AUV Mapping of Underwater Targets

Underwater mapping of targets can be a relevant application for various fields, including mine countermeasures operations. However, due to the difficulties posed by unstructured open underwater environments, mapping underwater targets can become particularly challenging. This article presents a new approach to mapping underwater targets. The proposed approach is based on a PHD Filter. Compared to more traditional approaches, based on the Kalman Filter, the proposed algorithm does not require the data association step, which is one of the biggest challenges in underwater robotic mapping. Preliminary results are presented, by applying the proposed approach to a mine-counter measure mission, where the goal is to obtain a map with the location of deployed targets. These results illustrate the benefits of the proposed approach.