Seeing through murky waters

透视浑浊水域

When remotely operated vehicles settle on the seafloor or dig through a sand bed, they can kick up clouds of sediment that onboard cameras struggle to see through. Often, the only thing to do is wait until the dust settles. 当遥控潜水器（ROV）降落在海底或挖掘沙床时，它们会扬起阵阵沉积物，导致机载摄像头难以看清周围环境。通常，唯一的办法就是等待尘埃落定。

But a new system developed by Amy Phung, SM ’23, PhD ’26, and her advisor Richard Camilli, SM ’00, PhD ’03, of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), offers a solution. In this technique, the vehicle first uses sonar to quickly map its surroundings. That technology doesn’t provide detailed resolution, but it works equally well in cloudy and clear water. And it allows a vehicle to safely get close enough to specific objects for cameras to visualize them more carefully. 但伍兹霍尔海洋研究所（WHOI）的 Amy Phung（2023届硕士、2026届博士）及其导师 Richard Camilli（2000届硕士、2003届博士）开发的一套新系统提供了一种解决方案。在这种技术中，潜水器首先利用声纳快速绘制周围环境的地图。虽然该技术无法提供高分辨率的细节，但它在浑浊和清澈的水中同样有效。它能让潜水器安全地靠近特定物体，从而使摄像头能够更清晰地捕捉到它们的影像。

To speed up the processing so the mapping can be done in real time, the researchers combined the sonar tech with an image-matching algorithm developed by researchers in France that quickly estimates the relative depth of each pixel in a 2D scene. 为了加快处理速度以实现实时测绘，研究人员将声纳技术与法国研究人员开发的一种图像匹配算法相结合，该算法可以快速估算二维场景中每个像素的相对深度。

“An analogy would be if you were to go into a china shop in the dark, and try to pick your way around to find a specific coffee mug without knocking things over,” Camilli says of their new technique. “This would allow you to do that.” He and Phung say applications could include scientific exploration, underwater construction and maintenance, and handling of unexploded undersea mines. “打个比方，如果你在黑暗中走进一家瓷器店，试图在不碰倒东西的情况下找到一个特定的咖啡杯，”Camilli 在谈到他们的新技术时说，“这项技术就能让你做到这一点。”他和 Phung 表示，该技术的应用领域包括科学考察、水下施工与维护，以及处理未爆炸的水下地雷等。