping curves in the Histogram Window (both the Radar and the Enhanced layers)
has an adjustable threshold line in the Histogram Window if Advanced Options are enabled.
The threshold lines are indicated by movable vertical lines in the Histogram Window with a green arrow
underneath. The threshold line is a white line for the Enhanced layer, and a green line for the Radar layer. Either
line can be moved by clicking-and-dragging the corresponding arrow. Either arrow will change its colour from
green to red to indicate it will be selected, if the mouse hovers close to it.
The threshold for a layer determines the minimum un-mapped intensity that will be displayed in that layer.
The default for the thresholds is 0, meaning that all intensities will be shown.
Note that these thresholds are for display purposes only, they do not affect the automatic detection algorithms.

III Dialogs 15 Configuration Settings dialog
15 CONFIGURATION SETTINGS DIALOG

15.1 Accessing the Configuration Settings dialog
The Configuration Settings dialog window is accessed by means of item “Setup …” in the “Configuration”
menu.
The Configuration Settings dialog window is the place where settings can be made that control important aspects
of the behaviour of the SeaDarQ program. These are typically one-time settings, to be made at installation-time,
but this is not exclusively so.
These settings are made on a number of tabs that are part of this dialog window. Note that which tabs are visible
depends on the mode that SeaDarQ is in (especially “… from file” versus “… from radar”), and on which
modules and licenses are activated.
15.3 Details
Note that changes in settings usually do not take hold unless or until the button “Apply” is clicked.
Also see the remark in the general section “SeaDarQ Software Configuration Settings”:
Note: changes to configuration settings are not saved automatically: if not saved explicitly, a
change of operating mode or a restart of the program will revert back to the settings in the registry
(for that mode).
15.3.1 Tab “General”
Figure 159: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "General"
element description
File locations Specify the main directory where snapshots and
recordings will be saved by default. (Snapshots will
be saved into a sub-directory “Images”)
Location You can enter a description of the ship or radar
location where this SeaDarQ system is located.

15.3.2 Tab “Processing Parameters”
Figure 160: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Processing Parameters"

Invert Video Some radars have a different polarity for the radar
video signal than expected. This tick-box makes it
possible to invert the polarity of the radar signal.
Show Time Stamp When playing back a recording from file, this tick- User Interface Elements
box makes it possible to show the time-stamp of the
original recording on the screen (in the on-screen
panel “Status”)
Show Rotation Time When playing back a recording from file, this tick- User Interface Elements
box makes it possible to show the original rotation
time of the radar antenna
Show Depth If a NMEA device is connected (via the SeaDarQ User Interface Elements
Acquisition Unit) that reports the depth under the
ship (an echo-sounder, e.g.), this tick-box enables this
information to show in the on-screen “Navigation”
panel (indicated as “DPTH”)
Show Heading If a NMEA device is connected (via the SeaDarQ User Interface Elements
Acquisition Unit) that reports the heading (or
bearing) of the ship (an electronic compass, possibly
GPS-derived.), this tick-box enables this information
to show in the on-screen “Navigation” panel
(indicated as “HDG”)
Show Speed If a NMEA device is connected (via the SeaDarQ User Interface Elements
Acquisition Unit) that reports the speed of the ship
(possibly GPS-derived.), this tick-box enables this
information to show in the on-screen “Navigation”
panel (indicated as “STW”, for speed through water)


North This edit-box can be used to adjust the north- see the separate document
alignment of the system. Enter a value in degrees. “on-site installation and
configuration”
Note: adjust the value here only during configuration;
at the end of configuration, the final value should be
transferred to the driver
During processing, the value here should be 0.
Trigger delay This edit-box can be used to adjust the trigger delay, see the separate document
Enter a value in nanoseconds. “on-site installation and
configuration”
Note: adjust the value here only during configuration;
at the end of configuration, the final value should be
transferred to the driver
During processing, the value here should be 0.
Main Bang Enter a value in nanoseconds.
“Main bang” refers to the high reflection at the start
of a radar line; it is desirable to block off this high
reflection to avoid influencing the automatic range
correction.
A typical value is 300 ns.
Enable interference This option suppresses radar pulses from other radars enabled by default
suppression (i.e., other ships), which could otherwise cause
interference
Enable inertia filter This filter dampens out variations in GPS and gyro (it enabled by default
filters out jumps in GPS and gyro, which could lead
to instabilities in the program)
Rotation Mode This drop-down box has options “AutoDetect”,
“Rotating”, and “Non Rotating”.
Normal installations should use “Rotating”.
(The option “Non Rotating” is only meant for
experiments with special radars that do not rotate.)

15.3.3 Tab “Blocked Areas”
Figure 161: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Blocked Areas"

Allow Edit When ticked, enables editing the properties of up to 6 See separate section
blocked areas (when not ticked, all other items on “Blocked Areas”
this tab will be greyed out).
Type Allows selection of the type of blocked area from a
drop-down list (either none, circle, pie or ring)
Start Range For ring and pie shaped blocked areas, the distance
radially from the radar of the inner radius of the area
(in meters)
End Range For ring and pie shaped blocked areas, the distance
radially from the radar of the outer radius of the area
(in meters)
Start Angle For pie shaped blocked areas, the start edge of the
blocked area (as an angle relative to the ship’s
direction)
End Angle For pie shaped blocked areas, the end edge of the
blocked area (as an angle relative to the ship’s
direction)
Block Type The type of blocking to apply in the selected area (see the separate section
“Blocked areas” for
details)
See the separate section “Blocked areas” for a description of interactive manipulation of blocked areas.

15.3.4 Tab “Coast Line Server”
Figure 162: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Coast Line Server"
element description
Database specify the file-location of the coastline database
(This is normally factory-installed, and should not
need change)

15.3.5 Tab “CoastLine Settings”
Figure 163: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "CoastLine Settings"

Disable Land Mask When ticked, masking of land in the radar image See the sub-section
does not happen. “Coastline database and
Land-mask” in the section
When radar line hits land, When ticked, the portion of a radar line that hits land,
“Background Topics and
mark the rest of the radar is not considered as valid for the oil spill detection
Concepts”
line as land algorithms
Note that this option needs to be switched off (un-
ticked) for land-based installations, e.g., on a
lighthouse, as otherwise every single radar-line will
be marked as invalid in its entirety)

15.3.6 Tab “Shadow Detector”
Figure 164: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Shadow Detector"

Enable Detector Switch on the Shadow detector (See the sub-section
“Shadow Detector” in the
section “Background
Topics and Concepts” for
details)

15.3.7 Tab “Alarms Settings”
Figure 165: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Alarms Settings"

Generate an Alarm if Area lower area threshold setting for oil spill alarm default: 1000 m2
is bigger than
and present for more than lower time threshold setting for oil spill alarm default: 5 minutes
Enable Logging if ticked, detections will be logged in the file
specified in the next text box
file name and location for specify the file name and path to record the alarm log
logging file in. The button “…” will open a standard Windows
file selection dialog
Logging Interval specify the time granularity to use for logging
Log Alarms if ticked, alarms will be included in the log
Log Detection if ticked, detections will be included in the log

15.3.8 Tab “Radar Configuration”

The detailed contents of the tab “Radar Configuration” depend on the selection of the radar type (and on whether
SeaDarQ can establish a connection with the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit).
The SeaDarQ Installation and Maintenance Guide describes the details for the various options of radars
extensively (see especially section II-5, Hardware and software configuration in the rev D version of the
Installation and Maintenance Guide).
The description here will be brief, and will limit itself to the most important elements visible in figure 166. For
all other details, please refer to the Installation and Maintenance Guide.
Note that the tab/window contents shown in figure 166 reflect the situation with no communication with the
SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit. Even with a “generic” radar selected, the window will show more elements when
communication with the Acquisition Unit is established. As these elements, and the different elements in case of
a Sperry BridgeMaster E radar, are describe in detail and in context in the Installation and Maintenance
Guide, these descriptions are not repeated here.
Figure 166: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Radar Configuration"

Connected Red: There is no communication with the
SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit.
Green: Communication with the SeaDarQ
Acquisition Unit is OK
IP Address The IP address of the SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit
Port The port number to use for communication with the
SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit


Discover Clicking this button will initiate a network search for See the Installation and
a SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit, whatever its network Maintenance Guide for
address. (The result of the scan may indicate a need details
to reconfigure the SeaDarQ computer’s network
adapter.)
Netmask When connected (properly communicating) with the
SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit, this box will show the
netmask part of the Acquisition Unit’s network
configuration
Gateway When connected (properly communicating) with the
SeaDarQ Acquisition Unit, this box will show the
gateway part of the Acquisition Unit’s network
configuration
Trigger Red: the Acquisition Unit does not receive trigger
pulses from the radar
Green: the Acquisition Unit receives trigger pulses
from the radar
ACP Red: the Acquisition Unit does not receive trigger
from the radar
ARP Red: the Acquisition Unit does not receive trigger
from the radar
Radar Type Drop-down box that allows selection of the type Note that selection of
(brand) of radar connected to the Acquisition Unit. “Bridge Master E Series”
Although the drop-down list contains several other requires the correct
options, the only valid options at the moment are connections between the
“generic” or “Bridge Master E Series”. radar and the Acquisition
Unit. Refer to the
Installation and
Maintenance Guide for
details

15.3.9 Tab “Detection Settings”
Figure 167: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Detection Settings"

If wind speed falls below lower threshold for wind speed If the wind speed is too
… m/s switch detection low, oil spill detection is
off impeded, and there will be
a high probability of false
alarms. Hence the option
to disable oil spill
detection in low wind
conditions.
If wind speed rises above wind speed threshold to switch detection back on Using a slightly higher
… m/s switch detection on threshold to switch oil
spill detection back on
introduces a small amount
of hysteresis. This will go
some way to prevent
frequent on/off/on
switches at wind speeds
just around the threshold
value.

15.3.10 Tab “NMEA Serial Ports”
Figure 168: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "NMEA Serial Ports"

Port [0|1|2|3] Each of the 4 ports can be enabled individually, and
has its own settings
Baudrate The dropdown list allows selection of the baud rate,
of either 4800, 9600, or 38.4K bps for this port
$xxHDT into $HEHDT Activate the NMEA Talker ID substitution for
heading (gyro) messages on this port
$xxGLL into $GPGLL Activate the NMEA Talker ID substitution for GPS
messages on this port
Block HDT Block NMEA heading (gyro) messages on this port
Block GLL Block NMEA GLL-type GPS messages on this port
Block GGA Block NMEA GGA-type GPS messages on this port
Use fixed position Enable the specification of a fixed location for this
station
Longitude Use these boxes, and the drop-down list, to specify
the longitude of the station. The first box should get
the degrees-part of the longitude; the second box the
minutes and decimal fraction of a minute. The drop-
down box should be used to indicate if the location is
North or South


Latitude Use these boxes, and the drop-down list, to specify
the latitude of the station. The first box should get the
degrees-part of the latitude; the second box the
minutes and decimal fraction of a minute. The drop-
down box should be used to indicate if the location is
East or West
Height Use this box to fill in the height of the radar location
(in meters)

III Dialogs 16 File Settings dialog
16 FILE SETTINGS DIALOG

16.1 Accessing the File Settings dialog window
The File Settings dialog window is accessed by either
 A right-click on the File menu
or
 Selection of the Settings item in the File menu

The File Settings dialog window is used for several configuration options for playback of SeaDarQ recordings,
amongst others the playback speed.
16.3 Details
Figure 169: File Settings dialog window
element description
Replay when recording ends After a recording reaches its end, start again from the start
Play file on open When a recording has been opened for playback, don’t wait until “Play” is
selected, but start playing it immediately
Play back speed The slider can be used to adjust the playback speed of the recording.
Note that playback speed depends on many factors, such as computer processor
speed and disk access speed. There is currently no exact selection for real-time
speed.
% Read The progress bar in the bottom area of the window shows the percentage of the
recording that has been played back so far.

III Dialogs 17 Hydro configuration dialog window
17 HYDRO CONFIGURATION DIALOG WINDOW
17.1 Accessing the Hydro configuration dialog

The Hydro configuration dialog window is accessed by right-clicking the Hydro menu.

The Hydro configuration dialog window allows the specification of a variety of parameters that influence the
calculation- and display aspects of the hydrographic calculations, ranging from grid spacing and timer settings to
fonts and colours for contour-lines.
17.3 Details
The Hydro configuration dialog window contains 5 or 6 tabs that organize the settings into groups that of related
items.
The tab "Font" is only present if Advanced Options are enabled (via menu "Configuration"; see section IV-2).
The following subsections describe each of the tabs in detail.

17.3.1 Tab "Wave Module"
Figure 170: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Wave Module"
element description references / remarks

Grid The distance between the grid-points where the
hydrographic parameters are calculated.
This is a drop-down list with only a limited number
of possible choices:
100m; 200m; 300m; 600m; 800m; 1km
The default is 300m.
Beware that choosing a smaller distance between
grid-points may greatly increase the required
calculation time.
Note that the center of the radar image, i.e., the radar
itself, is also the center point of the grid. Any area
selection may subsequently remove grid-points
(possibly including this center point) for calculation
purposes, but initially / internally the grid is always
generated as a square grid starting from this center
point, and using an equal grid distance in x and y.
Cube size The cube size is the number of pixels in each (see also figure 129 in
direction that is used for each grid point to calculate section II-22.3.3)
the hydrographic parameters.
This is a drop-down list with a limited number of
possible choices:
32; 64; 128; 256; 512.
The default is 128.
This number should be chosen in such a way that the (See section II-22.3.3.)
longest wave expected fits in this area several times.


