Autonomous seafloor geotechnical property sensor

Current geo-technical measurement systems are low resolution and generally require significant research vessel support. In this SBIR, the OASIS/WHOI team proposes to build a system that will remotely, autonomously and rapidly estimate and map shear strength parameters using state-of-the art Autonomous Undersea Vehicle (AUV) technology. The AUV-based Acoustic Sediment Classifier (ASC) is an innovative system designed to excite three interacting acoustic waves (the reflective, lateral and Scholte waves) and provide accurate, high-resolution estimates of sediment geo-technical properties. The technique combines high resolution mapping of sediment compressional and shear properties via acoustic measurements with physical measurements of shear-strength (obtained with a STING penetrometer) to produce a high-resolution bearing-strength map of a region.