Laser based rangefinder for underwater applications

Autonomous vehicles working in unknown environments require tools that allow them to learn about their surroundings. Once a vehicle knows about the environment in which it is working, then it is able to move about the environment freely and in an optimized pattern to fulfill the required tasks while staying out of harms way. While various sensors have been developed for vehicles operating out of the water, the number of sensors available for use by underwater vehicles is smaller. A low cost sensor prototype for cluster distance measurements is developed for use in underwater environments. The proposed sensor makes use of a camera and two laser line generators. Using an algorithm based on the pinhole camera model, the sensor is able to determine distance information about surrounding environment. The prototype results in distance measurements with an error of 10% of the distance with a tested distance up to 5m.