1A1-G06 Development of a reef-coral monitoring system(Underwater Robot and Mechatronics (1))

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to develop a coral monitoring system for the use of underwater vehicles. Reef coral is very sensitive about changes of ocean environment, such as unusual climate changes or increase of crown-of-thorns starfish resulting from the global warming. Coral can thus be an index of ocean environment. It is widely known that some kinds of corals have an inherent characteristic of fluorescence due to 'coral fluorescent protein (CFP).' The authors are developing an ocean-going solar-powered underwater glider, named 'Tonai60'. The operational depth of the Tonai60 glider is 60m, for ocean environmental monitoring in twilight ocean zone. The glider is equipped with a coral monitoring system at the forefront of its fuselage. This system consists of a network camera and 3-axis digital compass. Coral can be detected from an image binarised with a certain threshold. This paper deals with a coral monitoring system using ultraviolet LEDs and image analyses.