Towards High-Resolution Seafloor 3D Mapping from Underwater Flash LiDAR and ICP Registration

Seafloor mapping is crucial for ocean exploration. Current techniques mostly involve either long-range acoustic sensors or short-range passive optical systems. This paper presents an innovative underwater flash lidar system that bridges the gap by enabling high-resolution 3D mapping at intermediate ranges. To ensure accurate registration of lidar measurements, we propose an automatic pipeline based on the Iterative Closest Point (ICP) algorithm. Preliminary field experiments demonstrate the system's potential for applications in geosciences, marine biology, archaeology and infrastructure monitoring, highlighting under-water lidar as a promising tool for detailed and efficient seafloor mapping.