Detecting large-scale underwater cracks based on remote operated vehicle and graph convolutional neural network

It is of great significance to quickly detect underwater cracks as they can seriously threaten the safety of underwater structures.Research to date has mainly focused on the detection of above-water-level cracks and hasn’t considered the large scale cracks.In this paper,a large-scale underwater crack examination method is proposed based on image stitching and segmentation.In addition,a purpose of this paper is to design a new convolution method to segment underwater images.An improved As-Projective-As-Possible(APAP)algorithm was designed to extract and stitch keyframes from videos.The graph convolutional neural network(GCN)was used to segment the stitched image.The GCN’s m-IOU is 24.02%higher than Fully convolutional networks(FCN),proving that GCN has great potential of application in image segmentation and underwater image processing.The result shows that the improved APAP algorithm and GCN can adapt to complex underwater environments and perform well in different study areas.

Research on Hydrodynamics Model Test for Deepsea Open-Framed Remotely Operated Vehicle

This paper presents the features of newly designed hydrodynamics test for the scaled model of 4500 m deepsea open-framed remotely operated vehicle （ROV）, which is being researched and developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Accurate hydrodynamics coefficients measurement and spatial modeling of ROV are significant for the maneuverability and control algorithm. The scaled model of ROV was constructed by 1：1.6. Hydrodynamics coefficients were measured through VPMM and LAHPMM towing test. And dynamics model was derived as a set of equations, describing nonlinear and coupled 5-DOF spatial motions. Rotation control motion was simulated to verify spatial model proposed. Research and application of hydrodynamics coefficients are expected to enable ROV to overcome uncertainty and disturbances of deepsea environment, and accomplish some more challengeable and practical missions.

Multi-role Remotely Operated Marine Surface Vehicle

Development of man-packable,versatile marine surface vehicle with ability to rescue a drowning victim and also capable of carrying mission specific sensor is explored.Design thinking methodology is implemented by using existing equipment/platform with the addition of external attachment to make it a functional product.Iterative prototyping process with extensive testing to achieve user-centric solution.Individual prototypes and their possible sub-configurations with their integration and characteristics are studied and compared with numerical model,inferences obtained are utilised to improve for the next iteration.A novel hinge-clamp assembly enables this marine surface vehicle to operate in the event of an overturn,this phenomenon is further studied with the aid of a mathematical model(Pendulum in a fluid).This research project aims to demonstrate a multi-role unmanned surface vehicle.

深水ROV工具篮子结构设计载荷与屈服强度分析

水下机器人ROV(remote operated vehicle)工具篮子用于在陆地和深海中储存ROV安装工具,除方便ROV进行操作外,同时给ROV工具提供保护,能够很好地适应深远海环境,是水下生产系统的重要组成部件。其深海安装作业风险高、要求严,研究其安装全过程工况的强度性能对确保整个水下生产系统平稳运行具有重要作用。针对南海陵水气田使用的ROV工具篮子深海多种典型工况,计算得到设计载荷,然后对其进行有限元建模分析,计算不同载荷工况下的应力响应,对结构的屈服强度进行校核,以确保整体结构强度满足安全规范要求。计算结果表明:ROV工具篮子在多种提升工况、冲击工况以及运输工况下结构屈服强度均满足规范要求,在此基础上,指导现场使用的ROV工具篮子设计,整个海上安装及水下运行安全可靠。研究成果可为ROV工具篮子以及类似水下结构物的结构设计和深海安装提供理论基础和技术参考。

Design of motion control of dam safety inspection underwater vehicle

Plenty of dams in China are in danger while there are few effective methods for underwater dam inspections of hidden problems such as conduits,cracks and inanitions.The dam safety inspection remotely operated vehicle(DSIROV) is designed to solve these problems which can be equipped with many advanced sensors such as acoustical,optical and electrical sensors for underwater dam inspection.A least-square parameter estimation method is utilized to estimate the hydrodynamic coefficients of DSIROV,and a four degree-of-freedom(DOF) simulation system is constructed.The architecture of DSIROV's motion control system is introduced,which includes hardware and software structures.The hardware based on PC104 BUS,uses AMD ELAN520 as the controller's embedded CPU and all control modules work in VxWorks real-time operating system.Information flow of the motion system of DSIROV,automatic control of dam scanning and dead-reckoning algorithm for navigation are also discussed.The reliability of DSIROV's control system can be verified and the control system can fulfill the motion control mission because embankment checking can be demonstrated by the lake trials.

