Several fields such as geology, harbour surveillance or underwater robotics uses bathymetric maps (2.5D elevation maps of the seabed) for different purposes. Most of this bathymetries are built from the sea surface by mounting a multibeam sonar on the ships. This has a direct effect on the resolution of the bathymetries decreasing its precision because of the distance to the seabed.
Our research on the topic has lead us to a complete solution to build bathymetric maps using AUVs to carry the multibeam sensors. The advantage of using this type of vehicles is not only a pilot is not used, but mapping with the sensor closer to the seabed produces bathymetries with higher resolution. Moreover, our solution increases the precision of the bathymetric map by correcting the drift that the AUV accumulates among time by registering different parts of the survey.