Development of low-cost Unmanned Surface Vehicle system for bathymetric measurements

Abstract

Bathymetric measurements are a significant branch of geodesy. They provide information required for the modeling of terrain topography below the water level for both running (lotic) and standing (lentic) waters. The existing technology allows the development of autonomous bathymetric systems which integrate Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) sensors, an echosounder/sonar and a floating platform. Such a solution has been designed at Wroclaw University of Science and Technology. BATDRON – an integrated bathymetric system – is a low-cost solution. The hull is in the form of a catamaran, which ensures high stability during measurements. The navigation module was based on the Ardupilot APM platform and was integrated with a propulsion system consisting of two T200 thrusters manufactured by Bluerobotics. The main sensor set uses a Satlab SLD-200 singe beam echosounder synchronized with a Trimble R6 GNSS antenna for both navigation and recording the position of the echosounder pole.