Note that the size of a pixel follows from the radar
range selected, and the number of sampling points
per radar line. This last number is 512 by default.
The area size = radar range * cube size / 512 (--> =
cube size * (radar range / 512); Note that (radar range
/ 512) == pixel size "in the real world")
This area is the area surrounding a grid-point, used to
calculate the hydrographic parameters for that grid-
point.
Not cubic Toggle that determines whether the calculations use a
cubic grid-volume (with an equal number of grid-
points in x, y, and t) or a non-cubic grid-volume (in
which case the number of points in t, i.e., the number
of radar images used per calculation, is determined
by the drop-down list "Cubic depth")
The default is on, meaning a non-cubic grid-volume
is used for the calculations.
Cubic Depth If a non-cubic grid-volume is chosen for the
calculations, the number chosen here determines the
number of points in t (time-slices of radar data, i.e.,
number of radar images used per calculation).
This is a drop-down list with a limited number of
possible choices:
32; 64; 128; 256
The default is 64
Use fixed depth If the calculations are to be performed for "deep"
water (> 40m), this toggle allows use of a fixed
depth. With this option enabled, the system will not
calculate the water depth, but will use the value
specified in the box "Depth".
Depth If the toggle "Use fixed depth" is set, this box allows
specification of the depth to use for the calculations
Use wave buoy file The tick-box enables selection of a wave buoy file,
containing positions and other properties of virtual
wave buoys, to be used in processing (calculating)
hydrographic parameters
Use exclusion file The tick-box enables selection of an exclusion file;
an exclusion file can be used to mark keep-out areas
where the hydrographic calculations should not be
performed
The tick-box enables selection of a depth map file; See section II-22.3.6
Use depth map
use of a depth map file will let the SeaDarQ software Depth Map for an
skip the depth calculations. explanation of the
circumstances where this
may be of use.
This group of fill-in boxes allows changing of the
Constraints
constraints that are used to limit the possible
calculation results ("parameter space"). The SeaDarQ
software will not give results outside of these limits.
Imposing limits on these values provides "hints" to
the calculations.
Maximal current The maximum expected current (in meters per
second); the default is 2 m/s.
Maximal wavelength The maximum expected wavelength (in meters); the
default is 150 m.
Maximal depth The maximum expected depth (in meters); the default
is 100 m.
Minimal depth The minimum expected depth (in meters); the default


is 5 m.
Wave height settings This group of fill-in boxes allows specification of
calibration parameters to use for wave height
calculations. This calibration needs to happen with a
(real) wave buoy. Without this calibration, wave
height calculations are not possible. Note that wave
height calculations are of limited accuracy anyway.
(See also section II-22.3.9 Wave Height – as
mentioned there, users wishing to explore this
approach should contact Nortek BV for further
discussion of the possibilities, and to learn how to
obtain the calibration factors from the wave data. )
MTFBeta
HmA
HmB
Range Correction
Enabling this option is relevant for fast-turning radars

Enable Decimation
(e.g., with a rotation time of 1.2 s). It does certain
optimizations in the ω-k Fourier space, making better
use of it (by eliminating certain empty regions from
the calculations). For these fast-turning radars, these
optimizations improve the chances of convergence of
the calculations.

17.3.2 Tab "Hydro Timers"
Figure 171: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Timers"
The parameters on this tab determine when the hydrographic parameters are calculated.

Number of Runs The number in this box determines how many times
the calculation of the hydrographic results is done for
the entire field. The default is only a single time.
Specifying -1 will result in the calculations being
done without end (that is, until the menu item Abort
is selected from the Hydro menu)
External Event This tick-box allows selection of an external event to See footnote 6 on page 82.
trigger the start of the calculations. This option is
currently only available at special request.
Recording Time This tick-box is meant for post-processing of
recorded radar data. By enabling this option (putting
in a tick-mark), the times and intervals in the Timer
sections are interpreted with respect to the recording
time instead of the system time at the time of
playback.
Up to four timers can be enabled to specify start times and intervals to start the hydrographic calculations.
Timer [1..4] Placing a mark in the tick-box enables that timer.
Enabling a timer also enables specification of the
Start Time and Interval for that timer.
Start Time Select or enter the time (as
hours:minutes:seconds, and in 24-hour format)
that the first calculation should start.


Interval Select or enter the interval (in hours:minutes) after
the initial start time for this timer that the next
calculation should start. If the calculations take
longer than the interval specified, the next calculation
will start immediately after the previous one finished.
Note that Number of Runs will of course limit the
number of times calculations are done, unless -1 is
filled in there.
17.3.3 Tab "Hydro Settings"
Figure 172: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Settings"
The parameters on this tab determine display of the calculated hydrographic parameters.

Depth This group of settings determines the display of the
calculated depths
Manual Limits Place a tick-mark in this check-box to supply values
for the minimum and maximum depths that will be
displayed.
Min Specify the minimum depth (in meters) that will be
displayed. Depths less than this will not be shown.
The default value is 0 m.
Max Specify the maximum depth (in meters) that will be
displayed. Depths more than this will not be shown,
or, if Clip against Limit is checked, will be shown as
the maximum depth value. The default value is
100 m.


Clip against Limit If this check-box is ticked, depth-values more than
the specified maximum depth to be displayed will be
shown as the maximum depth value (clipped). If this
box is unticked, depth-values more than the specified
maximum depth to be displayed will not be shown.
The default is ticked (clipping enabled).
Current This group of settings determines the display of the
calculated currents
Scale The scale value is used to size the length of the
current-arrows in the display. This only affects the
display-size; the actual value is not affected. The
default value is 300.
Min Specify the minimum current speed (in meters per
second) that will be displayed. Current speeds less
than this will not be shown. The default value is
0 m/s.
Max Specify the maximum current speed (in meters per
second) that will be displayed. Current speeds more
than this will not be shown. The default value is
2 m/s.
Wavelength This group of settings determines the display of the
calculated wavelengths
Scale The scale value is used to size the length of the
arrows representing the wavelength and -direction in
the display. This only affects the display-size; the
actual value is not affected. The default value is 1.
Min Specify the minimum wavelength (in meters) that
will be displayed. Wavelengths less than this will not
be shown. The default value is 0 m.
Max Specify the maximum wavelength (in meters) that
will be displayed. Wavelengths more than this will
not be shown. The default value is 1000 m.

17.3.4 Tab "Depth Contour Settings"
Figure 173: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Depth Contour Settings"
The parameters on this tab determine display, including colours, of the calculated depth contours.
Colours can be selected for both day- and night-display, where normally for night-display more muted colours
are chosen. See section III-2 Layers dialog for more details on day- versus night-display.

Show gradient This check-box determines whether the depth
gradient will be shown in the display (ticked) or not
(unticked).
Minimum color These drop-downs allow selection of the day- and
night-colours to be used for the minimum depth.
Maximum color These drop-downs allow selection of the day- and
night-colours to be used for the maximum depth.
Limit Edge The value selected here determines how far the
contouring algorithm looks to reduce the "angularity"
(jaggedness) of the contour lines.
Possible selections are 100 m, 200 m, 300 m, 600 m,
800 m, 1 km, Infinite. The default value is 300 m.
Show Iso Contour This check-box determines whether the depth
contours will be shown in the display (ticked) or not
(unticked).
Text Spacing The value in this box controls the spacing between
the texts identifying the depth contours.
Number of Lines This value determines the number of depth contour
lines, evenly spaced between the minimum and the
maximum depth. The minimum and maximum depth
are either the minimum and maximum depths as
calculated, or, if so enabled, as specified in the Depth
group on the Hydro Settings tab.


Color These drop-downs allow selection of the day- and
night-colours to be used to draw the depth contours.
17.3.5 Tab "Wave Report"
Figure 174: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Wave Report"
The parameters on this tab determine the writing to file of the hydrographic calculation results.

Generate report This check-box determines whether the calculation
results are written to file (ticked) or not (unticked)
Create a file name If this box is ticked, the name of the file for the
automatically calculation results will be generated automatically,
and be of the form "yyyy-mm-dd hh.mm.ssUTC.log"
(reflecting the date and time the file is created). If this
box is not ticked, the filename (and location)
specified in the next box, "File name", will be used,
and overwritten if it exists.
File name If "Create a file name automatically" is not ticked,
you can specify a name for the file with the
calculation results in this box. You can click the
button with the three dots at the end of this box to
navigate to a directory and file to use. If you select an
existing file, it will be overwritten.
Use creation time for If this box is ticked, the date and time used to
filename generate a filename automatically will be the system
date and time of creation of the file. This is the


default. When performing the calculations in post-
processing, based on a previously created recording
of the radar data, it may be desirable to use the date
and time of the calculation based on the recording
time. Un-tick this box to enable this recording-time
base filename generation. (If you un-tick this box
with live radar data, the filename will be based on the
timestamp that is embedded in the radar data stream,
which will be the system time.)
Location Use this box to specify or select (via the button "...")
a disk and directory to store the calculation results. If
no location is specified, the default file location will
be used (see section III-15 Configuration Settings
dialog).
Data Format Use this drop-down box to select how the calculation
results are stored in the wave report file. The options
are:
Degree, current coming from (default)
coordinates in degrees latitude and
longitude
UTM, current coming from
coordinates in UTM format: UTM Zone,
Easting, Northing The last entry (… from
Degree, current going to CurrentLayer) is
UTM, current going to superfluous and should be
Degree, current coming from, CurrentLayer disregarded.
17.3.6 Tab "Font"

(Advanced Options enabled; see section IV-2 Configuration menu.)

Figure 175: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Font"
The settings on this tab determine the font used for the contour line values and for the depth values.
This dialog box is identical to the one in section III-12 (Font Selection dialog).

III Dialogs 18 Hydro Info configuration dialog window
18 HYDRO INFO CONFIGURATION DIALOG WINDOW

18.1 Accessing the Hydro Info configuration dialog
The Hydro Info configuration dialog window is accessed by right-clicking the Hydro Info menu.

The Hydro Info configuration dialog window allows the specification of a variety of parameters that influence
the display aspects of the results of the hydrographic calculations. The tabs in this configuration dialog window
are also accessible as part of the Hydro configuration dialog window.
18.3 Details
The Hydro Info configuration dialog window contains 2 or 3 tabs that organize the settings into groups that of
related items.
The tab "Font" is only present if Advanced Options are enabled (via menu "Configuration"; see section IV-2).
Each of the tabs is also present in the Hydro configuration dialog; see there for their descriptions.
18.3.1 Tab "Hydro Settings"
Figure 176: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Settings"
Same as "Hydro" tab 03; see III-17.3.3

18.3.2 Tab "Depth Contour Settings"
Figure 177: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Depth Contour Settings"
Same as "Hydro" tab 04; see III-17.3.4.

18.3.3 Tab "Font"

(Only with Advanced Options enabled; see section IV-2 Configuration menu.)
Figure 178: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Font"
Same as "Hydro" tab 06; see III-17.3.6.

III Dialogs 19 Wave Buoy Settings dialog
19 WAVE BUOY SETTINGS DIALOG

(This dialog is not accessed by right-clicking a main menu-bar menu.)
Figure 179: Wave Buoy Settings dialog window

19.1 Accessing the Wave Buoy Settings dialog
This version of the Wave buoy Settings dialog window is accessed from the menu item "Buoy Settings ..." from
the menu "Hydro". The settings in this dialog window set the defaults, to be used for all wave buoys created
from now on. If "Apply to all buoys" is ticked, the settings in this dialog are also applied to all virtual wave
buoys that had been added already.
The settings in this dialog window determine how the location of the virtual wave buoy is interpreted, and
whether the hydrographic calculation results for the wave buoys are included in the wave report file or not.
19.3 Details

Apply to all buoys Apply the settings to all buoys currently defined
Relative to location Define the wave buoy's location as relative to the
radar location. (Note that virtual wave buoys that
have a relative location with respect to the radar,
keep this relative location. In particular, if the radar is
on-board a ship, the wave buoy will move along with
the ship. Wave buoys with a relative location are
shown as a green dot when not selected; wave buoys
with an absolute location are shown as a yellow dot
when not selected. A wave buoy that is selected or
hovered over with the mouse is shown as a red dot.)
Exclude from wave Do not put the hydrographic calculation results for
rapport the wave buoy into the wave report. (You might want
this when using the wave spectra module, where you
might not be interested in the waves and currents at
the wave buoy location, but only in the wave spectra
for that point.)
Locked Lock the position of the wave buoy, i.e., prevent
changes to the location of the buoy by the user
(especially to prevent accidental dragging). Not that
for buoy locations relative to the ship, even a locked
buoy will still move with the ship.

III Dialogs 20 Individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog
20 INDIVIDUAL WAVE BUOY SETTINGS DIALOG

Figure 180: Individual (right-click) Wave Buoy Settings dialog window
20.1 Accessing the individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog

This version of the Wave buoy Settings dialog window (a.k.a. the Wave Point settings dialog window) is
accessed by right-clicking on a virtual wave buoy, and from the pop-up menu selecting the item "Settings ...".
The settings in this dialog apply only to the virtual wave buoy that was right-clicked on.

The settings in this dialog window determine how the location of this virtual wave buoy is interpreted, and
whether the hydrographic calculation results for this wave buoy are included in the wave report file or not. It can
also be used to assign an identifying string to this buoy.
20.3 Details

Buoy ID Assign an identifying string (name and/or number) to
this buoy
Relative to location see description under
Exclude from wave "Wave Buoy Settings
rapport (from menu) III-19
Locked

III Dialogs 21 Depth Map cell assignation dialog
21 DEPTH MAP CELL ASSIGNATION DIALOG

Figure 181: Depth Map cell depth assignation dialog window
See section II-22.3.6.
21.1 Accessing the Depth Map cell assignation dialog

This dialog box is only accessible when the mode "Create depth Map" is enabled (via the menu "Hydro"; see
section IV-14). When this mode is enabled, double-clicking on an area in the radar image opens this dialog
window.

