ABP Humber Adds New 3D Mobile Laser Scanner

ABP Humber has increased its technology for hydrographic surveying with the purchase of a new Carlson Merlin lidar scanner supplied by Swathe Services.

The Merlin is a vessel-based 3D mobile laser scanner system developed specifically for coastal, offshore and inland waterway surveying. ABP Humber intends to use the system for quay wall inspections and surveying offshore structures.

James Williams, managing director of Swathe Services, said: “The Merlin is a fantastic system for any 3D survey operations and we’re delighted that ABP Humber has added a Merlin to their existing survey equipment.”

The Merlin is designed to integrate with existing hydrographic systems to simultaneously produce an accurate dataset of the environment above the waterline while a multibeam echosounder maps everything below the waterline to produce high-resolution datasets in a single pass.

Mike Abbey, hydrographer at Associated British Ports said: “We are very impressed by the products supplied by Swathe Services and the Merlin 3D laser scanner is no exception. We needed to map the quay walls both above and below the waterline simultaneously as well as scan offshore structures, and the Merlin fit’s with our existing set up to do this in real time producing accurate data.”