Journal of Advanced Research in Applied Sciences and Engineering Technology 41, Issue 2 (2024) 256-281 256 Journal of Advanced Research in Fluid Mechanics and Thermal Sciences Journal homepage: https://semarakilmu.com.my/journals/index.php/applied_sciences_eng_tech/index ISSN: 2462-1943 Advancement of Underwater Surveying and Scanning Techniques: A Review Wan Hafiza Wan Hassan 1,* , Mahfuzah Md Shukor 1 , Faezah Jasman 2 , Zaiton Abdul Mutalip 3 , Mohd Shafizal Abdullah 4 , Sevia Mahdaliza Idrus 5 1 Faculty of Ocean Engineering Technology and Informatics, Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, 21030 Kuala Nerus, Terengganu, Malaysia 2 Institute of Nano Optoelectronics Research and Technology (INOR), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM), 11800 USM, Penang, Malaysia 3 Centre for Telecommunication Research & Innovation (CeTRI), Faculty of Electronics and Computer Engineering, Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka, Hang Tuah Jaya 76100 Melaka, Malaysia 4 iSmartUrus Sdn. Bhd. No. 25 & 25A, Jalan Pulai 26, Taman Pulai Utama, 81300 Skudai, Johor, Malaysia 5 Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310, Johor, Malaysia ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history: Received 15 May 2023 Received in revised form 13 September 2023 Accepted 25 January 2023 Available online 20 March 2024 Underwater scanning and surveying (USS) plays a significant role in tactical surveillance, offshore explorations, climate change monitoring, and oceanography research. USS is required to accurately obtain the 3-D geometry information of an underwater object and determine the underwater area of interest respectively. This paper reviews the state-of-the-art USS by discussing the operations, characters, advantages and disadvantages of the sensors used in each of the techniques. It classifies the sensors based on the carrier signals which are acoustics and optical signals. A hybrid technique is then proposed by integrating both acoustics and optical approaches for the scanning technology and utilizing artificial intelligence and OWC technologies to improve the system’s accuracy and latency. The structured review of these techniques will give insight into the future advancement of USS and improve its quality of service. Keywords: Sonar; LIDAR; surveying; scanning; underwater 1. Introduction Underwater environment covers 71% of the earth’s surface with the oceans hold about 96.5% of all earth's water and only 5% of them can be considered explored. The enormous amount of water content has triggered curiosity and instinct of humankind from various generations to explore and conduct research on the ocean. The ocean exploration is not limited to exploring marine ecosystem, mining valuable resources from the sea or observing the variety of biological change underwater, but it can produce many beneficial information regarding natural disasters, climate change and not to mention the important historical findings about the earth. Recently in 2021, the whole world was in shocked with the sinking of Indonesian submarine KRI Nanggala and prior to that in 2014 with the disappearance of civilian aircraft MH370 which is yet to be found till now. These incidents left a huge * Corresponding author. E-mail address: whafiza@umt.edu.my https://doi.org/10.37934/araset.41.2.256281