This dialog box is used to assign a depth value for the depth map cell that was double-clicked (see section II-
22.3.6 for details).
21.3 Details

Depth Assign a depth (in meters) to this depth map cell

IV Menus 1 Overview
IV Menus
1 OVERVIEW
Figure 182 shows the menu-bar of the main screen of SeaDarQ. Please be aware that the exact order of the
menus is not fixed, and may differ depending on the currently active module(s) and the recent history of module
use. Which menus are visible depends on the processing mode SeaDarQ is in.
Figure 182: The SeaDarQ main menu
Table 13 lists the menus, and gives a very brief description of the general purpose of the menu-items contained
in each menu.
Most menus in the menu bar allow accelerated access to a configuration dialog window specific to the general
purpose of that menu, by right-clicking the menu name. Table 13 also lists which dialog window opens when
you right-click that menu.
Table 13: List of menus in the SeaDarQ software

Menu name section general purpose when visible right-click
Configuration IV-2 selection of operating / processing mode always —
(module),
saving and loading of configuration file,
enabling/disabling of advanced options,
and access to configuration dialog
View IV-3 enabling / disabling of specific extra always —
windows (Line and Histogram window)
visibility of Status and Toolbars,
and various aspects of the main display
Screen IV-4 several other aspects of the main display always Layers
Diagnostics IV-5 access to the Diagnostics window from radar Diagnostics
window
Recording IV-6 recording of raw radar data always Recording
Image IV-7 overlay of an image from file always Image
Alignment
Snap Shot IV-10 taking snapshots of the screen always Snapshot
Settings
Geo Snap IV-12 taking GeoTIFF encoded snapshots of Oil Spill Detection (GeoTIFF)
Shot the screen (from radar / from file) Snapshot
Settings
AIS IV-9 display aspects of the incoming always Font Settings
Automatic Identification System
information
Polygon IV-8 creation, manipulation, saving and always Polygon
loading of polygons Settings
Hydro IV-14 processing area selection; start/stop of (depends on license) Hydro
hydro processing Configuration
Hydro Info IV-15 supplementary Hydro options (depends on license) Hydro Info
Configuration
OSD View IV-11 some aspects of the oil spill tracking Oil Spill Detection Alarm
subsystem (from radar / from file) Settings
File IV-13 playback of recorded radar data Oil Spill Detection File Settings
from file
Depth Map IV-16 (right-click radar image) (right-click radar — (N/A) —
save the depth map image, Depth Map
Mode enabled)
Individual IV-17 (right-click individual wave buoy) right-click previously — (N/A) —
Wave Buoy wave buoy settings added wave buoy

IV Menus 2 Configuration menu
2 CONFIGURATION MENU
2.1 General purpose
selection of operating / processing mode (module), saving and loading of configuration file, enabling/disabling
of advanced options, and access to the general SeaDarQ software configuration settings dialog
2.2 Menu items
Figure 183 shows the menu items in the Configuration Menu.
Each item is described in more detail below.
Oil Spill Detection from File

Change to processing mode “Oil Spill Detection”, and
change the radar input to come from a file.
Selection of this mode will enable the menus that are
specific to Oil Spill Detection mode, i.e., “Oil Spill
Tracker”, and “Geo Snap Shot”, and will enable the “File”
menu. In the mode “Oil Spill Detection from File”, the
menu “Radar” is not available.
For details on the different processing modes or modules
of SeaDarQ, see the section “Modes of Operation”.
For details on radar input from file versus live radar input,
see the section “Modes of Operation”.
The six menu-items “Oil Spill Detection from File”, “Sea
State from File”, “Enhanced CFAR from File”, “Oil Spill
Detection from Radar”, “Sea State from Radar”, and
“Enhanced CFAR from Radar”, are mutually exclusive, and
determine the processing mode that SeaDarQ is in. The
current processing mode is indicated by a tick-mark in
front of the menu-item; as an example, in figure 183, the
active processing mode is “Oil Spill Detection from
Radar”. Figure 183: Configuration menu
Oil Spill Detection from Radar
Change to processing mode “Oil Spill Detection”, and change the input to come from the live radar data
input.
Selection of this mode will enable the menus that are specific to Oil Spill Detection mode, i.e., “Oil Spill
Tracker”, and “Geo Snap Shot”, and will enable the “Radar” menu. In the mode “Oil Spill Detection from
Radar”, the menus “File”, “Wave”, and “Wave Info” are not available.
For details on the different processing modes or modules of SeaDarQ, see the section “Modes of Operation”.
For details on radar input from file versus live radar input, see the section “Modes of Operation”.
The six menu-items “Oil Spill Detection from File”, “Sea State from File”, “Enhanced CFAR from File”, “Oil
Spill Detection from Radar”, “Sea State from Radar”, and “Enhanced CFAR from Radar”, are mutually
exclusive, and determine the processing mode that SeaDarQ is in. The current processing mode is indicated
by a tick-mark in front of the menu-item; as an example, in figure 183, the active processing mode is “Oil
Spill Detection from Radar”.
Save Configuration
Save the current configuration settings.
Using this menu item, these settings are saved to the registry
For the difference between saving the configuration and exporting the configuration to XML, refer to the
section “SeaDarQ software configuration settings”
Export XML Configuration
Save the current configuration settings to an XML file. Selecting this menu item will open a standard
Windows “Save File as …” dialog window, allowing you to specify a new filename and –location to use for
the XML configuration file, or to select an existing XML configuration file to overwrite.
Import XML Configuration

IV Menus 2 Configuration menu
Load an XML file with configuration settings you wish to use. Selecting this menu item will open a standard
Windows “Open File …” dialog window, allowing you to select an existing XML configuration file.
Set Configuration as Default
Take the current configuration settings and use these as the defaults that SeaDarQ uses when it starts up
(including in particular the processing mode).
Note that changes to a combination of configuration settings that is not explicitly saved or marked to use as
default will not survive a restart of SeaDarQ, nor even a change of processing mode.
Restore Factory Defaults
Discard all changes to configuration settings, and reload a standard default set of settings that is predefined as
“Factory Defaults”.
Note that even a change of configuration settings to the Factory Defaults that is not explicitly saved or
marked to use as default will not survive a restart of SeaDarQ, nor even a change of processing mode.
Setup…
Selection of this menu-item will open the general, multi-tabbed SeaDarQ Configuration Settings dialog
window. For the variety of configuration settings that can be set in this dialog window (and its different tabs),
see the section “Configuration Settings dialog” (and “SeaDarQ software configuration settings”).
Note that certain special configuration settings will only be accessible if “Advanced Options” is enabled.
Statistic…
This menu item opens the (Pin) Statistics Window. The Statistics window gives a limited view of the internal
state of activity inside SeaDarQ. This is sometimes useful in troubleshooting.
Enable Advanced Options
Selection of this menu-item toggles the possibility of changing Advanced Options in various configuration
parts of the SeaDarQ software. If there is a tick-mark in front of this menu-item (as in figure 183), access to
“Advanced Options” is switched on; absence of a tick-mark indicates that “Advanced Options” are currently
not accessible.
Exit
Close down the SeaDarQ program.
Please be aware that closing down the SeaDarQ program does not lead to a question about saving of
configuration settings; changes to configuration settings and even selection of a different processing mode
are discarded when exiting the program. If you wish to save configuration settings, you have to do so
explicitly through use of the menu-items “Save Configuration” or “Export XML Configuration”. If you wish
SeaDarQ to start in the current processing mode after a restart, you have to select the current processing
mode as default through the menu-item “Set Configuration as Default”.
2.3 Right-click dialog window
A right-click on the Configuration Menu does not lead to any dialog window.

IV Menus 3 View menu
3 VIEW MENU
3.1 General purpose
enabling / disabling of specific extra windows (Line and Histogram window)
visibility of Status and Toolbars,
and various aspects of the main display
3.2 Menu items
Figure 184 shows the menu items in the View Menu.
Each item is described in more detail below.
Line Window
Toggles the presence of the “Line” window, which shows the radar
intensity of a number of radar lines as a function of distance from the
radar antenna. If the Line Window is visible, the icon in front of this
menu-item acquires a thin outline, somewhat suggesting the
appearance of “pressed” button.
If “Advanced Options” are enabled, this window also gives access to
a menu (attached to the Line Window) that allows advanced control
over various aspects of the Range Correction that is used.
For details on the Line Window, see the section “Line Window”.
For details on the Range Correction, see both the sections “Line
Window” and “Range Correction”.
Histogram Window
Toggles the presence of the “Histogram” window, which shows a
histogram of the intensities in the entire radar image. If the
Histogram Window is visible, the icon in front of this menu-item
acquires a thin outline, somewhat suggesting the appearance of
“pressed” button.
If “Advanced Options” are enabled, this window also gives access to
options to manipulate the colour curve (colour mapping) for the
radar image and the colour curve for the enhanced image.
For details on the Histogram window and on manipulation of colour
curves, see the sections “Histogram window”.
Full screen Figure 184: View menu
Toggles exclusive take-over of the entire Windows screen real-
estate.
If “Full screen” is enabled (indicated by means of a tick-mark in front of this menu-item), the SeaDarQ
window takes up the entire screen, and stays on top of all other windows, rendering other windows
inaccessible.
Status Bar
Toggles the presence of the status bar at the bottom of the SeaDarQ window. If the Status Bar is present, a
tick-mark is present in front of this menu-item.
For information about the details that are shown in the Status Bar, see the section “Status Bar” in the chapter
“User Interface Elements”.
Toolbars
Toggles the presence / accessibility of toolbars in various SeaDarQ windows. If toolbars are accessible, a
tick-mark is present in front of this menu-item.
Toolbars can be present in the main SeaDarQ window, and in the Line and Histogram windows, provided
Advanced Options are enabled. The “Toolbars” menu-item-toggle influences the toolbars in all of these
windows.
Km
This menu-item selects kilometres as the unit of distance in the SeaDarQ interface.
It is mutually exclusive with the “Nm” menu-item, which selects nautical miles as the unit of distance; a tick-
mark in front of one of these menu-items indicates which one is selected.

IV Menus 3 View menu
Nm
This menu-item selects nautical miles as the unit of distance in the SeaDarQ interface.
It is mutually exclusive with the “Km” menu-item, which selects kilometres as the unit of distance; a tick-
mark in front of one of these menu-items indicates which one is selected.
Day
Selects the “Day” colour- and intensity scheme for display.
This menu-item is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “Night”. Which of the two is active, is indicated
by a tick-mark in front of the active one.
Refer to the description of the “Layers” dialog window for an overview of the colours that are used for the
different layers for “Day” and “Night” display. If required, these colours can be changed in the “Layers”
dialog window.
Night
Selects the “Night” colour- and intensity scheme for display.
This menu-item is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “Day”. Which of the two is active, is indicated by
a tick-mark in front of the active one.
Refer to the description of the “Layers” dialog window for an overview of the colours that are used for the
different layers for “Day” and “Night” display. If required, these colours can be changed in the “Layers”
dialog window.
Degrees
Selects degrees and (decimal) minutes as the units for geographical location.
This menu-item is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “UTM”. Which of the two is active, is indicated by
a tick-mark in front of the active one.
UTM
Selects “meters UTM” as the units for geographical location.
This menu-item is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “Degrees”. Which of the two is active, is indicated
by a tick-mark in front of the active one.
Local Time
Selects the local time as the time to display.
This menu-time is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “UTC”. A tick-mark before the menu-item
indicates the active one.
UTC
Selects UTC (Universal Coordinated Time) as the time to display.
This menu-time is mutually exclusive with the menu-item “Local Time”. A tick-mark before the menu-item
indicates the active one.

A right-click on the Configuration Menu does not lead to any dialog window.

IV Menus 4 Screen menu
4 SCREEN MENU
4.1 General purpose
several other aspects of the main display
4.2 Menu items
Figure 185 shows the menu items in the Screen Menu. Each item is described in more
detail below.
North Up
Toggles how the radar image is displayed, in terms of what the top of the screen
represents: North, or the direction (heading) of the ship.
If the top of the image represents North, (i.e., if “North Up” is selected) the icon in
front of this menu-item acquires a thin outline, somewhat suggesting the Figure 185: Screen
appearance of “pressed” button. If the top of the image represents the ship’s menu
heading (“North Up” is de-selected), the icon is displayed without the “pressed”
outline.
Irrespective of the selection of this menu-item, the ship’s heading is indicated on the radar image by a blue
line from the centre of the radar image to its edge. Obviously, when the top of the image represents the
heading of the ship, this blue line points straight up. The compass ring around the edge of the image adjusts
in correspondence with the setting of this menu item and the ship’s heading.
Fit
Reverts back to a window-filling zoomed-out display of the radar image.
For the various ways of zooming in to and out of the radar image, see the section “Radar Image” in the
chapter “User Interface Elements”
Layers…
Opens the “Layers” dialog window, allowing a range of customizations of the various layers in the radar
image. These range from visibility of individual layers to day- and night-time colours, and even the degree of
transparency.
For details on the Layers dialog window, see the section “Layers dialog”.
Opens the “Layers” dialog window, allowing a range of customizations of the various layers in the radar image.
These range from visibility of individual layers to day- and night-time colours, and even the degree of
transparency.
For details on the Layers dialog window, see the section “Layers dialog”.

IV Menus 5 Diagnostics menu
5 DIAGNOSTICS MENU
5.1 General purpose
The sole purpose of the Diagnostics menu is to open the Diagnostics window (see section III-9).
5.2 Menu items

Figure 186 shows the menu items in the menu Diagnostics. It contains only
a single item.
Show Diagnostics
Figure 186: Diagnostics menu
Open the Diagnostics window.

A right-click on the Diagnostics menu is another way to open the Diagnostics window.

IV Menus 6 Recording menu
6 RECORDING MENU
6.1 General purpose
recording of raw radar data
For details, see the description of the Recording dialog window elsewhere in this guide.
6.2 Menu items
Figure 187 shows the menu items in the Recording Menu. Each item is described in
more detail below.
Start
Starts the recording of raw radar data to a SeaDarQ DRQ file.
Configuration settings for the file should have been made prior to starting the Figure 187: Recording
recording; these are made in the “Recording” dialog window, which can be menu
accessed by right-clicking the “Recording” menu.
The “Start” and “Stop” menu-items are, of course, mutually exclusive, and indicate which of the two states
the recording subsystem is in. The current state is indicated both by a tick-mark (with a thin outline,
suggesting a “pressed” button) and by being greyed-out and not selectable (as it makes no sense to re-select
the state that this subsystem is already in). The menu-item corresponding to the alternate, not-selected state,
does not have a tick-mark, is not greyed out, and is selectable.
Stop
Stops the recording of raw radar data to a SeaDarQ DRQ file.
Configuration settings for the file should have been made prior to starting the recording; these are made in
the “Recording” dialog window, which can be accessed by right-clicking the “Recording” menu.
The “Start” and “Stop” menu-items are, of course, mutually exclusive, and indicate which of the two states
the recording subsystem is in. The current state is indicated both by a tick-mark (with a thin outline,
suggesting a “pressed” button) and by being greyed-out and not selectable (as it makes no sense to re-select
the state that this subsystem is already in). The menu-item corresponding to the alternate, not-selected state,
does not have a tick-mark, is not greyed out, and is selectable.
Opens the “Recording” dialog window, which gives access to a number of configurable / adjustable settings that
are relevant for recordings, amongst others the filename to use, where to store the file, and the maximum size of
the recording file.
For details on the Recording dialog window, see the section “Recording dialog”.
Also, heed the warnings about file size limits and the risk of completely filling a disk in the computer.

