AUTOMATIC PRIME SOUNDING SELECTION RESEARCH

MANUAL SELECTION OF PRIME SOUNDINGS FOR DISPLAY ON A NAUTICAL CHART IS TIME CONSUMING AND EXPENSIVE. THE COMPUTER PROGRAM AVAILABLE TO NOAA WHICH PERFORMS PRIME SOUNDING SELECTION USES OUTDATED SOFTWARE TECHNOLOGY. THIS RESEARCH EFFORT WILL INVESTIGATE THE FEASIBILITY OF AUTOMATING PRIME SOUNDING SELECTION WITH A NEW ALGORITHM WHICH USES OF STATE-OF-THE-ART SURFACE MODELING TECHNIQUES. THE SURFACE MODELING TECHNIQUES TO BE USED IN THE PROPOSED SOUNDING SELECTION ALGORITHM INCLUDE A CURVE-TO-GRID INTERPOLATION SOFTWARE MODULE AND A LAPLACIAN GRID SMOOTHINGSOFTWARE MODULE. INDIVIDUALLY THESE TWO MODULES PERFORM TASKS WHICH EMULATE SOME OF THE PROCESSING STEPS PERFORMED BY A CHART USER ANALYZING THE SHAPE OF THE OCEAN BOTTOM BETWEEN THE DEPTH CURVES AND SOUNDINGS DISPLAYED ON THE CHART. COMBINED WITH ADDITIONAL SOFTWARE, THESE MODULES WILL REPLICATE THE PRIME SOUNDING SELECTION PROCESS PERFORMED BY A TRAINED HYDROGRAPHER.