Using Unmanned Underwater Vehicles as Research Platforms in Coastal Ocean Studies

The advantages of using unmanned underwater vehicles in coastal ocean studies are emphasized. Two types of representative vehicles, remotely operated vehicle (ROV) and autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) from University of South Florida, are discussed. Two individual modular sensor packages designed and tested for these platforms and field measurement results are also presented. The bottom classification and albedo package, BCAP, provides fast and accurate estimates of bottom albedos, along with other parameters such as in-water remote sensing reflectance. The real-time ocean bottom optical topographer, ROBOT, reveals high-resolution 3-dimentional bottom topography for target identification. Field data and results from recent Coastal Benthic Optical Properties field campaign, 1999 and 2000, are presented. Advantages and limitations of these vehicles and applications of modular sensor packages are compared and discussed.

OBLIQUE TOWING TEST AND MANEUVER SIMULATION AT LOW SPEED AND LARGE DRIFT ANGLE FOR DEEP SEA OPEN-FRAMED REMOTELY OPERATED VEHICLE

This article presents the newly designed oblique towing test in the horizontal plane for the scaled model of 4 500 m deep sea open-framed Remotely Operated Vehicle （ROV）,which is being researched and developed by Shanghai Jiao Tong University.Accurate hydrodynamics coefficients measurement is significant for the maneuverability and control system design.The scaled model of ROV was constructed by 1：1.6.Hydrodynamics tests of large drift angle were conducted through Large Amplitude Horizontal Planar Motion Mechanism （LAHPMM） under low speed.Multiple regression method is adopted to process the test data and obtain the related hydrodynamic coefficients.Simulations were designed for the horizontal plane motion of large drift angle to verify the coefficients calculated.And the results show that the data can satisfy with the design requirements of the ROV developed.

Automatic analysis of deep-water remotely operated vehicle footage for estimation of Norway lobster abundance

Underwater imaging is being used increasingly by marine biologists as a means to assess the abundance of marine resources and their biodiversity. Previously, we developed the first automatic approach for estimating the abundance of Norway lobsters and counting their burrows in video sequences captured using a monochrome camera mounted on trawling gear. In this paper, an alternative framework is proposed and tested using deep-water video sequences acquired via a remotely operated vehicle. The proposed framework consists of four modules:(1) preprocessing,(2) object detection and classification,(3) object-tracking, and(4) quantification. Encouraging results were obtained from available test videos for the automatic video-based abundance estimation in comparison with manual counts by human experts(ground truth). For the available test set, the proposed system achieved 100%precision and recall for lobster counting, and around 83% precision and recall for burrow detection.

An approach to operational risk modeling and estimation of safety levels for deep water work class remotely operated vehicle-A case study with reference to ROSUB 6000

This paper presents a quantitative approach to operational risk modeling and estimation of safety integrity levels,required for the deep water electric work class remotely operated vehicle with reference to ROSUB6000 developed by the National Institute of Ocean Technology,India.ROSUB6000 is used for carrying out bathymetric surveys,gas hydrate surveys,poly-metallic nodule exploration,salvage operations,and meeting emergency response situations.The system is expected to be in operation for a period of 300 h per year,and has to be extremely safe and reliable.Methods and models for the quantitative assessment of operational safety and estimation of safety integrity levels for ROV are seldom available in the deep water intervention industry.The safety instrumented functions implemented in the ROV should be able to meet the SIL requirements of specific mission.This study indicates that the required safety factors are implemented into the design of the state-of-the-art ROV ROSUB 6000,considering IEC 61508/61511 recommendations on Health,Safety and Environment and it is found that the system is able to meet the required SIL for seven identified functions.This paper gives the design and safety engineers in the ROV industry,an overview of the numerical operational risk assessment methods and safety-centered ROV engineering.

A Hull-Inspect ROV Control System Architecture

The control architectures of ＂SY-2＂ Remote Operated Vehicle （ROV） are introduced. Both hardware architecture and software architecture are discussed. PC/104 embedded computer is used to control equipment for collecting sensor data and sending control commands. PC/104 embedded computer is integrated with A/D, D/A, 8 serial ports card and power supply unit. The surface computer is a X86PC. They transfer data through a fiber line. For software, real-time OS VxWorks is embedded in PC/104. A/D, D/A and serial ports operation are based on VxWorks OS, which increase the real-time quality of control system. Surface computer is the center of motion control and data processing. It is communicated with underwater PC/104 by socket. The whole system has been tested both on land and in tank.

