Eagle-eyed Subsea Camera
SINTEF researchers are currently working together with world-leading partners in Europe to develop sensors and lasers for this new underwater camera.
The new tool is designed to make it easier to detect pollution on the seabed, facilitate marine species management, and carry out subsea inspections and maintenance.
Marine researchers can obtain answers to questions such as: How many fish and other marine organisms are living in the water and on the seabed, and how big are they?
Left: an image of a chessboard pattern taken by a standard camera at a distance of 7.5 meters. Right: an image of the same object taken by the new camera prototype. Credit: SINTEF
The camera can also be installed on the hulls of surface vessels, or on ROVs, in order to monitor keys areas of the seabed.
“The new camera will provide better general and detailed imaging, and an entirely different database to that we are used to”, says Project Manager Jens Thielemann at SINTEF.
Currently, marine species management is carried out by means of data gathering using sonar and traditional video cameras. Sonar can detect objects over longer distances, but does not resolve details, while video cameras can observe organisms on the sea floor, but are unable to determine their size or numbers. The cameras can either be mounted on ROVs or, in simpler systems, installed on sleds or the hulls of surface vessels.
“The biggest problem with traditional cameras is that their range is reduced in poor visibility, particularly in coastal waters made turbid by suspended sand and clay particles. Such cameras have a very limited range under these conditions”, says Thielemann.
“The new images provide better data and information. High-quality visual imaging also makes it easier to communicate the information to external parties”, says Thielemann. “For example, occurrences of dead organisms on the seabed must be reported to the authorities, and in such cases it helps to have a picture”, he says.
The prototype camera, developed as part of the UTOFIA project, will form the basis of a new type of commercial camera technology that Thielemann is hoping will
be robust, compact, and easy to use. The aim is to produce a camera with a volume of between five and ten liters. The components for this technology have been developed at a number of centers across Europe, while SINTEF has assumed responsibility for project management, assembly of the components and image analysis.
New tests will be carried out in Copenhagen in February 2016, and in the summer the first version of the camera will be ready – based on the specially-tailored components that will make it lighter, more compact and more powerful than the prototype.
The EU project UTOFIA has a budget of EUR 5.7 million, and will continue until 2018. It is incorporated as part of the European research program Horizon 2020. The other partners in the project are Bright Solutions, Fraunhofer, Odos Imaging, Subsea Tech, AZTI and DTU Aqua.
By Åse Dragland