Airborne maritime lidars are an established technique for profiling the underwater environment. However, these lidars required manned aircraft for operation and expensive components. Here, we present the design of a droneborne maritime lidar for salmon surveys. Modeling of the signal-to-noise ratio from a single salmon is considered and we also determine the optimal spot diameter for detection. For the specific water conditions examined, a surface spot diameter of 1-2 m maximizes the detection depth.
Michael R. Roddewig (Thu,) studied this question.