Active Mapping of Underwater Litter Using Camera-Sonar Fusion
This study addresses the limitations of single-sensor perception and inefficient path planning in low-visibility underwater environments by proposing an active mapping framework that fuses camera and sonar data. The method constructs a shared Bayesian occupancy map integrated with range-dependent detection probability modeling, and designs a dual-term utility scoring mechanism based on voxel entropy to balance exploration and exploitation, thereby enabling dynamic real-time optimization of observation viewpoints. Simulation results demonstrate that this fusion strategy significantly outperforms unimodal sensing approaches and achieves more efficient target localization compared to traditional lawnmower paths. This work provides a novel paradigm for autonomous exploration in complex underwater environments.