Underwater Arbitrary Ranging Based on Chirped Pulse Interferometry With a Mode-Locked Laser

Underwater distance measurement and length sensing, as fundamental functions of geoscience, are integrated into underwater robots and vessels in various forms of sensor payloads and play a crucial role in a wide range of remote sensing applications. Advanced laser-based detection systems and algorithms are essential for underwater tasks, such as detecting damage in underwater pipelines and conducting detailed structural health assessments. In this paper, we experimentally demonstrated an arbitrary underwater ranging system by the chirped pulse interferometry with a mode-locked laser. Water's inherent characteristic introduces dispersion, enabling unique distance discrimination. Adjusting the repetition frequency allows us to acquire the interference spectrum. A long fiber delay line, stabilized by the servo-controlled system, eliminates the ranging dead zone. The widest fringe of the interference spectrum, corresponding to an instantaneous repetition frequency, indicates the arbitrary measured distance. Leveraging a charge-coupled device detection module, we achieved an update rate of 13.5 Hz for the interference spectrum. Experimental results show a precise distance difference within 59.8 <inline-formula xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\bm {\mu}$</tex-math></inline-formula>m at the 5 m range underwater without the dead zone.