Underwater optical and acoustic imaging: A time for fusion? a brief overview of the state-of-the-art

Ferreira, Fausto; Machado, Diogo; Ferri, Gabriele; Dugelay, Samantha; Potter, John R.

doi:10.1109/oceans.2016.7761354

Cited by 33 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…It then seems interesting to combine acoustic and optical technologies in order to extend the field of application of these methods to low visibility conditions. A review of these methods is proposed in [97] and still leaves good prospects for future work especially in data fusion and extrinsic calibration of both types of sensors.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater Survey for Oil and Gas Industry: A Review of Close Range Optical Methods

et al. 2021

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In both the industrial and scientific fields, the need for very high-resolution cartographic data is constantly increasing. With the aging of offshore subsea assets, it is very important to plan and maintain the longevity of structures, equipment, and systems. Inspection, maintenance, and repair (IMR) of subsea structures are key components of an overall integrity management system that aims to reduce the risk of failure and extend the life of installations. The acquisition of very detailed data during the inspection phase is a technological challenge, especially since offshore installations are sometimes deployed in extreme conditions (e.g., depth, hydrodynamics, visibility). After a review of high resolution mapping techniques for underwater environment, this article will focus on optical sensors that can satisfy the requirements of the offshore industry by assessing their relevance and degree of maturity. These requirements concern the resolution and accuracy but also cost, ease of implementation, and qualification. With the evolution of embedded computing resources, in-vehicle optical survey solutions are becoming increasingly important in the landscape of large-scale mapping solutions and more and more off-the-shelf systems are now available. The issues raised in this review are mainly related to the qualification of the results produced by optical systems and their limitations to cover all the needs expressed by the oil and gas industry field. Interesting qualification works of these solutions are presented in this paper as well as the use of online processing tools such as visual odometry or VSLAM to guide the data acquisition and pre-qualified survey. Finally, it seems interesting to combine acoustic and optical technologies in order to extend the field of application of these methods to low visibility conditions, which remains one of the main limiting factors in the generalization of the use of optical sensors in high resolution underwater cartography applications.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Underwater Survey for Oil and Gas Industry: A Review of Close Range Optical Methods

et al. 2021

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“…These new forward looking sonars are based on a transducer array and on-board signal processing modules allowing the production of 2D images at each recurrence. A summary of the fusion methods between optical and acoustic sensors is described in (Ferreira et al, 2016). Data fusion is achieved by the geometric relationship between the two sensors allowing the data to be expressed in a common reference frame.…”

Section: Related Workmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Portable Opto-Acoustic Survey Solution for Mapping of Underwater Targets

Chemisky

Nocerino

Menna

et al. 2021

Int. Arch. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.

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Abstract. During underwater investigations, whatever the mission objective and the type of vehicle, obstacles detection and avoidance are essential tasks. They can either represent a target of interest that is the object of the mission or, on the contrary, represent obstacles that can hinder or affect the navigation of the vehicle. The underwater optical cameras that are usually fitted to underwater vehicles only offer a narrow field of view. The absorption of electromagnetic waves in the first few meters and the diffusion of light by the particles limit the use of these sensors to only a few meters range. The use of acoustic sensors, such as the forward looking sonar (FLS), is then necessary to enlarge the volume in which a target can be detected during the progression of the vehicle. Traditionally, sonars featured mechanical rotating parts, but lately bidirectional forward looking sonar, which directly produces a 2D image of the area, are becoming more and more common. Although these sonars can operate at frequency higher than 1MHz, their spatial resolution remains much lower if compared to current optical sensors and can be insufficient to identify and characterize a target. The combination of these two sensors in an operational scenario is essential to take advantage of each technology. In this paper we describe a low cost, multi-sensor, underwater survey solution for the identification, tracking, and 3D mapping of targets. After a description of the architecture of the opto-acoustics data acquisition and processing platform, we will focus on the calibration of the rigid transformation between the two sensors.

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“…But their underwater sensing range is significantly shorter due to signal attenuation. Optical cameras maximum range is typically less than 20 m in ideal conditions [43].…”

Section: Optical Sensorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sensors to Increase the Security of Underwater Communication Cables: A Review of Underwater Monitoring Sensors

Eleftherakis

Vicen

2020

Sensors

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Underwater communication cables transport large amounts of sensitive information between countries. This fact converts these cables into a critical infrastructure that must be protected. Monitoring the underwater cable environment is rare and any intervention is usually driven by cable faults. In the last few years, several reports raised issues about possible future malicious attacks on such cables. The main objective of this operational research and analysis (ORA) paper is to present an overview of different commercial and already available marine sensor technologies (acoustic, optic, magnetic and oceanographic) that could be used for autonomous monitoring of the underwater cable environment. These sensors could be mounted on different autonomous platforms, such as unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) or autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs). This paper analyses a multi-threat sabotage scenario where surveying a transatlantic cable of 13,000 km, (reaching water depths up to 4000 m) is necessary. The potential underwater threats identified for such a scenario are: divers, anchors, fishing trawls, submarines, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) and AUVs. The paper discusses the capabilities of the identified sensors to detect such identified threats for the scenario under study. It also presents ideas on the construction of periodic and permanent surveillance networks. Research study and results are focused on providing useful information to decision-makers in charge of designing surveillance capabilities to secure underwater communication cables.

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Underwater optical and acoustic imaging: A time for fusion? a brief overview of the state-of-the-art

Cited by 33 publications

References 33 publications

Underwater Survey for Oil and Gas Industry: A Review of Close Range Optical Methods

Underwater Survey for Oil and Gas Industry: A Review of Close Range Optical Methods

A Portable Opto-Acoustic Survey Solution for Mapping of Underwater Targets

Sensors to Increase the Security of Underwater Communication Cables: A Review of Underwater Monitoring Sensors

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