3D Reconstruction of a Small Dam using a Profiling Sonar and an UUV

Abstract

In order to increase the safety and reliability of hydroelectric power plants, autonomous robots are of great interest to perform automated tasks mainly in submerged regions. This work proposes a workflow for the dam inspection operation by creating a 3D reconstruction of the submerged part of the dam from a point cloud generated by a profiling sonar sensor mounted on a Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UVV). The proposed workflow was validated by performing experiments and collecting real world data in a dam with a length of approximately 150 m and depth around 3 m. The results showed that data collected from the vehicle sensors can be used to create satisfactory 3D dam reconstructions as long as the density of the point cloud is high enough.