Laser Airborne Depth Sounder Flight RAN

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Laser Airborne Depth Sounder Flight RAN
LADS
Bombardier Dash 8-200

The Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) Flight was a unit of the

laser airborne depth sounder system.[2]
LADS Flight conducted its last sortie on 7 November 2019.[3]

History

The LADS Flight was originally equipped with a Fokker F27.

In the 1970s, the Royal Australian Navy's Hydrographic Service was still limited in its ability to survey the vastness of Australia's coastal waters, and was still producing charts on areas where surveying was incomplete or had not even taken place.

Bombardier Dash 8
.

Operation

The LADS Flight was a joint operation between the Australian Hydrographic Service and the Fugro LADS Corporation, part of

nautical miles.[4]

In December 2016, the aircraft deployed to the South Island of New Zealand to assist in surveying the coast following the Kaikōura earthquake.[7]

Laser Airborne Depth Sounder

"LADS" redirects here. For other uses, see LAD.
de Havilland Canada Dash 8 at Essendon Airport
in Melbourne, Australia (2007)

The Laser Airborne Depth Sounder (LADS) is an

hydrographic surveying by the Australian Hydrographic Service (AHS).[5] The system uses the difference between the sea surface and the sea floor as calculated from the aircraft's altitude to generate hydrographic data.[5]

The lack of progress made in surveying Australia's territorial waters, most of which was unsurveyed or relying on

Defence Science and Technology Organisation developed the LADS system, with feasibility trials beginning 1977.[5][4]

The LADS system is built around a

global positioning system information used to help generate hydrographic readings.[4] The aircraft makes multiple, overlapping passes of the target area to ensure accurate data is collected.[4] The LADS system is capable of taking 990 soundings per second, with data points positioned 2 to 6 metres (6 ft 7 in to 19 ft 8 in) apart across a swath up to 288 metres (945 ft) wide.[4]
The system is capable of working with waters up to 70 metres (230 ft) deep, and can be modified to perform land surveys of areas with an altitude variance less than 50 metres (160 ft)

LADS entered service with the AHS in 1993.

de Havilland Canada Dash 8 aircraft.[5]

References

  1. ^ "HMAS Cairns". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  2. ^ a b c "Laser Airborne Depth Sounder". Royal Australian Navy. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  3. ^ https://news.navy.gov.au/en/Nov2019/Events/5547/Final-LADS-flight---a-job-well-done.htm#.XgyFTMp_WhA [dead link]
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l "LADS II (laser airborne depth sounder)". Australian Hydrographic Office. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 26 June 2011.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Slade, in Oldham, 100 Years of the Royal Australian Navy, p. 171
  6. ^ "Fugro acquires Tenix LADS". Media release. Fugro NV. 8 June 2009. Archived from the original on 14 March 2013. Retrieved 23 April 2014.
  7. ^ "Navy LADS Dash 8 deploys to New Zealand". Australian Aviation. 1 December 2016.

Further reading

External links

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