Bathymetric and Water Condition Surveys with ONAV, an Unmanned, Autonomous Navigating Vehicle

J. Saunders, P.I. Rusu

Abstract:	We present a robotic system that provides low-cost, high-accuracy bathymetric surveys of lakes, rivers and shallow sea areas including native bottom and apparent bottom profiles, bottom conditions, and water condition such as chemical concentrations. The system successfully integrates GNSS and attitude sensors, and multi-beam, sub-bottom and side-scan sonar to collect data necessary for producing high fidelity bathymetric survey maps, bottom contour profiles and submerged obstruction locations. Attitude sensors provide pitch, roll, and yaw data for the sonar platform, and the GPS receiver provides location and heading data. The system is capable of high precision surveying of large areas in reasonable time intervals. The integration of additional sensor data into the navigation system allows for condition based autonomous navigation modifications. The performance of the system is illustrated with results of a survey of a fresh water lake. The results presented demonstrate the performance capability of the system.
Published in:	Proceedings of the 2011 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation January 24 - 26, 2011 Catamaran Resort Hotel San Diego, CA
Pages:	1085 - 1094
Cite this article:	Saunders, J., Rusu, P.I., "Bathymetric and Water Condition Surveys with ONAV, an Unmanned, Autonomous Navigating Vehicle," Proceedings of the 2011 International Technical Meeting of The Institute of Navigation, San Diego, CA, January 2011, pp. 1085-1094.
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