SonTek

SonTek is a brand within Xylem's Analytics division that designs and manufactures acoustic Doppler instrumentation for measuring water velocity, flow and discharge. Its instruments use sound waves to determine how fast water is moving, where it is moving, and even whether it is moving at all, and they work in rivers, lakes, harbors, estuaries, coastal zones, deep oceans and laboratories. Its customers are scientists, engineers, hydrologists, research associates, water resource planners and anyone who needs to collect velocity, flow or discharge data in any body of water. The product range covers several distinct measurement situations. The SonTek-M9 is a river discharge measurement system built on multi-frequency discharge measurement technology, and the SonTek-RS5 is a compact acoustic Doppler current profiling system and the world's smallest ADCP. For wading work, the SonTek FlowTracker2 Handheld-ADV is a rugged handheld acoustic Doppler velocimeter for wading discharge measurement and laboratory use, and a version with a pressure sensor measures water depth automatically to speed up data collection in changing conditions. The SonTek CastAway-CTD is a handheld deployable CTD. For fixed and continuous monitoring, the SonTek-SL Series is a water velocity and level monitor, and the SonTek-IQ Series delivers flow data in channels, pipes or streams, with standard and plus variants for open channels and a pipe variant for closed conduits. Deployment hardware includes the SonTek HydroBoard II Micro and SonTek HydroBoard II Max, supported by an accessory line of rechargeable batteries, power supplies, communications and antenna cables, USB and Bluetooth radios, RTK upgrade kits, boat mounts, tripod spacers and carrying cases that can be ordered online. Applications cover surface water, hydrology, harbors and ports, irrigation canals and turnouts, stormwater, ocean and coastal work, flooding and bathymetric surveying, and instruments can be filtered by parameters such as velocity, discharge, flow, depth, pressure, conductivity and temperature. SonTek forms part of a wider YSI and Xylem portfolio, so flow instruments can be combined with water quality sensors and data loggers when a single instrument is not enough for a monitoring job. Alongside hardware, the company runs a substantial support and education program: a video training series on collecting discharge data with a SonTek ADCP, webinars and one-day training aimed at irrigation operations and water managers, technical guides on topics such as blanking and screening distance, a resource library, software and firmware downloads, a distributor and systems integration center network, instrument registration, repair status tracking, and service and consulting offerings for environmental, laboratory and municipal projects.