IV Menus 7 Image menu
7 IMAGE MENU
7.1 General purpose
overlay of an image from file
See also:
 the description of the Image Alignment dialog window
7.2 Menu items
Figure 188 shows the menu items in the Image Menu. Each item is described in
more detail below.
Load from File…
Load a GeoTIFF encoded image from file.
Selecting this menu item will open a standard Windows “Open File …”
dialog window, allowing you to select the file that contains the image you
wish to load. Figure 188: Image menu
The image will be loaded into the Image layer.
Remove
Delete any and all images in the Image layer.
Alignment…
Image Alignment dialog window
Image Alignment dialog window

IV Menus 8 Polygon menu
8 POLYGON MENU
8.1 General purpose
creation, manipulation, saving and loading of polygons
See also:
 sub-section “Using Polygons” in the section “Background Topics and Concepts” elsewhere in this
Reference Guide
 the description of the Polygon Settings dialog window elsewhere in this guide.
8.2 Menu items

Figure 189 shows the menu items in the Polygon Menu. Each item is
described in more detail below.
Add Polygon
Create a new, three-sided, polygon, with its lower edge centered on the
origin (i.e., the radar location)
Add Line
Create a new line, centered on the origin (i.e., the radar location)
Remove All
Delete all polygons and/or lines in the image
Load from File…
Reload previously saved polygons and lines. A standard Windows file- Figure 189: Polygon menu
selection dialog window will open to allow specification (selection) of the
desired file.
(See also the notes in the sub-section “Using Polygons” in the section “Background Topics and Concepts”
elsewhere in this Reference Guide regarding layer thickness, location, and removal of currently defined
polygons and lines.)
Save to File…
Save all polygons and lines currently defined to a file. A standard Windows file-selection dialog window will
open to allow specification (selection) of the file and file-location to use.
(See also the notes in the sub-section “Using Polygons” in the section “Background Topics and Concepts”
elsewhere in this Reference Guide regarding layer thickness.)
Polygon settings dialog window

IV Menus 9 AIS menu
9 AIS MENU
9.1 General purpose
display aspects of the incoming Automatic Identification System information
The AIS module will display AIS information from ships in the neighbourhood, when an AIS receiver is
connected to the system. The AIS information is also stored in recordings and thus can be reviewed when a
recording is played back.
If the AIS layer is visible, each ship that transmits AIS information is indicated by a blue dot on the screen.
Whether additional information is shown for ships, depends on the selections activated in the AIS menu.
What information is available on a ship depends on the information that ship transmits.
If the mouse is hovered over the dot indicating a ship with AIS information, the AIS label of that ship is shown
in red, and, if tracks are shown, the ships track is indicated in red dots.
If “Show Labels” is enabled, the labels for all ships transmitting AIS information are shown continuously in blue
(or the colour selected for the AIS layer).
If “Show Tracks” is enabled (on), the ships tracks (so determined from the AIS information they transmit) are
indicated in smaller dots.
You can find examples in the sub-section “AIS” in the section “Background Topics and Concepts”.
9.2 Menu items
Figure 190 shows the menu items in the AIS Menu. Each item is described
in more detail below.
Show Labels
Toggles the display of AIS ship identification strings.
If “Show Labels” is active (indicated by a tick-mark in front of this
menu-item), each ship in the image that transmits AIS information is
labelled with a subset of this information, typically the MMSI Figure 190: AIS menu
number.
If “Show Labels” is inactive (indicated by lack of a tick-mark in front of this menu-item), a subset of the AIS
information that a ship in the image transmits is only shown as an attached label if the mouse is hovered over
the (blue) dot indicating the ship.
Show Additional Info
Toggles the display in the AIS label of extra information that is available from the AIS strings – typically, the
ship’s name and its destination. Note that this information is not broadcast as often as the MMSI number, and
depends on some of this information being filled in at the transmitting ship.
Show Tracks
Toggles the display of ship tracks that can be deduce from the AIS information sent out by ships.
If “Show Tracks” is active (indicated by a tick-mark in front of this menu-item), ship tracks are shown.
If “Show Tracks” is inactive (indicated by lack of a tick-mark in front of this menu-item), ship tracks are not
shown.
Font selection dialog window.
This allows control of the font and font appearance used for the labels displaying the AIS information.

IV Menus 10 Snap Shot menu
10 SNAP SHOT MENU

10.1 General purpose
taking snapshots of the screen
See also:
 the Snapshot Settings dialog window
 the Geo Snap Shot menu, for creating GeoTIFF encoded snapshots of the screen.
 the section “Difference between snapshot and geo-snapshot”
10.2 Menu items
Figure 191 shows the menu items in the Snap Shot Menu. Each item is
Take Snap Shot
Take a single snapshot of the screen (using the current active settings for
snapshots, as can be set via the Snapshot Settings dialog window, insofar
as these are relevant for a single snapshot)
A single snapshot of the screen can also be taken by means of the Snapshot
button on the toolbar; see the section “Button Bar / Toolbar” in the chapter
“User Interface Elements” for the appearance and location of this button. Figure 191: Snapshot menu
Start Automatic
Start automatically taking regular snapshots of the screen, using the current settings for snapshots, as can be
set via the Snapshot Settings dialog window. The current settings include the time between snapshots. Taking
snapshots will continue until the “Stop Automatic” menu-item is selected.
Once automatic taking of snapshots is started:
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will get a tick-mark in front of it, to indicate that it is active;
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will also grey-out and become un-selectable;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will no longer have a tick-mark in front of it;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will no longer be greyed-out, and it becomes selectable
Stop Automatic
Stop automatically taking regular snapshots of the screen.
Once automatic taking of regular snapshots is stopped:
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will no longer have a tick-mark in front of it;
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will not be greyed-out, and it becomes selectable
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will get a tick-mark in front of it, to indicate that it is the current
state;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will also be greyed-out and un-selectable;

Snap Shot Settings dialog window
Note that once automatic snapshot taking has started, changes in the Snapshot Settings dialog (which is still
accessible) do not take effect until after the session of snapshots “in progress” is finished or stopped.

IV Menus 11 Oil Spill Detection (OSD) View menu
11 OIL SPILL DETECTION (OSD) VIEW MENU

some aspects of the oil spill tracking subsystem
See also:
 the description of the Alarm Settings dialog window elsewhere in this guide.
11.2 Menu items
Figure 192 shows the menu items in the Oil Spill Tracker Menu. Each
item is described in more detail below.
Show Track Gate
Toggles on-screen display of the area in which the algorithms will
track each potential oil spill
Show Track History Figure 192: Oil Spill Tracker menu
Toggles the availability of a short animation of the history of
(potential) oil spill outlines. The animation only covers one oil spill outline at a time. After enabling “Show
Track History”, the animation for a particular oil spill can be started in one of three ways:
- You can select the corresponding ID in the on-screen list “Oil Spills Detected” (see also section II-6.11).
- You can right-click on the spill outline. In this case, the animation keeps playing as long as the pop-up
menu is open.
- You can press and hold the middle mouse button or scroll wheel on a spill outline
Note that this feature is not fully stable; sometimes hovering the mouse over a spill outline will start (and
repeat) a partial replay of the outline’s history.
Alarms settings dialog window

IV Menus 12 Geo Snap Shot menu
12 GEO SNAP SHOT MENU

taking GeoTIFF encoded snapshots of the screen
See also:
 the GeoTIFF Snap Shot Settings dialog window
 the Snap Shot menu, for creating “regular” snapshots of the screen.
 the section “Difference between snapshot and geo-snapshot”
12.2 Menu items
Figure 193 shows the menu items in the Geo Snap Shot Menu. Each item is
Take snap shot
Take a single GeoT IFF encoded snapshot of the screen (using the current
active settings for GeoTIFF snapshots, as can be set via the GeoTIFF Snapshot
Settings dialog window, insofar as these are relevant for a single snapshot)
Start automatic
Figure 193: Geo Snapshot
Start automatically taking GeoTIFF encoded snapshots of the screen, using menu
the current settings for GeoTIFF snapshots, as can be set via the GeoT IFF
Snapshot Settings dialog window. The current settings include the time between snapshots. Taking snapshots
will continue until the “Stop Automatic” menu-item is selected.
Once automatic taking of GeoTIFF encoded snapshots is started:
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will get a tick-mark in front of it, to indicate that it is active;
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will also grey-out and become un-selectable;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will no longer have a tick-mark in front of it;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will no longer be greyed-out, and it becomes selectable
Stop automatic
Stop automatically taking GeoTIFF encoded snapshots of the screen.
Once automatic taking of GeoTIFF encoded snapshots is stopped:
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will no longer have a tick-mark in front of it;
 the “Start Automatic” menu-item will not be greyed-out, and it becomes selectable
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will get a tick-mark in front of it, to indicate that it is the current
state;
 the “Stop Automatic” menu-item will also be greyed-out and un-selectable;

GeoTIFF snapshot settings dialog window
Note that once automatic snapshot taking has started, changes in the Snapshot Settings dialog (which is still
accessible) do not take effect until after the session of snapshots “in progress” is finished or stopped.

IV Menus 13 File menu
13 FILE MENU
playback of recorded radar data
See also:
 The File Settings dialog window
 The Recording menu (to create a SeaDarQ recording)
 The Recording dialog window (for various configuration options for recordings)
Note: this menu is only available if one of the “from file” modes is selected from the Configuration menu (in the
context of this manual: Oil Spill Detection from File)
13.2 Menu items
Figure 194 shows the menu items in the File Menu. Each item is briefly described
below.
Settings…
Opens the File Settings dialog window
Open
Open a SeaDarQ recording for playback.
Selecting this menu item will open a standard Windows “Open File …” dialog
window, allowing you to select a file with a previously made SeaDarQ Figure 194: File menu
recording. If an XML configuration file exists in the same directory as the
recording, and with the same name as the recording, this configuration file will be loaded automatically. This
way, various configuration settings, in particular any blocked areas, will be re-established for playback of the
recording.
SeaDarQ recordings by default have an extension “.drq”
Note that when “Play file on open” is selected in the File Settings dialog window, the recording starts playing
immediately.
Play
Start playing the recording that was selected via the “Open” menu item.
Notes:
 When “Play file on open” is selected in the File Settings dialog window, the recording starts playing
immediately
 When “Replay when recording ends” is selected in the File Settings dialog window, the recording
will start playing again from the start after it reaches its end
Stop
Stop playing the recording.
File settings dialog window

IV Menus 14 Hydro menu
14 HYDRO MENU
The items in this menu control the processing of hydrographic parameters, i.e., currents and waves.
14.2 Menu items

Figure 195 shows the menu items in the "Hydro" menu. Each item is described in more detail below.
Start
Starts the processing to calculate the wave and current parameters.
Note that the first stage consists of pre-processing. This is indicated in
the status bar at the bottom of the screen, but does not yet show anything
on the main SeaDarQ radar image.
Prior to starting the processing, two actions should have been taken first:
Configuration settings should have been made prior to starting the
calculations; these are made in the "Hydro" configuration dialog window,
which can be accessed by right-clicking the "Hydro" menu.
Separate from the calculation parameter settings, an area should have
been selected in which to do the calculations. Selecting an area can be
done by selecting one of the options in this "Hydro" menu, i.e. "No
Area", "Full Area", "Circle Area", "Pie Area", or "Rectangle Area"
For further details, see the descriptions of the dialog window (III-17
Hydro configuration dialog window, the individual menu items, and
especially the general description of the Hydrographic module in chapter
II-22 Hydrography.
The "Start" and "Abort" menu-items are mutually exclusive. The current
state is indicated both by a tick-mark (with a thin outline, suggesting a
"pressed" button) and by being greyed-out and not selectable (as it makes
no sense to re-select the state that the subsystem is already in). The
menu-item corresponding to the alternate, not-selected state, does not have Figure 195: Hydro menu
a tick-mark, is not greyed out, and is selectable.
Abort
Terminates the hydrographic pre-processing. Any calculations that are in progress will continue until
finished.
The "Start" and "Abort" menu-items are mutually exclusive. The current state is indicated both by a tick-
mark (with a thin outline, suggesting a "pressed" button) and by being greyed-out and not selectable (as it
makes no sense to re-select the state that the subsystem is already in). The menu-item corresponding to the
alternate, not-selected state, does not have a tick-mark, is not greyed out, and is selectable.
No Area
De-select any previously selected area. With no area selected, starting hydrographic processing will still enter
the pre-processing stage, but after this, it will not show any hydrography results on-screen, with the exception
of virtual wave buoys.
Of the five options "No Area", "Full Area", "Circle Area", "Pie Area", and "Rectangle Area", only a single
one can be active. If a particular option has been selected, a tick-mark will be placed in front of it in the
menu. Selecting the same option again will not result in any change (in this case, the tick-mark does not
function as a toggle).
Note that changes to the area-selection after processing has started have no effect until processing is stopped
(either forcibly via "Abort", or by finishing the processing cycles that were configured via "Hydro Timers" –
see II-22.2.4, II-22.3.7 and III-17.3.2). Note the implication in case of "endless" processing.
Within the selected area, a rectangular grid of points will be constructed, according to the parameters set on
the tab "Wave Module" in the "Hydro "configuration dialog window (III-17.3.1).
Note that areas are relative to the bearing line, i.e., the heading. If the heading changes, the area will rotate
with the bearing line.
Full Area
Select the entire radar image (up to the range indicated on-screen) as the area for which to calculate the
hydrography results.

Circle Area
Select a circular area as the area for which to calculate the hydrography results.
After selecting this option, an outline of the area currently selected will show as an overlay on the SeaDarQ
radar image. Two small yellow dots are part of the outline, and function as control points for the area shape.
(If no area shape was selected previously in this session, either the full area of the radar will be selected, or
two overlapping control points will show. If some area has been selected earlier, the control points of the
previous area selection will be used as the starting points for the current selection -- even if the previous area
selection was a different shape.)
For a circle area, dragging this control point determines the radius of the circle area. A second control point
determines an inner radius; in effect, this allows selection of a circular band or annulus. If the control point
for the inner circle is dragged to the center of the radar image, the complete circle (up to the outer radius) is
selected.
Pie Area
Select a pie-shaped area, determined by an outer radius, an inner radius, a starting angle, and an ending angle,
as the area for which to calculate the hydrography results.
For a pie area, one control point determines outer radius and starting angle, and the other one inner radius and
ending angle.
Rectangle Area
Select a rectangle as the area for which to calculate the hydrography results.

