Hi we are looking to solve the quintessential problem (however at the best cost proposition) for having a UAV/ROV “travel” the bottom of the Mediterranean (depths up to 2000 meters) for scanning the sea bed for archaeological wrecks. One of the main goals is to publish the video of the journey in real time (or post “traveling” ) to the public so we can use everyone “eyeballs” for discovering what it is a potential point of interest. Obviously the GPS associated with each frame will not be published (for obvious reasons). What would be the best economically yet accurate configuration for associating a true GPS with each video frame without tethering the UAV/ROV for the duration of the underwater “travel”? Thanks in advance all expert in this forum.
USBL Navigation data from ROV, and then GPS input to topside USBL computer I think is the only solution here.
Thank you so much for you response ! In you view do you think USBL is a better approach than Lidar self mapping techniques ? I am thinking in particular the 1000 m constrain USLB has between the ROV and the controlling point (boat, shore station). Any thoughts on this? Thanks !
LiDAR is for mapping the seabed, as I understood your original question you asked about tracking the ROV un-tethered (AUV mode) and GPS tagging each video frame. Yes, mini USBL’s do normally only have a 1000m depth rating.
" When underwater, the AUV uses its last known GPS position and calculates its movement using an on-board [inertial navigation]system, which measures the AUVs velocity, acceleration, and rotation."
There is a fantastic Australian company developing small solutions in this area, and their website has some good information on how the technology works: