Subaqueous Lidar
Faculty Mentor Name
Matt Pavlina
Format Preference
Poster
Abstract
Over the last 50 years, LiDAR has proven to be a potent tool for navigation not just on land, but in the sky, and famously in space on the Apollo 15 mission. Just over 10 years ago, a 3D LiDAR sensor would have cost around $75,000. Now, it is possible to find these sensors in most people’s smartphones. With LiDAR sensors dropping in price, it is more practical for them to be used in lower cost implementations. One such implementation attempted by student researchers at Embry-Riddle was on an autonomous sailboat. We identified LiDAR to be the lowest cost method for obstacle detection. The use of SONAR is discouraged and restricted by governments, and what few sensors do exist are difficult to implement and cannot provide high-resolution view of the surrounding environment. However, the only place where LiDAR has yet to be widely adopted is underwater, where many complications restrict its efficacy. These complications include water being difficult for light to penetrate, limited options for waterproof LiDAR sensors, and no easy way to mount the system. Our team hopes to solve these problem by developing a LiDAR system that allows the sensor to gather data underwater and process it in real time. Accomplishing this in an affordable package will push marine research forward aiding other studies in implementing such a system.
Subaqueous Lidar
Over the last 50 years, LiDAR has proven to be a potent tool for navigation not just on land, but in the sky, and famously in space on the Apollo 15 mission. Just over 10 years ago, a 3D LiDAR sensor would have cost around $75,000. Now, it is possible to find these sensors in most people’s smartphones. With LiDAR sensors dropping in price, it is more practical for them to be used in lower cost implementations. One such implementation attempted by student researchers at Embry-Riddle was on an autonomous sailboat. We identified LiDAR to be the lowest cost method for obstacle detection. The use of SONAR is discouraged and restricted by governments, and what few sensors do exist are difficult to implement and cannot provide high-resolution view of the surrounding environment. However, the only place where LiDAR has yet to be widely adopted is underwater, where many complications restrict its efficacy. These complications include water being difficult for light to penetrate, limited options for waterproof LiDAR sensors, and no easy way to mount the system. Our team hopes to solve these problem by developing a LiDAR system that allows the sensor to gather data underwater and process it in real time. Accomplishing this in an affordable package will push marine research forward aiding other studies in implementing such a system.