For a rectangle, the control points determine two opposing corners of the rectangle.
Buoy Settings...
This menu item leads to the buoy settings dialog window (see section III-19).
Add Buoy
Add a virtual wave buoy. The new virtual wave buoy will be added in the center of the radar image, where
the radar is. A yellow dot indicates its position. You can click and drag it to the location you want. (If
necessary, remember that the status bar will show you the geographic location of the location of the mouse
pointer, as well as the distance and bearing of the location of the mouse pointer with respect to the radar
location.)
For more details on how and why (what for) to use virtual wave buoys, see sub-sections II-22.2.3 and II-
22.3.4.
Save Buoys
Saves the information about the currently defined virtual wave buoys to a file (*.buo)
This option is greyed out if no virtual wave buoys have been defined.
Remove Wave Buoys
Remove all previously defined virtual wave buoys.
This option is greyed out if no virtual wave buoys have been defined.
Lock Grid
Enabling this option fixes the geographic position of the current grid-points. Even when initially defined in
relation to the position of a ship carrying the radar, after "Lock Grid" the grid points stay where they are, also
when the ship moves. As a side effect, the outline of the selected area is no longer shown, but instead the
grid-points themselves are shown.
Disabling this option does not fix the geographic position of the grid-points until the actual calculations take
place. This means that as the ship moves, the grid-points move with it (in between calculations).
This menu option functions as a toggle: selecting it switches the option to its opposite value. If "Lock Grid"
is enabled, this will be indicated by the presence of a tick-mark in front of it. If the option is disabled, there
will be no tick-mark in front of it.
Create Depth Map
Switches on the mode where a depth map can be created. (Switching off this mode has to be done from the
tab "Wave Module" in the "Hydro" configuration dialog window (see section III-17.3.1).
Right-click on the "Hydro" menu to access the multi-tabbed Hydrography Configuration dialog window. For
details on the Hydrography Configuration dialog window, see the section III-17.

IV Menus 15 Hydro Info menu
15 HYDRO INFO MENU

The items in the Hydro Info menu control some items related to the hydrographic parameters that are not related
to the processing parameters themselves, but are more related to the results.
15.2 Menu items

Figure 196 shows the menu items in the menu "Hydro Info". Each item is
Clear All
Remove all previous calculation results from the screen
Load From File
Load results from file that were calculated and stored at some other
time. (Note that the results contain the geographic location for the points Figure 196: Hydro Info menu
where they were calculated. If the location prior to loading previous
results does not correspond, the loaded results may "display" well outside the current radar range, i.e., they
will not show up on the screen.)
Save Depth Contour
Save the depth contours to file, using the S-57 (ENC) / AML hydrographic data format (*.xyz) (essentially
latitude longitude depth triples; see section V-5 Depth Contour file for details on the file-format)
Disable Update
Do not update the screen with results (current-vectors etc.) while the calculations are in progress, but only
display the results when the calculations for this round have finished. Especially in cases with a lot of grid
points and depth contours, this can make a difference, as the contour lines are otherwise recalculated at every
interim result. These recalculations of contour lines can add quite some time.
A right-click on the Hydro Info menu opens the multi-tabbed Hydro Info Configuration dialog window. For
details on the Hydrography Info Configuration dialog window, see the section III-18 Hydro Info configuration
dialog window.

IV Menus 16 Depth map right-click menu
16 DEPTH MAP RIGHT-CLICK MENU

This is a contextual right-click menu (not accessed from the menu-bar, but by right-clicking an object).
This menu pops up when you right-click on the radar image, when the mode "Create depth map" is active.
This right-click menu is related to the "supporting depth-map" mode. It allows saving of a depth-map that was
created manually, via the menu-option "Create depth Map" in the menu "Hydro".
16.2 Menu items

Figure 197 shows the menu items in the hydro image right-click menu. Each item is described in more detail
below.
Save to file
Selecting this menu option allows saving to file of the depth map
that was created manually. After selection of this menu item, a
standard Windows "save as" dialog window is shown, with a pre-
selected file-type *.dpt. The file created is in plain text; the detailed
file-format of the depth-map is described in section V-4 Depth
map.
Figure 197: Depth map right-click
Resolution menu
This option is disabled, as it is currently not/no longer supported.

IV Menus 17 Individual wave buoy right-click menu
17 INDIVIDUAL WAVE BUOY RIGHT-CLICK MENU

This is a contextual right-click menu (not accessed from the menu-bar, but by right-clicking an object).
This menu pops up when you right-click on a previously added virtual wave buoy.
The items in this menu allow configuration of some settings, specifically for the virtual wave buoy that was
selected. It also allows removal of this individual virtual wave buoy.
For details on the use of wave buoys, see sections II-22.2.3 and II-22.3.4.
17.2 Menu items

Figure 198 shows the menu items in the Wave Buoy right-
click menu. Each item is described in more detail below.
Absolute location
Select this option to indicate that the buoy location
should be fixed relative to geography.
The options "Absolute location" and "Relative to
location" are mutually exclusive.
Relative to location
Select this option to indicate that the buoy location
Figure 198: Wave buoy right-click menu
should be fixed relative to the radar location and heading,
i.e., is relative to the ship. With this option, the location
of the buoy will move with the ship.
The options "Absolute location" and "Relative to location" are mutually exclusive.
Locked
Lock the position of the wave buoy, i.e., prevent changes to the location of the buoy by the user (including
accidental dragging).
Settings ...
Selecting this option opens the "Wave Point" Wave buoy setting (right-click) dialog window. See section III-
20 for details.
Remove
Remove this wave buoy.

V File-formats Hydrography 1 Introduction
V File-formats Hydrography
1 INTRODUCTION
This section describes the formats of various files that are used (or can be used) with the hydrography module.
Most of the file formats are plain text, and self-documenting, in the sense that they include a description of their
contents.
The file descriptions in the following sections have a standardized set-up, as follows:
File type
Mentions the names that are used in this manual for this kind of file.
Default extension
Mentions the filename-extension that is used for this kind of file.
Accessing this type of file
This subsection describes how this kind of file can be accessed (opened and saved) from within the SeaDarQ
software. Where applicable, the section describes how to create a file of this type, either from within or
outside of SeaDarQ.
Create/save
This subsection describes how to create and save this kind of file from within SeaDarQ (via what menu or
dialog-window, under what option).
Load
This subsection describes how to load this kind of file from within SeaDarQ (via what menu or dialog-
window, under what option).
File contents and use
This subsection contains a description of the kind of information that this type of file contains, and an
indication of how to use the information in this type of file.
Detailed format description
This subsection contains a description of the file format, to the extent necessary to understand it in
combination with the sample file fragment in the next section.
Example
Fragments of a sample file; the fragments include:
 the start of the file (which generally speaking describes the rest of the file),
 a (possibly abridged) data segment (containing at least a handful of sample data lines),
 and the end of the file.
Where lines from the file are too long to fit onto the page, they are broken up over multiple lines on the page.
This is indicated with the symbols “\\” at the end of the line. The remainder of the line may be lined up in a
way to reduce clutter on the page.

V File-formats Hydrography 2 Wave Report
2 WAVE REPORT
2.1 File type
Wave report
2.2 Default extension
*.log
2.3 Accessing this type of file
Create/save
Wave report files can be generated as part of the wave processing. It is important to enable this option before
starting the actual wave processing; this option may not take effect when enabled after wave processing has
started.
When this option is enabled, a wave report file will be generated automatically at the end of processing the entire
field, and before starting the next processing step (if multiple runs have been specified). If generation of a wave
report file was not enabled for a wave-processing run, it is not possible to save the results after the fact.
Enabling the generation of wave report files is done via the Hydro configuration dialog window, on the tab
"Wave Report". Enable generation of the wave reports by putting a tick-mark in the check-box "Generate
report", enable automatic generation of file names if you want to create multiple wave reports (in case you
enabled multiple wave processing runs on the tab "Hydro Timers"), and specify a hard-disk location for storage
of the files. For details, see the descriptions in section III-17.3.5 Tab "Wave Report".
Load
To inspect or visualize the results that were saved to a wave report file, you can load a wave report file via the
menu option "Load from File" in the menu "Hydro Info". Note that the data in the wave report file contains the
original geolocation of every grid point, so if you load a wave report file that contains data for another location
than the current radar position, the results may be displayed "off-screen".
What details are visible on-screen depends on what layers are selected as "visible" (see section II-22.1).
2.4 File contents and use
A wave report file contains all of the end results of the hydrography calculations for all grid points that were
defined, and, if applicable, all virtual wave buoys for which the option "Exclude from wave report" was not
checked. These end-results are the current (in magnitude and direction), the wavelength and -direction (of the
dominant waves), the calculated depth, and the wave height. These values can be visualized in the same ways as
direct calculation results can be visualized (see section II-22.1), i.e., as an overlay on the radar image, and as
numerical values if the cursor is hovered over one of the grid-points.
As the data in a wave report file is written as plain text, and includes both certain overall information in some 11
header lines, and descriptive comments and a column header line, it is not difficult to read the results into other
programs for further processing and/or visualization. One option that is often used for post-processing is
MatLab, but other programs can also be used.
2.5 Detailed format description
The wave report files are plain text.
Every wave report file contains a description of the headers that are used in the data section, a section with
general data (creation date, cell size, radar rotation time, amongst others), followed by a data section.
The data section starts with a line of headers, followed by a separate line for each grid point.
Each data line contains the location of the grid-point, date and time for the measurement, a status-word, and the
actual calculated data (depth, current magnitude, current angle, wavelength, wave period, wave angle, wave
height, and sigma.
Note that the wave height in general requires additional information and calibration before it contains
meaningful information.

V File-formats Hydrography 2 Wave Report
2.6 Example
# Wave Report From SeaDarQ

#
# Lat Latitude of position.
# Lon Longitude of position.
# Date yyyy-mm-dd.UTC
# Time hh:mm:ss. UTC
# Status Flagbits to signal the status of the fields.
# Valid Current 0x01.
# Valid Wavelength 0x02.
# Valid Depth 0x04.
# Valid Waveheight 0x08.
# Depth Depth at position.
# Current Current in meters/second.
# CAngle Angle ( coming from ) of current relative to North .
# WaveLgth Lambda of dominant wave.
# Period Period of the dominant wave in sec.
# WAngle Angle ( coming from ) of dominant wave relative to North \\
(clockwise).
# WaveHght WaveHeight.
#
#
FileVersion = 1
CreationDate = 2017-09-13
CreationTime = 10:41:13
Threads = 0
RangeCell = 14.9896 m
Cube Size = 128 (1918.67 m)
MaximalCurrent = 2 m/s
AverageStart = 0
AverageEnd = 0
RotationTime = 3.2122 seconds
DepthOffset = 0 m
Data = {
#Lat Lon Date Time Status Depth Current CAngle \\
WaveLgth Period WAngle WaveHght Sigma
51°54.503 N 003°57.886 E 2007-09-18 13:40:43 0000000e 16.23 0.000 0.000 \\
76.3 9.0 335.8 0.6 0.0
51°54.501 N 003°58.147 E 2007-09-18 13:40:43 0000000f 100.00 5.353 144.289 \\
78.6 4.9 154.8 0.4 0.0
52°01.337 N 004°02.941 E 2007-09-18 13:40:43 0000000f 12.98 0.434 71.909 \\
94.8 9.5 342.5 0.4 0.1
[... many similar lines omitted ...]
52°02.237 N 004°01.988 E 2007-09-18 13:40:43 0000000f 17.42 0.552 65.466 \\

104.2 9.1 351.9 0.4 0.0
52°02.235 N 004°02.251 E 2007-09-18 13:40:43 0000000f 16.88 0.554 61.324 \\
104.2 9.1 352.8 0.4 0.0
}
# End of File

V File-formats Hydrography 3 Virtual Wave Buoys
3 VIRTUAL WAVE BUOYS

3.1 File type
Wave buoy file, buoy file
*.buo
Create/save
The information about all virtual wave buoys that were added can be saved to file via the menu option "Save
buoys" on the "Hydro" menu.
Load
A previously saved wave buoy file can be loaded via the option "Use wave buoy file" on the "Wave Module" tab
of the "Hydro" settings dialog window (which can be accessed by right-clicking the "Hydro" menu). This
recreates wave buoys in all locations specified in the wave buoy file. For those wave buoys in the file that had an
identifier string assigned, the identifying string will be loaded and assigned again as well.
A wave buoy file can be used to save the details, in particular the locations, of the virtual wave buoys that were
added. This can be used to recreate the virtual wave buoys in the same locations in a new session.
The location of each wave buoy can also be used to cross-reference the wave-buoy data points in a Wave Report
file.
If individual wave buoys were assigned an identifier string, this will also be stored in the wave buoy file.
Wave buoy files are stored in plain text. A wave buoy file starts with a small descriptive section. Following this
descriptive section is a data section, containing one line per wave buoy.
Each wave buoy line starts with a word indicating if the position is absolute (i.e., a geo-location), or relative to
the ship's position. Following this position type indicator are the latitude and longitude of the buoy (to be
interpreted according to the position type), an 8-digit number, and the wave buoy label if one was assigned.
Note that if the position is relative to the ship's position, the position is specified in meters.
If the position is absolute, the position is specified in meters UTM. Preceding the Easting and Northing
coordinates (in meters) is the UTM zone number. (Note that elsewhere, the UTM zone number is followed by a
letter to indicate the latitude band. This practice is not part of the UTM coordinate system, but belongs to the
closely related MRGS, the Military Grid Reference System.)
The 8-digit number is a set of flags that indicate any special properties of the wave buoy. Currently only a very
small set of flags is used; see table 14 for a list.
Table 14: Flags in the Wave Buoy File
flag meaning
0000 0000 position is absolute
0000 0001 position is relative to radar location
0000 0020 location (position) is locked
3.6 Example
# Wave buoy file SeaDarQ

#
FileVersion =1
Data = {
#Position
Relative -505m 1237m 00000021 "buoy1"
Absolute 32 594700m E 4817826m N 00000000 "buoy2"
}
# End of File

V File-formats Hydrography 4 Depth map
4 DEPTH MAP
4.1 File type
depth map, depth file
*.dpt
Create/save
To create a depth map file, enable this option by use of the menu-option "Create depth Map" in the menu
"Hydro". Note that ticking the box "Use depth map" on the tab "Wave Module" in the Hydro configuration
dialog window, does not actually enable this mode.
Once enabled, double-click on the area in the radar-image that you want to assign a depth to. A dialog box
"Depth Map" (see figure 181 in section III-21) allows entry of the value (in meters). After clicking "Apply" and
"OK", a semi-transparent overlay colour will indicate the assigned depth in the cell.
Once all cells have been assigned a value, right-click anywhere on the image to access the depth map right-click
menu (see section IV-16). The first menu option allows saving of the file.
Load
A previously created depth map file can be loaded for use via the tab "Wave Module" in the Hydro configuration
dialog window. Tick the box "Use depth map", and use the button on the right of the file-name box underneath
the tick-box, in order to select the depth map file to use.
A depth map file contains an assigned depth for the cells that the image was divided into for this purpose. In
exceptional cases, pre-assigning a depth in this way, instead of having SeaDarQ calculate it itself, can improve
the convergence of the calculations. Proper and meaningful use of this option is subject to a deep understanding
of the inner workings of SeaDarQ, and should not be attempted in the absence of such deep understanding.
A depth map file is saved in plain text format.
A depth map file starts with a descriptive section, containing (amongst others) the location (i.e., the location of
the centre of the image, the location of the radar), and the number of cells in X and Y and their size.
Following this descriptive section is the data section, containing as many rows and columns as there are cells in
X and Y. For each cell, the file specifies the depth that was assigned to that cell.
4.6 Example
# Depth Map for SeaDarQ

