Simrad introduced the innovative new Simrad PX Trawleye at Nor-Fishing 2014.
Sales and marketing director, Mads Dahl, said: “We did not want to make ‘just another’ Trawleye; we wanted to make a product with fast updates and a crisper image than others in the market."
With new features, not previously seen on this type of device, the Simrad PX Trawleye enables high resolution echograms and also enables broadband pulses (CHIRP) for an even better quality image, due to a composite 200 kHz transducer. Changeable parameters allow the new Trawleye to be optimised for almost any type of fishing, with an echo range which can be set from 5m to 100m.
Mr Dahl added: “The new Simrad PX Trawleye has been tested during shrimp trawling and the result was very exciting. The composite transducer technology and FM sweep echo pulse give an echogram resolution that I have not seen with other Trawleyes.”
The Simrad PX Trawleye will incorporate roll and pitch as standard, with depth/temperature as an option. The Trawleye will also provide a status of the battery, making it easy to check when the unit should be re-charged before the next images are captured.
The system includes a new high performance transceiver and a new top side SW, the TV80, to receive the image and control the system. The new SW will have the same user interface as the existing Simrad PI50, as well as the ES70 echosounder and SN90 sonar. The operator can use an existing hydrophone, including non Simrad brands, to receive information.
Product Manager, Thor Bærhaugen, told World Fishing & Aquaculture that the new PX Trawleye has received great interest so far, and that no other company can offer the same protective housing solution. He said that the first deliveries of the system are expected during the first quarter of 2015, and that the company is currently finalising the receiver software, to make it more robust.
