All hardware, software and accessory updates.

New Geo markers, Layback markers, Import behaviours along with numerous UI + performance improvement updates

New Features

Geo Markers

• Place markers anywhere on the map, independent of the tow-body path.
• Import and export these markers via CSV.

Layback Markers

• Mark layback changes directly on the profile plot or on the geo plot
• Adjust markers with drag-and-drop.
• Recalculate the tow-body path after layback changes.
• Manage layback changes in the marker list; view, edit, move, and delete.
• Import and Export layback markers to CSV.

Import filters and discard behaviour

• Import filters can now exclude the field, all fields for the sensor, or the whole role as determined by the user.

Improved Features

New Automatic Line Marking Algorithm

• Enter bearing directly, reducing the need for precise line start selection. Enter line name, starting number, and other parameters.
• Specify the minimum length of a line and/or the minimum number of points in a turn to ignore sharp discontinuities in the tow-body path due to GPS
• positioning errors.

Numerous UI and performance improvements including:

• Smoother scaling and shifting in profile plot.
• Support for SeaQuest2 with newer altimeters.
• Improve precision of selecting a point on the mag path, allowing more accurate placement of markers and targets.
• Prevent accidentally moving markers.
• “Go to Lat Lon” feature on geo plot fixed.
• Fixed ruler tool functionality.
• Layback calculation is more precise. The same calculation is now used during data acquisition and the recalculation of the layback post-survey.
• Help screens improved and expanded

Profile Plot

• Time span for current readings pane is more consistent.
• Allows user to go show up to 3min even if the survey is shorter.
• Stop flickering when survey duration was less than 5 seconds in duration.

New features like automatic survey line marking and import filters, along with UI enhancements and fixes.

New Features
New Automatic Survey Line Marking Feature

• Automatically subdivide survey into lines based on the initial line direction and heading deviation tolerance, with custom line end margin distance.

Serial Port Terminal Window Enhancements

• Change diagnostic log filename
• Send entire command line at once (especially useful for Synapse)
• Annotate the log with comments.

Import Filters

• Filter imported data using specified Min/Max limits, for most data columns

Miscellaneous

• Parsing NMEA ZDA sentence in addition to existing support for GGA and RMC. This can help to get the correct date if RMC is not available.
• Support GEM Systems magnetometer logs exported in “BOB Mode”

UI Enhancements

• “Goto Marker” option centers marker in Geo Plot.
• Better accuracy when placing line markers on Geo Plot
• Previously just moving the mouse in the profile plot would move the hairline cursor. You must now drag the mouse (hold the mouse button down while you move the mouse) to move the hairline cursor.  Users requested this so they could move the mouse out of the profile plot without changing the selected point in the log table or geo plot.
• Previously dragging the mouse would scroll the profile plot horizontally. Now you must hold the shift-key down while you drag to shift the plot.
• Numerous formatting and usability improvements.

Fixes

• Fix support for surveys without GPS data. Importing lines, markers, targets no longer fails if data contains no GPS fixes.
• Improved accuracy when placing selection highlight.
• Deleting multiple Survey Lines now only asks for confirmation once.
• Drawing on Geo Plot near 0E,0N fixed.
• Improved sorting options for survey list in setup
• Fix crash when starting a new survey while geographic coordinate system is selected in GeoPlot (i.e. not UTM).

Support for old SeaQuest 1 devices without tilt sensors.

New Feature!

Import Assistant

• The Import Assistant imports delimited text for Mag and GPS readings collected by autonomous vehicles.
• One of the field types that can be imported is the raw reading string from a SeaSpy or Explorer.
• The Import Assistant also replaces the old guide line delimited text import, so users can import guide lines from other survey planning applications.
• Presets for importing known formats including: GEM GSM-19, GEM GSMP-35U Standard, Gavia AUV + explorer, Iver AUV + explorer

Feature Enhancements

Synapse Configuration

• Keep sensor enabled indicators up to date with online nodes.
• Prevent storing “empty” samples if no nodes are online.
• Keep the configuration of the main altimeter and main depth gauge instead of switching to default after getting a structure update (#CLST).

Profile Plot

• Default Y scales are set to more typical values
• Resizing the profile plot window maintains the same full scale.
• Stop traces from moving when rescaling. While scaling, wrapped field traces are auto-adjusted to pin the end of the trace on the y-scale so they don’t appear to move or scroll up the window.

Miscellaneous

UI improvements

• Simplified UI when using an imported survey.
• Fix indicator lights on the main mag panel
  • Leak indicator correctly shows a leak condition in any of the mags. (Note a warning message was always shown when a leak was detected. This fix pertains only to the indicator light on the panel)
  • Indicators for Signal and Gradient Condition aggregate the worst case of all the mags in multi-mag devices.

Markers

• Create a marker when the sample rate is changed, or when starting sampling with a new rate.
• If updating a marker that’s already been placed, copy the color, and merge the new text and label instead of overwriting.
• Update marker placement for sampling and layback. Allow duplicate marker times.

Backward Compatibility

• Fixed an issue upgrading surveys from 2014 and earlier

Other Improvements and Fixes

• Fix hiding readings and the unhide-all feature in Base Station Review.
• Prevent applying base station correction for measured gradients with SQ as well as SeaSpy gradiometers.
• Show the Corrected Gradient in Survey Export
• Fixed an issue regarding restarting sampling after synchronizing.
• In the terminal window and logs we add lines indicating the opening and closing of the serial ports.
• When finding Fish location, ignore invalid GPS fixes.
• Allow -1 as a Fix Quality option for NMEA sentences (to support a HyPack driver)
• Improve auto-selection of the date of NMEA GGA readings if no RMC is available.
• Fix export of first reading so it’s either the GPS or fish position as needed (instead of always just the GPS position)
• Fix UTM projection for surveys crossing the Equator.
• Filter out any zero nT magnetic field values, since they are always invalid.

This release supports a special project which needs to support an SeaQuest 1 upgraded with SeaQuest 2 firmware and an upgraded altimeter.

• Users must select “SeaQuest2” for BOB to recognize samples from this version of the firmware.
• Empty columns show in the log table for Aft sensor even if it is not installed in the mag.
• The survey export does not calculate the total gradient in this release.

UI Improvements

• Full-scale is fixed when resizing the profile plot
• Show tuning value correctly when manual tuning
• Cleaner presentation
• Clearer warnings
• Alignment is more stable when values are changing rapidly

Better support for Satellite-Synched Transceiver

• Check if transceiver has a lock
• Force transceiver to sync mag if needed

Synchronization improvements

• More precise
• More resilient to variable system latencies
• Easier to use and understand
• Auto-Correct
• Keep logging even if mag restarts without sync
• Keep time if GPS disconnects or loses lock
• Sync with Satellite-Synched transceiver

Fix for crash when opening About window after deactivating BAM license.

Fix

• Valid surveys made with BOB 8.0.1.200 wouldn’t show in survey list after re-install.
• Parsing of Sea Quest readings would fail sometimes.
• In some cases starting a survey with no active GPS connected would fail.

Other

• GPS Date and Time have been added to the survey export column list.
• Remove support for obsolete Explorer Gradiometer.

This is a transitional release which contains a notice, and dialog with instructions to upgrade to the latest BOB.

Updated infrastructure for better support, security, and speed with these components:

• SQL Server 2022
• .NET 8.0 Desktop runtime

Support for new Marine Magnetics Products including

• Synapse
• Explorer Gradiometers
• More AUV file types

More

• BAM now plots partial gradients from any two sensors on our gradiometers
• Simpler installation experience
• Numerous performance and usability improvements