PLLS-360°: A 360-Degree Underwater LiDAR Imaging System

This article describes a compact full-waveform pulsed laser line scanner (PLLS-360°) mountable on small autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). The PLLS-360° is an omnidirectional imager suitable for applications, such as seafloor mapping, underwater asset inspection, object detection, ice-sheet mapping, and construction progress monitoring due to its 360° field of view (FOV). This article provides an overview of the PLLS-360°. It further discusses the system’s performance and describes how the data for this unique 360° FOV architecture is processed. The processing of the measurements involves correcting for the system receiver characteristics, geometric spreading of the returned signals, light attenuation in water, and the AUV’s motion and position to enhance the visualization of underwater 3-D scenes. This article further highlights some of the applications of the LiDAR system in ocean mapping.