#
FileVersion = 1
Position = 43°30.010 N 010°10.046 E
XCells = 16
YCells = 16
XStep = 295.12453
YStep = 295.12453
Data = {
#0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\

V File-formats Hydrography 4 Depth map
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
20.0 20.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
20.0 15.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 12.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 10.0 15.0 15.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
50.0 40.0 30.0 20.0 30.0 20.0 10.0 5.0 2.0 5.0 10.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0\\
0.0 0.0
}
# End of File

V File-formats Hydrography 5 Depth Contour file
5 DEPTH CONTOUR FILE

5.1 File type
depth contour file
*.xyz
Create/save
Depth contours, based on the depths calculated for each grid point, can be enabled on the tab "Depth Contour
Settings" of the Hydro configuration dialog window. The contour lines will be interpolated between the grid
points. Once calculated, the current set of depth contours can be saved to file via the menu "Hydro Info", item
"Save Depth Contour".
Note that on the tab "Depth Contour Settings", it is also possible to enable a depth gradient visualisation. This
depth gradient is not part of the data saved to file.
Load
You cannot load a depth contour into SeaDarQ. The saving of depth contours is intended to export them from
SeaDarQ, and make them available for external visualisation, processing, or other use.
In a depth contour file, you can save all the depth contours that resulted from the SeaDarQ hydrography
calculations. For each contour value, the file contains the (geographic) location of the points that make up the
contour (or contours). Different contour lines are separated by a line containing "9999 9999 9999".
The contour values are based on the results from SeaDarQ's calculations. For details, see section II-22.3.8.
How depth contour files can be used is up to the user. They could be useful to get an impression of the (shallow
water) bathymetry in the area covered by the radar. Note that the format is a standard hydrographic data format
that should be readable by suitable external software.
The file format for depth contours is a standard format used in hydrography elsewhere, and is known as the S-57
(ENC) / AML format.
It is in plain text; per line, it contains three values: the latitude and longitude of the point, and the depth value of
the contour line this point is a part of. The file contains multiple lines per depth-value (that is, multiple points to
construct the contour line from).
The end of a contour line is indicated by a lines containing the values "9999 9999 9999".
Positive latitude/longitude values indicate N/W; negative latitude/longitude values indicate S/E.

V File-formats Hydrography 5 Depth Contour file
5.6 Example
43.508640 -10.140986 -20.000000

43.508543 -10.140984 -20.000000
43.508446 -10.140982 -20.000000
43.508894 -10.144569 -20.000000
43.509803 -10.146662 -20.000000
43.508294 -10.146538 -20.000000
43.506833 -10.146230 -20.000000
43.505597 -10.146106 -20.000000
43.505158 -10.144498 -20.000000
43.505165 -10.143874 -20.000000
43.505626 -10.143156 -20.000000
43.507151 -10.142916 -20.000000
43.508093 -10.140842 -20.000000
43.505664 -10.139361 -20.000000
43.504717 -10.137068 -20.000000
9999 9999 9999
43.498675 -10.169765 -20.000000
43.496369 -10.172845 -20.000000
43.494062 -10.175925 -20.000000
9999 9999 9999
9999 9999 9999

43.496977 -10.168951 -40.000000
43.495248 -10.171261 -40.000000
43.493518 -10.173571 -40.000000
9999 9999 9999
43.491486 -10.177632 -40.000000
43.489756 -10.179942 -40.000000
43.486311 -10.183137 -40.000000
43.485650 -10.183124 -40.000000
43.484989 -10.183111 -40.000000
43.482600 -10.184489 -40.000000
9999 9999 9999
9999 9999 9999

43.507608 -10.154851 -80.000000
43.508211 -10.154789 -80.000000
43.508877 -10.155702 -80.000000
43.508900 -10.156676 -80.000000
43.508193 -10.156538 -80.000000
43.507633 -10.155679 -80.000000
43.507608 -10.154851 -80.000000
9999 9999 9999

V File-formats Hydrography 6 Exclusion File
6 EXCLUSION FILE
6.1 File type
exclusion file
*.tif
Create/save
An exclusion file cannot be created inside SeaDarQ directly, but the start-off image often can be. E.g., when you
want to do wave processing with a landmass in the radar image, it is possible to take a Geo Snap Shot of the
radar image with the landmass visible in it (possibly through use of the coastline database). The TIFF image
generated this way is geo-encoded. Careful manipulation in some external image-processing software can
transform this GeoTIFF image into one that has black for the landmass or other areas where wave-processing
should be inhibited (RGB value = 0,0,0) and white for the areas where wave-processing should happen normally
(RGB value = 255,255,255). A program such as GeoTIFF Tools can be used before and after the image
manipulation to verify that the geo-location part of the file is still accurate.
Load
Once a GeoTIFF file has been prepared to indicate where in the image wave processing should be inhibited, use
the option "Use exclusion file" on the tab "Wave Module" in the "Hydro" settings dialog window. This window
can be accessed by right-clicking the menu "Hydro".
An exclusion file is essentially a geo-referenced bit-image, indicating certain areas where wave processing
should not take place. Instead of an actual bit-image, the file uses the GeoTIFF format, but should only use the
values 0,0,0 (black) and 255,255,255 (white). The black areas indicate where processing should not take place.
This type of area-exclusion can be used in cases where the area where processing should take place cannot easily
be delineated using the standard area demarcation tools (circle, pie, rectangle).
Note that the area excluded this way using a GeoTIFF image is fixed in location. This means it is only suitable to
exclude areas that are fixed in location, e.g., land, islands, and/or fixed platforms. It is not suited to exclude areas
that move along with a moving ship, be that radar shadows or towed objects.
An exclusion file is (or needs to be) in GeoTIFF format, that is, a TIFF file with geo-coordinate information
embedded.
For use as a SeaDarQ exclusion file, it needs to be "binary", as in two-valued:
black: value = 0,0,0
description: inhibit processing
white: value = 255,255,255
description: allow processing
6.6 Example
There is no textual sample, as this is a binary file format. The paragraphs just above describe how to create one.
The next three images (figure 199 (a), (b), and (c)) show an illustration of the use of these exclusion files. The
first image (a) shows a screenshot of a radar recording at the Dutch island Ameland. The second image (b)
shows a TIFF exclusion file for that area (based on the coastline database for that area). The third image (c)
shows an overlay of (another) radar image and the exclusion file.

V File-formats Hydrography 6 Exclusion File
(a): Ameland (b): exclusion map (c): overlay
Figure 199: Illustration of the use of an exclusion file: (a): The Dutch island Ameland; (b): the exclusion map;
(c): overlay of the exclusion map and a radar image

0 Detailed Contents 6 Exclusion File
Detailed Contents
Contents .................................................................................................................................................................. 3
I Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 5
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 5
2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 5
3 Assumptions and scope ............................................................................................................................. 5
4 Main sections ............................................................................................................................................ 5
II Background Topics and Concepts ............................................................................................................. 7
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 7
2 Modes of operation ................................................................................................................................... 7
2.1 Oil Spill Detection ................................................................................................................................................... 7
2.2 Hydrography (Wave Processing) ............................................................................................................................. 7
3 Basic Principles ......................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................. 8
3.1.1 Overview ..................................................................................................................................................... 8
3.1.2 Purpose........................................................................................................................................................ 8
3.1.3 Assumptions / scope.................................................................................................................................... 8
3.2 Description .............................................................................................................................................................. 8
3.2.1 Radar reflection off the sea surface ............................................................................................................. 8
3.2.2 Oil spill detection ........................................................................................................................................ 8
3.2.3 Detection range ........................................................................................................................................... 9
4 SeaDarQ software configuration settings ................................................................................................ 11
4.1 Overview ............................................................................................................................................................... 11
4.2 General configuration ............................................................................................................................................ 11
4.2.1 Radar Configuration .................................................................................................................................. 11
4.2.2 Image Configuration ................................................................................................................................. 12
4.2.3 Settings for Operational Use ..................................................................................................................... 12
4.3 Advanced options .................................................................................................................................................. 13
4.4 Save configuration ................................................................................................................................................. 13
5 Starting the system .................................................................................................................................. 14
6 User Interface Elements .......................................................................................................................... 15
6.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 15
6.1.1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................... 15
6.1.2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 15
6.1.3 Assumptions and scope ............................................................................................................................. 15
6.2 SeaDarQ main screen ............................................................................................................................................ 15
6.3 Radar image ........................................................................................................................................................... 16
6.4 Button bar / toolbar ................................................................................................................................................ 18
6.5 Status bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 18
6.6 Menu bar ............................................................................................................................................................... 19
6.7 Layers .................................................................................................................................................................... 19
6.8 Settings .................................................................................................................................................................. 20
6.9 Navigation ............................................................................................................................................................. 22
6.10 Meteo ..................................................................................................................................................................... 22
6.11 Oil spills detected .................................................................................................................................................. 23
6.12 Status ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24
7 Alarms and alarm stages ......................................................................................................................... 25
7.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 25
7.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 25
7.3 Enabling alarms in SeaDarQ ................................................................................................................................. 25
7.4 Use......................................................................................................................................................................... 26
7.4.1 Reaction to an alarm / possible follow-up actions ..................................................................................... 26
7.4.2 reported properties .................................................................................................................................... 26
8 A note about examples ............................................................................................................................ 27
9 Background correction / Range correction.............................................................................................. 28
9.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 28
9.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 28
9.3 Range correction in SeaDarQ ................................................................................................................................ 28
9.4 Use......................................................................................................................................................................... 29
9.5 Practical examples ................................................................................................................................................. 29

9.6 Advanced use ........................................................................................................................................................ 31

10 Confidence map / quality map ................................................................................................................ 33
10.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 33
10.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 33
10.3 Viewing the Quality Map ...................................................................................................................................... 33
10.4 Use......................................................................................................................................................................... 33
11 False alarms ............................................................................................................................................ 35
11.1 What are false alarms ............................................................................................................................................ 35
11.2 Why do false alarms happen? ................................................................................................................................ 35
11.3 How to deal with false alarms ............................................................................................................................... 35
11.4.1 Radar shadows .......................................................................................................................................... 35
11.4.1.1 Own ship............................................................................................................................................................... 35
11.4.1.2 Other ship ............................................................................................................................................................. 37
11.4.1.3 Island or coastal feature ........................................................................................................................................ 40
11.4.1.4 Behind the crests of ocean waves.......................................................................................................................... 43
11.4.2 Wind shadow (behind another ship, an island, or at the coast) .................................................................. 43
11.4.3 Ship’s Wake .............................................................................................................................................. 45
11.4.4 Rain ........................................................................................................................................................... 46
12 Blocked areas .......................................................................................................................................... 47
12.1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 47
12.2 Creation of a blocked area ..................................................................................................................................... 47
12.3 Resizing and reshaping a blocked area .................................................................................................................. 48
12.4 Options for the type of blocked area and their effect ............................................................................................. 49
12.5 Hiding blocked areas ............................................................................................................................................. 49
12.6 Saving blocked areas ............................................................................................................................................. 49
12.7 (Re-) loading previously saved blocked areas ....................................................................................................... 49
12.8 Some properties of blocked areas .......................................................................................................................... 50
12.9 What type and shape of area to use for selected examples .................................................................................... 50
13 Shadow detector ...................................................................................................................................... 52
13.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 52
13.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 52
13.3 Enabling the Shadow Detector .............................................................................................................................. 52
13.4 Use......................................................................................................................................................................... 52
13.5 Practical example................................................................................................................................................... 52
14 Coastline database and land-mask .......................................................................................................... 55
14.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 55
14.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 55
14.3 The Coastline database in SeaDarQ ....................................................................................................................... 55
15 AIS .......................................................................................................................................................... 56
15.1 Description ............................................................................................................................................................ 56
15.2 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 56
15.3 AIS display options ............................................................................................................................................... 56
15.4 Use......................................................................................................................................................................... 56
16 Line- and histogram windows ................................................................................................................. 58
16.1 Line window / range curve .................................................................................................................................... 58
16.1.1 Description ................................................................................................................................................ 58
16.1.2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 58
16.1.3 Accessing the Line Window ..................................................................................................................... 58
16.1.4 Use ............................................................................................................................................................ 58
16.2 Histogram window: ............................................................................................................................................... 58
16.2.1 Description ................................................................................................................................................ 58
16.2.2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 58
16.2.3 Accessing the Histogram Window ............................................................................................................ 58
16.2.4 Use ............................................................................................................................................................ 58
17 Using polygons ....................................................................................................................................... 59
17.1 Purpose .................................................................................................................................................................. 59
17.2 Practical use........................................................................................................................................................... 59
17.2.1 Creation ..................................................................................................................................................... 59
17.2.2 Editing / Manipulation .............................................................................................................................. 59
17.2.3 Properties .................................................................................................................................................. 59
17.2.4 Saving and loading .................................................................................................................................... 60
17.2.5 Deletion of a single polygon or line .......................................................................................................... 60
17.2.6 Deletion of all polygons and/or lines......................................................................................................... 60
17.2.7 Summary ................................................................................................................................................... 60
18 Difference between “snapshot” and “Geo snapshot”.............................................................................. 62

19 Loading and using a Geo-encoded image ............................................................................................... 62

