Underwater Dense Mapping with the First Compact 3D Sonar

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Burgul, Chinmay, Huang, Yewei, Chatzispyrou, Michalis, Rekleitis, Ioannis, Li, Alberto Quattrini, Xanthidis, Marios
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866909863167131648
author Burgul, Chinmay
Huang, Yewei
Chatzispyrou, Michalis
Rekleitis, Ioannis
Li, Alberto Quattrini
Xanthidis, Marios
author_facet Burgul, Chinmay
Huang, Yewei
Chatzispyrou, Michalis
Rekleitis, Ioannis
Li, Alberto Quattrini
Xanthidis, Marios
contents In the past decade, the adoption of compact 3D range sensors, such as LiDARs, has driven the developments of robust state-estimation pipelines, making them a standard sensor for aerial, ground, and space autonomy. Unfortunately, poor propagation of electromagnetic waves underwater, has limited the visibility-independent sensing options of underwater state-estimation to acoustic range sensors, which provide 2D information including, at-best, spatially ambiguous information. This paper, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study examining the performance, capacity, and opportunities arising from the recent introduction of the first compact 3D sonar. Towards that purpose, we introduce calibration procedures for extracting the extrinsics between the 3D sonar and a camera and we provide a study on acoustic response in different surfaces and materials. Moreover, we provide novel mapping and SLAM pipelines tested in deployments in underwater cave systems and other geometrically and acoustically challenging underwater environments. Our assessment showcases the unique capacity of 3D sonars to capture consistent spatial information allowing for detailed reconstructions and localization in datasets expanding to hundreds of meters. At the same time it highlights remaining challenges related to acoustic propagation, as found also in other acoustic sensors. Datasets collected for our evaluations would be released and shared with the community to enable further research advancements.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_18991
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Underwater Dense Mapping with the First Compact 3D Sonar
Burgul, Chinmay
Huang, Yewei
Chatzispyrou, Michalis
Rekleitis, Ioannis
Li, Alberto Quattrini
Xanthidis, Marios
Robotics
In the past decade, the adoption of compact 3D range sensors, such as LiDARs, has driven the developments of robust state-estimation pipelines, making them a standard sensor for aerial, ground, and space autonomy. Unfortunately, poor propagation of electromagnetic waves underwater, has limited the visibility-independent sensing options of underwater state-estimation to acoustic range sensors, which provide 2D information including, at-best, spatially ambiguous information. This paper, to the best of our knowledge, is the first study examining the performance, capacity, and opportunities arising from the recent introduction of the first compact 3D sonar. Towards that purpose, we introduce calibration procedures for extracting the extrinsics between the 3D sonar and a camera and we provide a study on acoustic response in different surfaces and materials. Moreover, we provide novel mapping and SLAM pipelines tested in deployments in underwater cave systems and other geometrically and acoustically challenging underwater environments. Our assessment showcases the unique capacity of 3D sonars to capture consistent spatial information allowing for detailed reconstructions and localization in datasets expanding to hundreds of meters. At the same time it highlights remaining challenges related to acoustic propagation, as found also in other acoustic sensors. Datasets collected for our evaluations would be released and shared with the community to enable further research advancements.
title Underwater Dense Mapping with the First Compact 3D Sonar
topic Robotics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.18991