A Modular Sensor Suite for Underwater Reconstruction

This paper presents the design, development, and application of a sensor suite, made with the explicit purpose of localizing and mapping in underwater environments. The design objectives of such an underwater sensor rig include simplicity of carrying, ease of operation in different modes, and data collection. The rig is equipped with stereo camera, inertial measurement unit (IMU), mechanical scanning sonar, and depth sensor. The electronics are enclosed in a water-proof PVC tube tested to sixty meters. The contribution of this paper is twofold: first, we open-source the design providing detailed instructions that are made available online; second, we discuss lessons learned as well as some successful applications where the presented sensor suite has been operated by divers.