Overview of a hybrid underwater camera system

Philip Church; Weilin Hou; Georges Fournier; Fraser Dalgleish; Derek Butler; Sergio Pari; Michael Jamieson; David Pike

doi:10.1117/12.2053365

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23 May 2014 Overview of a hybrid underwater camera system

Philip Church, Weilin Hou, Georges Fournier, Fraser Dalgleish, Derek Butler, Sergio Pari, Michael Jamieson, David Pike

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Proceedings Volume 9111, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring VI; 91110O (2014) https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2053365
Event: SPIE Sensing Technology + Applications, 2014, Baltimore, Maryland, United States

Abstract

The paper provides an overview of a Hybrid Underwater Camera (HUC) system combining sonar with a range-gated laser camera system. The sonar is the BlueView P900-45, operating at 900kHz with a field of view of 45 degrees and ranging capability of 60m. The range-gated laser camera system is based on the third generation LUCIE (Laser Underwater Camera Image Enhancer) sensor originally developed by the Defence Research and Development Canada. LUCIE uses an eye-safe laser generating 1ns pulses at a wavelength of 532nm and at the rate of 25kHz. An intensified CCD camera operates with a gating mechanism synchronized with the laser pulse. The gate opens to let the camera capture photons from a given range of interest and can be set from a minimum delay of 5ns with increments of 200ps. The output of the sensor is a 30Hz video signal. Automatic ranging is achieved using a sonar altimeter. The BlueView sonar and LUCIE sensors are integrated with an underwater computer that controls the sensors parameters and displays the real-time data for the sonar and the laser camera. As an initial step for data integration, graphics overlays representing the laser camera field-of-view along with the gate position and width are overlaid on the sonar display. The HUC system can be manually handled by a diver and can also be controlled from a surface vessel through an umbilical cord. Recent test data obtained from the HUC system operated in a controlled underwater environment will be presented along with measured performance characteristics.

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Philip Church, Weilin Hou, Georges Fournier, Fraser Dalgleish, Derek Butler, Sergio Pari, Michael Jamieson, and David Pike "Overview of a hybrid underwater camera system", Proc. SPIE 9111, Ocean Sensing and Monitoring VI, 91110O (23 May 2014); https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2053365

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