20 Latitude and longitude in degrees versus meters UTM ........................................................................... 62
21 Recording data ........................................................................................................................................ 63
22 Hydrography ........................................................................................................................................... 64
22.1 General background / Theory of operation ............................................................................................................ 64
22.1.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 64
22.1.2 Purpose...................................................................................................................................................... 64
22.1.3 Use ............................................................................................................................................................ 64
22.1.4 Prerequisites .............................................................................................................................................. 64
22.1.5 Assumptions .............................................................................................................................................. 64
22.1.6 Practical and operational use ..................................................................................................................... 64
22.2 Advanced use and options ..................................................................................................................................... 65
22.2.1 Saving the results ...................................................................................................................................... 65
22.2.2 Area selection and manipulation of controls ............................................................................................. 66
22.2.3 Wave buoys ............................................................................................................................................... 66
22.2.4 Timers and multiple runs........................................................................................................................... 66
22.2.5 Result presentation (visualization and data-file) ....................................................................................... 67
22.3 Advanced topics .................................................................................................................................................... 67
22.3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................... 67
22.3.2 Calculation overview ................................................................................................................................ 67
22.3.3 Calculation Parameters.............................................................................................................................. 68
22.3.4 Virtual Wave Buoys .................................................................................................................................. 71
22.3.5 Exclusion File ........................................................................................................................................... 71
22.3.6 Depth Map ................................................................................................................................................ 72
22.3.7 Timers ....................................................................................................................................................... 73
22.3.8 Depth Contours ......................................................................................................................................... 74
22.3.9 Wave Height ............................................................................................................................................. 75
22.3.10 Wave Spectra ............................................................................................................................................ 75
III Dialogs .................................................................................................................................................... 76
1 Overview ................................................................................................................................................. 76
2 Layers dialog ........................................................................................................................................... 77
2.1 Accessing the Layers dialog .................................................................................................................................. 77
2.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 77
2.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 77
3 Recording dialog ..................................................................................................................................... 80
3.1 Accessing the Recording dialog ............................................................................................................................ 80
3.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 80
3.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 80
3.3.1 Tab “Recording” ....................................................................................................................................... 80
3.3.2 Tab “conditions” ....................................................................................................................................... 82
4 Image alignment dialog ........................................................................................................................... 83
4.1 Accessing the Image Alignment dialog ................................................................................................................. 83
4.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 83
4.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 83
5 Polygon settings dialog ........................................................................................................................... 84
5.1 Accessing the Polygon Settings dialog .................................................................................................................. 84
5.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 84
5.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 84
5.3.1 Tab “Polygon Settings” ............................................................................................................................. 84
5.3.2 Tab “Font” ................................................................................................................................................ 84
6 Snapshot Settings dialog ......................................................................................................................... 85
6.1 Accessing the Snapshot Settings dialog ................................................................................................................. 85
6.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 85
6.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 85
7 Alarm Settings dialog.............................................................................................................................. 87
7.1 Accessing the Alarm Settings dialog ..................................................................................................................... 87
7.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 87
7.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 87
7.3.1 Tab “Alarms Settings” .............................................................................................................................. 87
7.3.2 Tab “Font” ................................................................................................................................................ 87
8 GeoTIFF Snapshot settings dialog .......................................................................................................... 88
8.1 Accessing the GeoTIFF Snapshot Settings dialog .................................................................................................. 88
8.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 88
8.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 88

9 Diagnostics Window ............................................................................................................................... 90

9.1 Accessing the Diagnostics Window....................................................................................................................... 90
9.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 90
9.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 90
10 NMEA log window ................................................................................................................................. 94
10.1 Accessing the NMEA Log Window ...................................................................................................................... 94
10.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 94
10.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 94
11 Statistics Window ................................................................................................................................... 96
11.1 Accessing the Statistics Window ........................................................................................................................... 96
11.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 96
11.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 96
12 Font Selection dialog .............................................................................................................................. 97
12.1 Accessing the Font Selection dialog ...................................................................................................................... 97
12.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 97
12.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 97
13 Line window ........................................................................................................................................... 98
13.1 Accessing the Line Window .................................................................................................................................. 98
13.2 Purpose and use ..................................................................................................................................................... 98
13.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................... 98
13.3.1 “Advanced Options” disabled ................................................................................................................... 98
13.3.2 “Advanced Options” enabled .................................................................................................................... 99
13.3.3 Editing the correction curve .................................................................................................................... 101
14 Histogram window ................................................................................................................................ 103
14.1 Accessing the Histogram window ....................................................................................................................... 103
14.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 103
14.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 103
14.3.1 “Advanced Options” disabled ................................................................................................................. 103
14.3.2 “Advanced Options” enabled .................................................................................................................. 104
14.3.3 Color curve mapping ............................................................................................................................... 105
14.3.4 Editing a correction curve ....................................................................................................................... 105
14.3.5 Threshold ................................................................................................................................................ 106
15 Configuration Settings dialog ............................................................................................................... 107
15.1 Accessing the Configuration Settings dialog ....................................................................................................... 107
15.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 107
15.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 107
15.3.1 Tab “General” ......................................................................................................................................... 107
15.3.2 Tab “Processing Parameters” .................................................................................................................. 108
15.3.3 Tab “Blocked Areas” .............................................................................................................................. 110
15.3.4 Tab “Coast Line Server” ......................................................................................................................... 111
15.3.5 Tab “CoastLine Settings” ........................................................................................................................ 112
15.3.6 Tab “Shadow Detector” .......................................................................................................................... 113
15.3.7 Tab “Alarms Settings” ............................................................................................................................ 114
15.3.8 Tab “Radar Configuration” ..................................................................................................................... 115
15.3.9 Tab “Detection Settings”......................................................................................................................... 117
15.3.10 Tab “NMEA Serial Ports” ....................................................................................................................... 118
16 File Settings dialog ............................................................................................................................... 120
16.1 Accessing the File Settings dialog window ......................................................................................................... 120
16.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 120
16.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 120
17 Hydro configuration dialog window ..................................................................................................... 121
17.1 Accessing the Hydro configuration dialog........................................................................................................... 121
17.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 121
17.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 121
17.3.1 Tab "Wave Module" ............................................................................................................................... 122
17.3.2 Tab "Hydro Timers" ................................................................................................................................ 125
17.3.3 Tab "Hydro Settings" .............................................................................................................................. 126
17.3.4 Tab "Depth Contour Settings" ................................................................................................................. 128
17.3.5 Tab "Wave Report" ................................................................................................................................. 129
17.3.6 Tab "Font" ............................................................................................................................................... 130
18 Hydro Info configuration dialog window.............................................................................................. 132
18.1 Accessing the Hydro Info configuration dialog ................................................................................................... 132
18.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 132
18.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 132
18.3.1 Tab "Hydro Settings" .............................................................................................................................. 132
18.3.2 Tab "Depth Contour Settings" ................................................................................................................. 133

18.3.3 Tab "Font" ............................................................................................................................................... 134

19 Wave Buoy Settings dialog ................................................................................................................... 135
19.1 Accessing the Wave Buoy Settings dialog .......................................................................................................... 135
19.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 135
19.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 135
20 Individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog ................................................................................................. 136
20.1 Accessing the individual Wave Buoy Settings dialog ......................................................................................... 136
20.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 136
20.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 136
21 Depth Map cell assignation dialog ........................................................................................................ 137
21.1 Accessing the Depth Map cell assignation dialog................................................................................................ 137
21.2 Purpose and use ................................................................................................................................................... 137
21.3 Details.................................................................................................................................................................. 137
IV Menus.................................................................................................................................................... 138
1 Overview ............................................................................................................................................... 138
2 Configuration menu .............................................................................................................................. 139
2.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 139
2.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 139
2.3 Right-click dialog window .................................................................................................................................. 140
3 View menu ............................................................................................................................................ 141
3.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 141
3.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 141
4 Screen menu .......................................................................................................................................... 143
4.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 143
4.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 143
5 Diagnostics menu .................................................................................................................................. 144
5.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 144
5.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 144
6 Recording menu .................................................................................................................................... 145
6.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 145
6.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 145
7 Image menu ........................................................................................................................................... 146
7.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 146
7.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 146
8 Polygon menu ....................................................................................................................................... 147
8.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 147
8.2 Menu items ......................................................................................................................................................... 147
9 AIS menu .............................................................................................................................................. 148
9.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 148
9.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 148
10 Snap Shot menu .................................................................................................................................... 149
10.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 149
10.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 149
11 Oil Spill Detection (OSD) View menu ................................................................................................. 150
11.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 150
11.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 150
12 Geo Snap Shot menu ............................................................................................................................. 151
12.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 151
12.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 151
13 File menu .............................................................................................................................................. 152
13.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 152
13.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 152
14 Hydro menu .......................................................................................................................................... 153

14.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 153

14.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 153
15 Hydro Info menu ................................................................................................................................... 156
15.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 156
15.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 156
16 Depth map right-click menu ................................................................................................................. 157
16.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 157
16.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 157
17 Individual wave buoy right-click menu ................................................................................................ 158
17.1 General purpose ................................................................................................................................................... 158
17.2 Menu items .......................................................................................................................................................... 158
V File-formats Hydrography..................................................................................................................... 159
1 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 159
2 Wave Report ......................................................................................................................................... 160
2.1 File type ............................................................................................................................................................... 160
2.2 Default extension ................................................................................................................................................. 160
2.3 Accessing this type of file.................................................................................................................................... 160
2.4 File contents and use............................................................................................................................................ 160
2.5 Detailed format description ................................................................................................................................. 160
2.6 Example ............................................................................................................................................................... 161
3 Virtual Wave Buoys .............................................................................................................................. 162
3.1 File type ............................................................................................................................................................... 162
3.6 Example ............................................................................................................................................................... 162
4 Depth map ............................................................................................................................................. 163
4.1 File type ............................................................................................................................................................... 163
4.6 Example ............................................................................................................................................................... 163
5 Depth Contour file ................................................................................................................................ 165
5.1 File type ............................................................................................................................................................... 165
5.6 Example ............................................................................................................................................................... 166
6 Exclusion File ....................................................................................................................................... 167
6.1 File type ............................................................................................................................................................... 167
6.6 Example ............................................................................................................................................................... 167
Detailed Contents ................................................................................................................................................ 169
List of figures ...................................................................................................................................................... 175
List of tables ........................................................................................................................................................ 179

0 List of figures 6 Exclusion File
List of figures
Figure 1: Illustration of smearing out of radar energy ......................................................................................... 9

Figure 2: Radar visibility of sea surface clutter return ....................................................................................... 10
Figure 3: SeaDarQ main screen, and its elements .............................................................................................. 15
Figure 4: The (raw) radar image ........................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 5: The enhanced image ........................................................................................................................... 16
Figure 6: The confidence map ........................................................................................................................... 16
Figure 7: Details in the radar and enhanced image ............................................................................................ 17
Figure 8: The button- or toolbar......................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 9: The status bar ..................................................................................................................................... 18
Figure 10: The layers panel ................................................................................................................................. 20
Figure 11: The settings panel, with "Advanced Options" disabled ...................................................................... 21
Figure 12: The settings panel, with "Advanced Options" enabled (and “Scaling” set to “Manual”) ................... 21
Figure 13: The navigation panel .......................................................................................................................... 22
Figure 14: The Meteo panel ................................................................................................................................. 22
Figure 15: The Oil Spills Detected panel, when no oil spills are detected ........................................................... 23
Figure 16: The Oil Spills Detected panel, when suspected oil spills have been detected ................................... 23
Figure 17: The status panel .................................................................................................................................. 24
Figure 18: The right-click pop-up menu for an oil-spill alarm ............................................................................ 26
Figure 19: Set layer thickness dialog box ............................................................................................................ 26
Figure 20: The properties of an oil spill that is hovered over with the mouse ..................................................... 26
Figure 21: Radar image, range correction off ...................................................................................................... 28
Figure 22: Enhanced image, range correction off ................................................................................................ 28
Figure 23: Radar image, range correction on ....................................................................................................... 28
Figure 24: Enhanced image, range correction on................................................................................................. 28
Figure 25: Radar intensity along a line from the center in the 020° direction ..................................................... 29
Figure 32: Enhanced image, range correction off ................................................................................................ 30
Figure 34: Enhanced image, range correction on................................................................................................. 30
Figure 35: Enhanced image, range correction on, automatic detection on. ......................................................... 30
Figure 36: Rain, range correction off (radar image) ............................................................................................ 31
Figure 37: Rain, range correction off (enhanced image) ..................................................................................... 31
Figure 38: Rain, range correction off (confidence map) ...................................................................................... 31
Figure 39: Rain, range correction normal (radar image) ...................................................................................... 31
Figure 40: Rain, range correction normal (enhanced image) ............................................................................... 31
Figure 41: Rain, range correction normal (confidence map) ............................................................................... 31
Figure 42: Rain, range correction rain mode (radar image) ................................................................................. 32
Figure 43: Rain, range correction rain mode (enhanced image) .......................................................................... 32
Figure 44: Rain, range correction rain mode (confidence map) .......................................................................... 32
Figure 45: Colour-scale used in the confidence / quality map ............................................................................. 33
Figure 46: An oil spill on the radar image ........................................................................................................... 33
Figure 47: An oil spill on the radar image (zoomed in) ....................................................................................... 33
Figure 48: The same oil spill on the enhanced image .......................................................................................... 34
Figure 49: The same oil spill on the enhanced image (zoomed in) ...................................................................... 34
Figure 50: The same oil spill on the confidence/quality map image.................................................................... 34
Figure 51: The same oil spill on the confidence/quality map image (zoomed in) ............................................... 34
Figure 52: The same oil spill as an alarm on the enhanced image ....................................................................... 34
Figure 53: The same oil spill as an alarm on the enhanced image (zoomed in) ................................................... 34
Figure 54: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (radar image) ................................................................... 36
Figure 55: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (radar image, detail) ........................................................ 36
Figure 56: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (enhanced image) ............................................................ 36
Figure 57: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (enhanced image, detail) ................................................. 36

