SUNFISH INC — Department of Defense SBIR Phase II: HR001120S0019-04

Description

Currently, processing of seabed data into large-scale 3-dimensional (3D) models suitable for simulation and mission planning is prohibitively resource intensive. There are many methods to obtain large underwater data sets using a variety of platforms and sensing modalities but this data contains many systematic errors, random noise, and outlier measurements. Additionally, state-of-the-art processing systems that exist typically do not fuse multiple sensors into a single 3D model suitable for simulation & mission planning. These existing systems also rely on trained human operators both to clean the data and optimize automated processing parameters. Finally, state-of-the-art underwater environmental models are typically not fully 3D and generally achieve resolutions of 150 m3 which is 1e-9 orders of magnitude less than the desired volume. Being able to rapidly generate large 3D maps that can address the above limitations will enable many applications for defense, science, infrastructure, recreation and exploration. Sunfish Inc. proposes the SunBeam underwater data postprocessor to provide rapid, automated generation of large scale environmental models suitable for simulation, free of any gaps and holes, from a wide variety of underwater sensors. We propose to generate full 3D environmental models on small-scale multibeam sonar and camera datasets with modest human intervention—to a system which can incorporate a wide variety of long- and short-range underwater sensors with no human intervention. We will assimilate data on the scale of 100 km2, 1500 m vertical variation, and 5 mm resolution, and fully automate the processing of an environmental model that is suitable for mission planning and simulation within 2 days. This automated software suite will leverage over 15 years of experience at Sunfish, Inc. with advanced, fully automated 3D Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) systems with sensor fusion used as part of Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) onboard navigation systems. We will leverage our existing SUNFISH UUV, which can autonomously explore and map complex 3D underwater environments using a multibeam sonar and high definition camera. This platform will enable us to generate new camera and sonar datasets for testing and training the prototype implementation, allowing for rapid, iterative development of the technology.