Detecting structural changes to underwater structures

A system for detecting change in underwater structures comprising:

• a sensor onboard an underwater vehicle, the sensor is configured to direct an acoustic sonar wave toward an underwater structure, where the acoustic sonar wave is reflected from the underwater structure, the acoustic sonar wave having one or more acoustic sonar pulses, and configured to receive the reflected acoustic sonar wave;
• a data storage onboard the underwater vehicle that is configured to receive a response from the sensor;
• and
• a data processor onboard the underwater vehicle,
• the data processor is configured to obtain 3D data points from the data storage, the 3D data points are configured to provide a three-dimensional image of the underwater structure,
• the processor is configured to align a sample of the 3D data points obtained from the one or more acoustic sonar pulses of the acoustic sonar wave to a pre-existing three dimensional model of the underwater structure, where the processor is configured to estimate a position and orientation of the sensor relative to the pre-existing three-dimensional model of the underwater structure using iterations based on inliers from the 3D data points,
• the processor is configured to generate a change detection model based on tth aligned sample, and
• the processor is configured to compare the change detection model to the pre-existing three dimensional model of the underwater structure;
• and
• based on the comparison, the processor is configured to detect whether a structural change in the underwater structure has occurred.