A marine multibeam sonar device comprising: a receiver configured to receive reflections of a transmit acoustic beam, the receiver including - a plurality of receive channels, each receive channel including a receive transducer configured to generate a receive transducer electronic signal, and electronic circuitry configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signals and generate a receive signal including a stream of binary data packets each packet including data from a time sliced portion of one of the receive transducer electronic signals; a memory element; and a processing element in communication with the receiver and the memory element, the processing element being configured to - receive and deserialize the receive signal, retrieve the binary data packet for each receive channel contained in the receive signal, and generate sonar data from the binary data packets, characterized in that the electronic circuitry of the receiver further comprises - a multiplexer configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signal from each receive transducer and generate a multiplexer signal that includes a time sliced portion of each of the receive transducer electronic signals in successive order, an analog to digital converter configured to receive the multiplexer signal and generate a parallel multibit binary output that is a digital value corresponding to an analog voltage of the multiplexer signal, and a serializer configured to receive the analog to digital converter output and generate a serializer signal that is a conversion of the parallel output of the analog to digital converter to a serial bitstream. a receiver configured to receive reflections of a transmit acoustic beam, the receiver including - a plurality of receive channels, each receive channel including a receive transducer configured to generate a receive transducer electronic signal, and electronic circuitry configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signals and generate a receive signal including a stream of binary data packets each packet including data from a time sliced portion of one of the receive transducer electronic signals; a plurality of receive channels, each receive channel including a receive transducer configured to generate a receive transducer electronic signal, and electronic circuitry configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signals and generate a receive signal including a stream of binary data packets each packet including data from a time sliced portion of one of the receive transducer electronic signals; a memory element; and a processing element in communication with the receiver and the memory element, the processing element being configured to - receive and deserialize the receive signal, retrieve the binary data packet for each receive channel contained in the receive signal, and generate sonar data from the binary data packets, the processing element being configured to - receive and deserialize the receive signal, retrieve the binary data packet for each receive channel contained in the receive signal, and generate sonar data from the binary data packets, characterized in that the electronic circuitry of the receiver further comprises - a multiplexer configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signal from each receive transducer and generate a multiplexer signal that includes a time sliced portion of each of the receive transducer electronic signals in successive order, an analog to digital converter configured to receive the multiplexer signal and generate a parallel multibit binary output that is a digital value corresponding to an analog voltage of the multiplexer signal, and a serializer configured to receive the analog to digital converter output and generate a serializer signal that is a conversion of the parallel output of the analog to digital converter to a serial bitstream. a multiplexer configured to receive the receive transducer electronic signal from each receive transducer and generate a multiplexer signal that includes a time sliced portion of each of the receive transducer electronic signals in successive order, an analog to digital converter configured to receive the multiplexer signal and generate a parallel multibit binary output that is a digital value corresponding to an analog voltage of the multiplexer signal, and a serializer configured to receive the analog to digital converter output and generate a serializer signal that is a conversion of the parallel output of the analog to digital converter to a serial bitstream.