A laser-assisted vision sensor for AUV navigation

A laser stripe illumination (LSI) system has been installed within the Cranfield University Hammerhead AUV. Prior to performing free-flying missions, the system was put through a rigorous set of constrained motion trials at the Deep Wave Basin at IFREMER in Brest. The purpose of these experiments was to allow the development and evaluation of computer vision and imaging algorithms in a controlled environments where knowledge of true trajectory was obtained as a reference. As well as briefly describing the principals of operation of the system and the nature of the experiments, this paper presents the significant results and conclusions concerning the expected utility and performance of the sensor once deployed from the AUV unconstrained.