声学水面无人艇在浅水海底地貌调查中的应用

Application of acoustic unmanned surface vehicle to submarine geomorphology survey in shallow water

水面无人艇(USV,Unmanned Surface Vehicle)具有吃水浅、灵活机动、安全高效的特点和优势,日益成为浅水调查的重要手段。对于常规船只和考察人员不能到达的浅水环境的调查,无人艇具有填补甚至替代的价值和意义。C-Worker 4水面无人艇平台搭载了多波束测深、侧扫声呐、浅层剖面声学系统,运用脉冲同步控制和发射频率差异化配置的方法实现数据同步采集,旨在提高调查效率、优化调查方法和节约成本。基于2019年在海南岛澄迈湾1.2~22 m浅水环境的调查数据,处理和分析评估表明其采集数据可靠性高,能清晰识别海底沙波、波纹、礁石、埋藏河道、港池、航道、拖痕等微地貌单元。研究证实水面无人艇搭载多源声学系统同步测量可提供精细、立体、可靠的海底地貌基础资料,服务于海岸带地质调查、资源开发、工程建设、水运交通和国防安全等。

Unmanned surface vehicle(USV)is an emerging platform for the oceanic survey.Small and medium-sized USVs have the advantages of the small draft,flexible maneuverability,safety,and efficiency,and increasingly become an important means for shallow water investigation.For the measurement and investigation of the shallow water environment that can not be reached by conventional ships and surveyors,USVs can play a significant role as an alternative to replace other facilities.This article is based on the C-Worker 4 USV platform,integrated with multi-beam sounding,side-scan sonar,sub-bottom profiler,and other acoustic equipment,using pulse delay time technology to acquire data simultaneously,aiming to improve the efficiency and optimize the program and save costs.In 2019,USV was applied in Chengmai Bay,Hainan Island to investigate submarine geomorphology in a shallow water environment with a water depth of 1.2~22 m.Data processing,analysis and evaluation showed that the data acquired by USV is highly reliable and can be used to identify the natural geomorphological units such as seabed reef,sand wave,sand ripple,buried channel,and the artificial geomorphology units such as waterway,channel filling deposits and submarine pipelines.The research in this paper confirms that the USV with a variety of acoustic equipment can provide precise,threedimensional,and reliable basic data of submarine geomorphology,serving coastal geological surveys,resource exploration,engineering construction,maritime transportation,and national defense security.