RDI StreamPro ADCP

1) On the ADCP always point Beam 3 45 degrees from forwards. The beams are labeled near the bottom (sensor part) of the unit but on the cylindrical face. It doesn't matter if Beam 1 or Beam 2 is in front at 45* but it is important for Beam 3 to one of the two beams at the 45* from forward.

2) The transducer should be mounted so that it is submerged 3 to 6 cm below the water surface.

3) Ipaq configurations: To start bluetooth go to Settings -> COnnections -> Bluetooth ... then select the 'Bluetooth Manager' in the bottom of the screen. Click and hold 'RDI SPro 00597: SPP' when prompted, click 'Connect'

Another way to get there: Click 'Start' then 'iPAQ Wireless' then 'Bluetooth Manager' then click & hold 'RDI SPro 00597: SPP' when prompted, click 'Connect'

Along those lines, the bluetooth connection is finicky unless you do things in the following order:
1) Turn on Stream Pro
2) Connect via Bluetooth to the Stream Pro
3) Start StreamPro on the iPaq.

After finishing gaging the river shutdown in this sequence (again for better connections later):
1) Select 'Exit' from the menu in the lower left corner of the iPaq (don't just minimize) to quit StreamPro on the Ipaq
2) Disconnect and turn off the Bluetooth on the iPaq
3) Turn off the Stream Pro ADP.

4) To change settings (numbers) from the iPAQ click on the keyboard in the lower right corner.

5) StreamPro Setup:

+ Things you may need to change each time you configure:  
Transducer depth  (which is the depth from the water surface to the sensor head)
+ Things you should rarely change (I anticipate anyway): 
Cell Size (0.10 m), # of Depth Cells (20), Maximum Depth (2.1 m)
+ You can specify the file name of the configuration file if you "save as" and change the file name from the default to the river you are on and maybe the date.
+ A bit more about the rarely changed settings... The cell size can range from 2 to 10 centimeters.  So if you are running in shallower water you could reduce the cell size.  The cell size refers to how thick the cells are vertically in the water column.  The maximum number of cells the unit can process however, is limited to 20 so, if you wanted finer resolution at one meter you couldn't set the cell size to anything less than 5 cm.  

+ Time will tell with the ADP but the RiverCat sometimes did better when the total cell number wasn't maximized.  We will see with experience whether we should reduce the number of depth cells measured.  I think it was a function of the processor.  You could use a higher number of depth cells if you were willing to set a longer integration period.  The RDI unit doesn't allow you to set the integration period so this may be a non issue but we will see with practical experience.

Additionally, if the stream is less than 1m deep AND the stream velocity is less than 0.25 m/s you can set the depth to 1m or less which will allow you to use the ADP in low noise mode for better accuracy during low flows.

6) Communication Test -- when turning on the unit do a communication test. Click on the 'Test' tab and then click 'Instrument'. From the menu that appears select 'Self-Test' or 'Start Pinging'. You'll get an error message if there are communications problems. If there are problems you may need to turn the ADP on and off again. Also, you should then turn the bluetooth on the Ipaq off and then on again. The final step is to reconnect to the StreamPro ADP as outlined in step 3.

7) When you're ready to gage click the 'DataCollection' menu towards the top of the screen. From this screen click 'Transect Start'. This will bring up a new window where you can select whether you're on the left bank or right bank and the distance from the edge.. Then make measurements until getting to the other bank.

8) The distance from the edge (left bank or right bank edge) is defined for these measurements as the distance to the edge from the point where the ADP is able to measure two good measurements in the vertical column.

9) Energy Usage. The manual gives the following breakdown for ADP run times and battery type:

 General Alkaline AA -- 7.5 hours
 Nickel-Metal Hydride Rechargeable AA -- 12.75 hours
 Lithium nonRechargeable AA -- 21 hours

But, these numbers will probably be less for us by some amount since we'll be using the batteries near freezing where they have a bit less capacity.

10) Be careful with the transducer part of the operation. The Urethane face is sensitive to scratching and extreme temperature (coefficient of thermal expansion for the urethane). Also, remove the batteries after operation so they don't corrode in the battery housing.

11) You can download the data by copying the files (configuration and data files) onto a laptop and load them into WinRiver to river. WinRiver is located on the little toughbook.