Wide area seafloor imaging by a low-cost AUV

Abstract

Autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) play important roles in seafloor observation because of their ability to acquire detailed information on the marine environment. However, the utilization of AUVs is limited by their high construction and operating costs. Here we propose a new, low-cost AUV-based method of seafloor observation. The proposed method possesses three important attributes to achieve effective surveys. First, it can be applied in highly rugged terrains and the AUV can track omnidirectional surfaces at high speed (~1 [m/s]). Second, it can produce a reasonable 3D image of the seafloor based on a depth sensor. Third, it can estimate the flow velocity field. The proposed method was tested by using the AUV HATTORI-2, which is a lightweight, one-man portable AUV equipped with commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) sensors.