Figure 58: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (false alarm) .................................................................... 36
Figure 59: Radar shadow from structures on the ship (false alarm, detail) .......................................................... 36
Figure 60: Radar shadow from structures on the ship countered by blocked areas (radar image) ...................... 37
Figure 61: Radar shadow from structures on the ship countered by blocked areas (enhanced image, no
false alarms) ....................................................................................................................................... 37
Figure 62: Radar shadow behind nearby ships (radar image) .............................................................................. 38
Figure 63: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship (radar image, detail) .................................................................. 38
Figure 64: Radar shadow behind nearby ships (enhanced image) ....................................................................... 38
Figure 65: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship (enhanced image, detail) ........................................................... 38
Figure 66: Radar shadow behind nearby ships (confidence/quality map) ........................................................... 38
Figure 67: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship (confidence/quality map, detail) ............................................... 38
Figure 68: Radar shadow behind nearby ships (enhanced image with false alarm)............................................. 39
Figure 69: Radar shadow behind a nearby ship (enhanced image with false alarm, detail) ................................ 39
Figure 70: The shadow detector blocks off the radar shadow behind nearby ships (radar image) ...................... 39
Figure 71: The shadow detector blocks off the radar shadow behind nearby ships (radar image, detail) ............ 39
Figure 72: Because the shadow detector blocks off radar shadow behind nearby ships, they do not cause
false alarms (enhanced image) ........................................................................................................... 40
Figure 73: Because the shadow detector blocks off radar shadow behind nearby ships, they do not cause
false alarms (enhanced image, detail)................................................................................................. 40
Figure 74: Effect of the shadow detector on the confidence/quality map (dark blue areas) ................................ 40
Figure 75: Effect of the shadow detector on the confidence/quality map (dark blue area, detail) ....................... 40
Figure 76: Nearby islands cause radar shadows behind them (overall enhanced image, and detailed views) ..... 41
Figure 77: Radar shadows behind nearby islands cause false alarms (enhanced image, overall and detail) ....... 41
Figure 78: Effect of coast-line database with land-extension feature on the radar image ................................... 42
Figure 79: Effect of both the coast-line database with land-extension feature and the shadow detector on
the radar image ................................................................................................................................... 42
Figure 80: Coastline database with land-extension feature combined with shadow detector avert false
alarms caused by radar shadows (radar image, enhanced image with alarms, enhanced image
detail).................................................................................................................................................. 42
Figure 81: Enhanced image and enhanced image with alarms: the alarm in the centre of these images
correctly identifies an oil spill; the two smaller alarms are false alarms (see text for details) ........... 42
Figure 82: Crests and troughs of ocean waves show up on the raw radar image (WNW and ESE parts of
the image) ........................................................................................................................................... 43
Figure 83: Crests and troughs of ocean waves are averaged out in the enhanced image; range correction
makes the intensity in the image uniform ........................................................................................... 43
Figure 84: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (radar image; NNE part of the image, wind from ENE) ........... 44
Figure 85: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (radar image, detail) .................................................................. 44
Figure 86: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (enhanced image) ...................................................................... 44
Figure 87: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (enhanced image, detail) ........................................................... 44
Figure 88: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (confidence/quality map) .......................................................... 44
Figure 89: Wind shadow in the lee of the coast (confidence/quality map, detail). The high-confidence
areas (red, yellow) could lead to false alarms..................................................................................... 44
Figure 90: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible (opposite the blue heading line; radar image) ........................ 45
Figure 91: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible (radar image, detail) ............................................................... 45
Figure 92: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible (opposite the blue heading line; enhanced image) ................. 45
Figure 93: Wake behind the ship vaguely visible: the somewhat blocky dark- and light-grey stripe
(enhanced image, detail) ..................................................................................................................... 45
Figure 94: Wake behind the ship (confidence/quality map) ................................................................................ 46
Figure 95: Wake behind the ship (confidence/quality map, detail) ..................................................................... 46
Figure 96: Rain visible in the raw radar image (detail) ....................................................................................... 46
Figure 97: Rain visible in the enhanced image (detail; bright areas) ................................................................... 46
Figure 98: Rain visible in the confidence/quality map (detail; blue areas) .......................................................... 46
Figure 99: Radar shadows and blanked area at an oil-rig .................................................................................... 47
Figure 100: Radar shadows from structures on a ship ........................................................................................... 47
Figure 101: Configuration settings dialog window, blocked areas tab (allow edit box not ticked) ....................... 48
Figure 102: Configuration settings dialog window, blocked areas tab (allow edit box ticked) ............................. 48
Figure 103: Structures on the ship cause radar shadows (radar image) ................................................................. 50
Figure 104: Structures on the ship cause radar shadows (radar image, detail) ....................................................... 50
Figure 105: Radar shadows caused by structures on the ship itself cause false alarms (enhanced image) ............ 50

Figure 106: Radar shadows caused by structures on the ship itself cause false alarms (enhanced image,
detail).................................................................................................................................................. 50
Figure 107: Blocked areas constructed to prevent radar shadows from structures on the ship from causing
false alarms (radar image) .................................................................................................................. 51
Figure 108: Blocked areas constructed to prevent radar shadows from structures on the ship from causing
false alarms (radar image, detail) ....................................................................................................... 51
Figure 109: Radar shadows behind nearby ships (radar image) ............................................................................. 52
Figure 110: Radar shadows behind nearby ships dynamically blocked off by the shadow detector (radar
image) ................................................................................................................................................. 52
Figure 111: False alarms caused by radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced image) ................................. 53
Figure 112: Shadow detector prevents false alarms from radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced
image) ................................................................................................................................................. 53
Figure 113: High values (yellow, red) in the confidence/quality map caused by radar shadows behind
nearby ships ........................................................................................................................................ 53
Figure 114: Shadow detector suppresses high values in the confidence/quality map caused by radar
shadows behind nearby ships ............................................................................................................. 53
Figure 115: Radar shadows behind nearby ships (radar image, detail) .................................................................. 53
Figure 116: Radar shadows behind nearby ships dynamically blocked off by the shadow detector (radar
image, detail) ...................................................................................................................................... 53
Figure 117: False alarms caused by radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced image, detail) ....................... 54
Figure 118: Shadow detector prevents false alarms from radar shadows behind nearby ships (enhanced
image, detail) ...................................................................................................................................... 54
Figure 119: High values (yellow, red) in the confidence/quality map caused by radar shadows behind
nearby ships (detail) ........................................................................................................................... 54
Figure 120: Shadow detector suppresses high values in the confidence/quality map caused by radar
shadows behind nearby ships (detail) ................................................................................................. 54
Figure 121: AIS layer hidden ................................................................................................................................. 56
Figure 122: AIS labels and tracks both enabled ..................................................................................................... 56
Figure 123: AIS layer visible, both labels and tracks not enabled ......................................................................... 57
Figure 124: AIS tracks enabled, labels disabled, but the label shows highlighted in red when the mouse
hovers over a (stationary) ship ........................................................................................................... 57
Figure 125: AIS tracks enabled, labels not enabled ............................................................................................... 57
Figure 126: AIS tracks enabled, labels disabled, but label and track show (highlighted in red) when the
mouse hovers over a (moving) ship .................................................................................................... 57
Figure 127: The Layers panel, including extra layers for hydrography ................................................................. 65
Figure 128: Grid points within the radar range ...................................................................................................... 69
Figure 129: The calculation grid: cubic size and cubic depth ................................................................................ 69
Figure 130: The results grid points and their individual calculation grids ............................................................. 70
Figure 131: Altering parameters influences the minimum and maximum dimensions in ω-k space, and may
add empty space ................................................................................................................................. 70
Figure 132: Short and long waves over the shallow and deep parts of a gully ..................................................... 72
Figure 133: The dispersion relations are different over the shallow and deep parts of a gully .............................. 72
Figure 134: The grid cells for a depth map ............................................................................................................ 73
Figure 135: The "Limit Edge" value may help to reduce the jaggedness of contour lines ..................................... 75
Figure 136: Layers dialog window ........................................................................................................................ 77
Figure 137: Recording dialog window, tab "Recording" ....................................................................................... 80
Figure 138: Recording dialog window, tab "Conditions" ...................................................................................... 82
Figure 139: Image alignment dialog window ........................................................................................................ 83
Figure 140: Polygon Settings dialog window, tab "Polygon Settings" .................................................................. 84
Figure 141: Snapshot Settings dialog window ....................................................................................................... 85
Figure 142: Alarm Settings dialog window, tab "Alarms Settings" ....................................................................... 87
Figure 143: GeoTIFF Snapshot Settings dialog window ....................................................................................... 88
Figure 144: Radar Settings dialog window (generic radar) .................................................................................... 90
Figure 145: Radar Settings dialog window (Sperry BridgeMaster E radar, controlled by SeaDarQ) .................... 91
Figure 146: The NMEA Log Window ................................................................................................................... 94
Figure 147: The NMEA log window's View menu ............................................................................................... 95
Figure 148: The NMEA log window's Ports menu ................................................................................................ 95
Figure 149: The Statistics window ........................................................................................................................ 96
Figure 150: Font Selection dialog window (or tab) ............................................................................................... 97
Figure 151: Line Window, Advanced Options NOT enabled ................................................................................ 98

Figure 152: Demarcation lines (with yellow dots) determining the radar lines that are used in the Line
Window (detail) .................................................................................................................................. 99
Figure 153: Histogram overlay can be repositioned by dragging the green arrow left or right ............................. 99
Figure 154: "Range Correction Curve" menu appears by enabling Advanced Options ....................................... 100
Figure 155: Menu items and sub-menu in the "Range Correction Curve" menu ................................................. 100
Figure 156: Histogram Window, Advanced Options NOT enabled .................................................................... 103
Figure 157: Menus in the Histogram Window with "Advanced Options" enabled .............................................. 104
Figure 158: Menu items and sub-menu in the “Enhanced Color Curve” menu ................................................... 104
Figure 159: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "General" ...................................................................... 107
Figure 160: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Processing Parameters" .............................................. 108
Figure 161: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Blocked Areas" ........................................................... 110
Figure 162: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Coast Line Server"...................................................... 111
Figure 163: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "CoastLine Settings" .................................................... 112
Figure 164: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Shadow Detector" ....................................................... 113
Figure 165: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Alarms Settings" ........................................................ 114
Figure 166: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Radar Configuration" ................................................. 115
Figure 167: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "Detection Settings" ..................................................... 117
Figure 168: Configuration Settings dialog window, tab "NMEA Serial Ports" ................................................... 118
Figure 169: File Settings dialog window ............................................................................................................. 120
Figure 170: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Wave Module" ............................................................... 122
Figure 171: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Timers" ............................................................... 125
Figure 172: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Settings" .............................................................. 126
Figure 173: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Depth Contour Settings" ................................................ 128
Figure 174: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Wave Report" ................................................................. 129
Figure 175: Hydro configuration dialog window, tab "Font" .............................................................................. 131
Figure 176: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Hydro Settings" ...................................................... 132
Figure 177: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Depth Contour Settings" ......................................... 133
Figure 178: Hydro Info configuration dialog window, tab "Font" ....................................................................... 134
Figure 179: Wave Buoy Settings dialog window ................................................................................................. 135
Figure 180: Individual (right-click) Wave Buoy Settings dialog window ........................................................... 136
Figure 181: Depth Map cell depth assignation dialog window ............................................................................ 137
Figure 182: The SeaDarQ main menu.................................................................................................................. 138
Figure 183: Configuration menu .......................................................................................................................... 139
Figure 184: View menu........................................................................................................................................ 141
Figure 185: Screen menu ..................................................................................................................................... 143
Figure 186: Diagnostics menu ............................................................................................................................. 144
Figure 187: Recording menu ................................................................................................................................ 145
Figure 188: Image menu ...................................................................................................................................... 146
Figure 189: Polygon menu ................................................................................................................................... 147
Figure 190: AIS menu .......................................................................................................................................... 148
Figure 191: Snapshot menu .................................................................................................................................. 149
Figure 192: Oil Spill Tracker menu ..................................................................................................................... 150
Figure 193: Geo Snapshot menu .......................................................................................................................... 151
Figure 194: File menu .......................................................................................................................................... 152
Figure 195: Hydro menu ...................................................................................................................................... 153
Figure 196: Hydro Info menu .............................................................................................................................. 156
Figure 197: Depth map right-click menu ............................................................................................................. 157
Figure 198: Wave buoy right-click menu ............................................................................................................ 158
Figure 199: Illustration of the use of an exclusion file: (a): The Dutch island Ameland; (b): the exclusion
map; (c): overlay of the exclusion map and a radar image ............................................................... 168

0 List of tables 6 Exclusion File
List of tables
Table 1: Most important parameters and values used in the CARPET calculations......................................... 10
Table 2: Details of the toolbar buttons ............................................................................................................. 18
Table 3: Details that are shown in the status bar .............................................................................................. 19
Table 4: Description of the standard layers in "Oil Spill from Radar" mode ................................................... 20
Table 5: Description of the different settings in the Settings panel .................................................................. 21
Table 6: Parameters reported for (suspected) oil spills ..................................................................................... 23
Table 7: Details for the status panel ................................................................................................................. 24
Table 8: How to accomplish various editing operations on blocked areas ....................................................... 48
Table 9: Properties of blocked areas on the tab "Blocked Areas" in the Configuration Settings dialog .......... 49
Table 10: Overview of dialog boxes and windows in the SeaDarQ software .................................................... 76
Table 11: List of layers and their use.................................................................................................................. 78
Table 12: Options for each layer, as available in the layers dialog window ....................................................... 79
Table 13: List of menus in the SeaDarQ software ............................................................................................ 138
Table 14: Flags in the Wave Buoy File ............................................................................................................ 162


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SeaDarQ v 5

Oil Spill Detection

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

3 ASSUMPTIONS AND SCOPE

Section I briefly introduces this manual.

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

II Background Topics and Concepts

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

3.1.3 Assumptions / scope

3.2.1 Radar reflection off the sea surface

3.2.2 Oil spill detection

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

radar energy arriving at target ~ 1/R2

radar energy reflected by target

Figure 1: Illustration of smearing out of radar energy

3.2.3 Detection range

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Figure 2: Radar visibility of sea surface clutter return

Table 1: Most important parameters and values

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

4 SEADARQ SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION SETTINGS

4.2.1 Radar Configuration

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

4.2.2 Image Configuration

4.2.3 Settings for Operational Use

aspect recommended setting for details, see:

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Examples of use where it is necessary to switch on (enable) Advanced Options:

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

5 STARTING THE SYSTEM

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

6 USER INTERFACE ELEMENTS

6.1.3 Assumptions and scope

Figure 3: SeaDarQ main screen, and its elements

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

6.3 Radar image

Figure 4: The (raw) radar image

Figure 5: The enhanced image

Figure 6: The confidence map

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

zooming in and out

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

6.4 Button bar / toolbar

Figure 8: The button- or toolbar

Table 2: Details of the toolbar buttons

6.5 Status bar

(a) (b) (c) (d) (e) (f)

Figure 9: The status bar

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Table 3: Details that are shown in the status bar

6.6 Menu bar

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Figure 10: The layers panel

To change the status of one of these layers, do one of the following:

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

Table 5: Description of the different settings in the Settings panel

SeaDarQ v 5 Oil Spill Detection & Hydrography

abbreviation meaning possible settings remarks

Figure 13: The navigation panel

Figure 14: The Meteo panel