Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Services by Fugro Pelagos, Inc.

PROJECT EXAMPLE: USACE - VARIOUS APPLICATIONS - INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

Fugro Chance has been supporting the United States Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Airborne Lidar Bathymetry program since 1992. The current contract was awarded in 2002, with Fugro Pelagos assuming management responsibility of this contract in February 2004. At that point, all of Fugro's Airborne Lidar Bathymetry business became controlled and managed by Fugro Pelagos in San Diego.

In 1992, Fugro Chance was hired by USACE to operate, maintain and process data from the SHOALS-200. The SHOALS-200 was operated from a NOAA supplied Bell 212 helicopter providing an average 8 - 10 square miles of production per day on nearly 250 surveys in the United States and 3 square miles in Mexico. During this period, SHOALS-200 data were used for the first time in a NIMA chart. In 1998, the system was upgraded from 200kHz to 400kHz and Fugro Chance personnel began supporting the SHOALS-400. This upgrade also permitted the use of a fixed-wing twin otter aircraft, increasing productivity rates to 20 - 25 square miles of data collected per day. The SHOALS-400 performed beyond its expected life, conducting more than 150 surveys in the United States, Guam, the Bahamas, Canada, West Indies, Portugal, New Zealand and Puerto Rico.

Project Examples:
NOAA - Hydrographic Charting
USACE - Port and Harbor Survey
USACE - Various Applications
Various - Coastal Zone Management

In February 2003, the SHOALS-400 was finally retired and in August of the same year, it was replaced with the Compact Hydrographic Airborne Rapid Total Survey (CHARTS), which is the United States Navy's name for their SHOALS-1000T system. This is the latest generation system from Optech, which combines both a 1kHz bathy Lidar and a 10kHz topo Lidar. The United States Navy owns this system and Fugro Chance's contract is now with the United States Navy's Naval Oceanographic Office as of July 2004.