Autonomous underwater vehicles as a platform for underwater hyperspectral imaging

During an expedition to the Atlantic Mid-Ocean ridge in August 2016, an underwater hyperspectral imager (UHI) was utilized. The target was to investigate its applicability to exploration for marine minerals. The imager was deployed on both an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV). To the authors knowledge, this is the first time a full scale hyperspectral imager has been mounted on an AUV. This new platform comes with many advantages and drawbacks which will be discussed, both in terms of future potential and observed data quality.