MicroVEGA (Micro Vessel For Geodetics Application): a marine drone for the acquisition of bathymetric data for GIS applications

Bathymetric data are fundamental to produce navigational chart and sea-floor 3D models. They can be collected using different techniques and sensors on board of a variety of platforms, such as satellite, aircraft, ship and drone. The MicroVEGA drone is an Open Prototype of Autonomous Unmanned Surface Vessel (AUSV) conceived, designed and built to operate in the coastal areas (0-20 meters of depth), where a traditional boat is poorly manoeuvrable. It is equipped with a series of sensors to acquire the morpho-bathymetric high precision data. In this paper we presents the result of the first case study, a bathymetric survey carried out at Sorrento Marina Grande. This survey is a typical application case of this technology; the Open Prototype MicroVega has an interdisciplinary breath and it is going to be applied to various research fields. In future, it will expect to do new knowledge, new survey strategies and an industrial prototype in fiberglass.