Autonomously mapping shallow water environments under and above the water surface

Abstract

Abstract The paper describes an autonomous water vehicle (ASV) capable of autonomously mapping shallow water environments above and below the water surface. Over the past two years, Fraunhofer IOSB has developed a system that is fully electrified and equipped with extensive sensor technology (multibeam sonar, lidar, cameras, IMU, GNSS). For autonomous navigation, the complete processing pipeline was implemented, from obstacle detection and avoidance to trajectory planning and control to multi-sensor localization and mapping. Above water, both lidar-based mapping and photogrammetric methods are used; underwater, bathymetry data is obtained using sonar. The interface to the operator is realized by an interactive digital map table, which allows intuitive mission specification and evaluation.