Versatile laser viewing system for a mine counter measures AUV

摘要

The sophistication of modern underwater mines has lead to the development of several new mine counter measure sensor systems that do not rely on traditional acoustic methodologies. In order to increase the range and quality of underwater images, a laser stripe illumination system has been developed for deployment from a mine counter measures autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). The system has been developed to overcome some of the limitations of other available laser viewing systems and can operate in a 'scan ahead' or optical waterfall mode. The development of the system is described and preliminary results from test tank and sea trials are presented.