BU Marine Program Video Gathering
Part of the research for the scientists from the BU Marine Program is to understand the composition of the seabed, which requires the on-field gathering of seabed samples. The current sample gathering process involves the hiring of local divers or sticking a 10 feet long vacuum tube into random locations of the seabed, both of which can be costly in terms of the money and time. Also, in many instances, the results are not predictable.
The researchers are looking for means that can quickly survey a large area of the seafloor with real-time visual feedback prior to the gathering of the sample, as locating indicators on the seafloor, such as the distribution of the mussels, can already convey a good amount of knowledge prior to the gathering about whether this area is worth exploiting or not.
Our Solution
The solution our team proposed was to construct a surveillance system that consists of three subsystem - an underwater remote-operated vehicle (ROV), a floater tethered to the ROV that serves as an intermediary of the signal, as well as a control panel GUI on the user's laptop.
The ROV is equipped with two thrusters for horizontal 2D motion and two cameras for video gathering of the seabed and frontal view. The depth is controlled by a third stepper on the floater via a tether connection. In addition to the stepper and battery source, the floater also houses a wireless router that connects via an Ethernet cable to the ROV’s Raspberry Pi. The router transmits commands and video from and to the GUI on users' laptops with a self-generated WIFI network on the sea surface. Through this Ethernet-Wifi connection, the user is able to interact with the underwater vehicle, monitor the in-capsule status such as temperature and pressure, and observe the seabed condition via a real-time video stream through the GUI.
Floater
Underwater Vehicle
Camera GUI
To have a better understanding as to how the over mechanism might behave, we built a simple yet accurate mini-system using a fishing camera and the takeout lunch box from our favorite Thai restaurant
Concept-Proofing Using Existing Materials
lunchbox + fishing camera
Circuitry & Exterior Design Polishing
After proving the hanging mechanism works, we went straight into circuitry designing as well as conceptual final outlook, which can be seen as below. The CAD files shown above in the headline are indeed generated during this phase. (To be continued…)
