Requirements for the Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL)

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) began developing airborne lidar bathymetry systems for coastal mapping applications in 1986, and fielded its first system in 1994. In the ensuing years, the Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey research and development program led to the creation of the Joint Airborne Lidar Bathymetry Technical Center of Expertise (JALBTCX), a robust federal government partnership in airborne lidar bathymetry; the USACE National Coastal Mapping Program, a program of mapping built around airborne lidar bathymetry and complementary airborne remote sensing technologies; and a healthy commercial field of airborne lidar bathymeter manufacturers and service providers. The Coastal Zone Mapping and Imaging Lidar (CZMIL) is a new USACE sensor development effort and a partnership among the JALBTCX, Optech International, and The University of Southern Mississippi. The goal of CZMIL is to produce an integrated lidar and imagery sensor suite and software package designed for highly automated generation of physical and environmental information products for the coastal zone. CZMIL is an opportunity to revamp existing hardware and software to address the turbidity and shallow water limitations of existing systems; improve environmental applications of the data; take advantage of advances in laser, scanner, and receiver technology, and in signal processing and data fusion algorithms; while maintaining accurate depth measurement capability. The CZMIL program has been underway since 2006, resulting in a detailed design of the CZMIL software and hardware. CZMIL fabrication will be complete in 2010 and fielded in USACE operations in 2011.