About synchronization
Whenever more than one hydroacoustic system are installed on a vessel, interference may occur. With only two systems, interference can be avoided if one of the hydroacoustic systems can control the transmissions of the other system. If multiple systems are used, they can be connected to a common synchronisation system that controls all the transmissions.
In physics, interference is the phenomenon in which two waves superpose each other to form a resultant wave of greater or lower amplitude. Interference usually refers to the interaction of waves that are correlated or coherent with each other, either because they come from the same source or because they have the same or nearly the same frequency. Interference effects can be observed with all types of waves, for example, light, radio, acoustic, surface water waves or matter waves.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_interference — April 2016
The Simrad EK80 may be set up to be synchronized with other hydroacoustic instruments. Synchronization is necessary to prevent several hydroacoustic systems from transmitting simultaneously. Individual transmission is often a necessity to prevent interference.
Related topics
Setting up the EK80 system for synchronized operation