Light coming through the ocean surface, seen from below the surface.
Principal Engineer - Synthetic Aperture Sonars

Harald Aagedal

Workshop

Tuesday, 10th Mar, 13:00 - 14:00

South Gallery Room 13

Harald Aagedal is Principal Engineer at Kongsberg Discovery, where he leads systems engineering for KONGSBERG’s HISAS2020 synthetic aperture sonar system. He holds both a diploma and a PhD in computer science from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, with his doctoral research focusing on applications within diffractive optics. With over two decades of experience in sonar technology, Harald spent 20 years at Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, primarily dedicated to passive sonar systems for submarines. In 2018, he joined Kongsberg Maritime (now Kongsberg Discovery), where he continues to advance sonar innovations as Principal Engineer.

KONGSBERG Synthetic Aperture Sonar – High-Resolution Seafloor Imaging with HISAS2020

⏰ 13:00-14:00

📌 South Gallery Room 13

This workshop provides a technical introduction to Synthetic Aperture Sonar (SAS) and presents the new HISAS2020 system. The session covers how SAS achieves high resolution independent of range, how HISAS2020 is engineered for integration on multiple platforms, and how real-time processing tools can be used to optimize data quality. Participants will see how key parameters such as platform alignment, navigation accuracy, and sound velocity structure influence SAS performance, and how these effects can be visualized and corrected during processing.
 
Participants will learn:

  • Fundamentals of Synthetic Aperture Sonar and how SAS differs from conventional side‑scan and multibeam systems.
  • Architecture and key components of the HISAS2020 system.
  • Data‑flow overview from raw acoustic returns to motion compensation, beamforming and image formation.
  • How real-time quality assessment tools visualize geometry, alignment, navigation consistency, and sound velocity effects during processing.
  • Typical operational scenarios and expected performance envelopes for HISAS2020.

Moderators

  • Espen Reinertsen

    Vice President Naval Sonars
  • Harald Aagedal

    Principal Engineer Naval Sonars
  • Hayden Callow

    Senior Principal Engineer Naval Sonars