ROV Based Underwater Blurred Image Restoration

In this paper, we present a method of ROV based image processing to restore underwater blurry images from the theory of light and image transmission in the sea. Computer is used to simulate the maximum detection range of the ROV under different water body conditions. The receiving irradiance of the video camera at different detection ranges is also calculated. The ROV’s detection performance under different water body conditions is given by simulation. We restore the underwater blurry images using the Wiener filter based on the simulation. The Wiener filter is shown to be a simple useful method for underwater image restoration in the ROV underwater experiments. We also present examples of restored images of an underwater standard target taken by the video camera in these experiments.

Virtual Reality Simulation of Fuzzy-logic Control during Underwater Dynamic Positioning

In this paper, graphical-user-interface （GUI） software for simulation and fuzzy-logic control of a remotely operated vehicle （ROV） using MATLABTM GUI Designing Environment is proposed. The proposed ROV＇s GUI platform allows the controller such as fuzzy-logic control systems design to be compared with other controllers such as proportional-integral-derivative （PID） and sliding-mode controller （SMC） systematically and interactively. External disturbance such as sea current can he added to improve the modelling in actual underwater environment. The simulated results showed the position responses of the fuzzy-logic control exhibit reasonable performance under the sea current disturbance.

Dynamics analysis of planar armored cable motion in deep-sea ROV system

The armored cable used in a deep-sea remotely operated vehicle(ROV) may undergo large displacement motion when subjected to dynamic actions of ship heave motion and ocean current. A novel geometrically exact finite element model for two-dimensional dynamic analysis of armored cable is presented. This model accounts for the geometric nonlinearities of large displacement of the armored cable, and effects of axial load and bending stiffness. The governing equations are derived by consistent linearization and finite element discretization of the total weak form of the armored cable system, and solved by the Newmark time integration method. To make the solution procedure avoid falling into the local extreme points, a simple adaptive stepping strategy is proposed. The presented model is validated via actual measured data. Results for dynamic configurations, motion and tension of both ends of the armored cable, and resonance-zone are presented for two numerical cases, including the dynamic analysis under the case of only ship heave motion and the case of joint action of ship heave motion and ocean current. The dynamics analysis can provide important reference for the design or product selection of the armored cable in a deep-sea ROV system so as to improve the safety of its marine operation under the sea state of 4 or above.

Development of a Robot for In-service Radiography Inspection of Subsea Flexible Risers

The extreme operational environmental conditions and aging conditions of subsea structures pose a risk to their structural integrity and is critical to their safety.Nondestructive testing is essential to identify defects developing within the structure,allowing repair in a timely manner to mitigate against failures that cause damage to the environment and pose a hazard to human operators.However,to be cost effective,inspections must be carried out without taking the risers out of service.This poses significant safety risks if undertaken manually.This paper presents the development of an automated inspection system for flexible risers that are used to connect wellheads on the seafloor to the offshore production and storage facility.Due to the complex structure of risers,radiography is considered as the best technique to inspect multiple layers of the risers.However,radiography inspection,in turn,requires a robotic system for in-situ inspection with higher payload capacity,precise movement of source and detector which is able to withstand an extreme operational environment.The deployment of a radiography inspection system hasbeen achieved bydeveloping acustomized subsearobotic system called RiserSure that can provide precise scanning motion of a gamma ray source and digital detector moving in alignment.The prototype has been tested on a flexible riser during shallow water sea trials with the system placed around a riser by a remotely operated vehicle.The results from the trials show that the internal inner and outer tensile armor layer and defects in the riser can be successfully imaged in real operational conditions.

Effects of large-amplitude internal solitary waves on ROV operation--A numerical study

Remotely operated vehicles(ROVs) are unique tools for underwater industrial exploration and scientific research of offshore areas and the deep ocean. With broadening application of ROVs, the study of factors that affect their safe operation is important. Besides the technical skills to control ROV movement, the dynamical ocean environment may also play a vital role in the safe operation of ROVs. In this paper, we investigate the influence of large-amplitude internal solitary waves(ISWs), focusing on the forces exerted on ROVs by ISWs. We present a methodology for modeling ISW-induced currents based on Kd V model and calculate the ISW forces using the Morrison equation. Our results show that an extremely considerable load is exerted by the ISW on the ROV, resulting in a strong disturbance of the vehicle's stability, affecting the ROV control. The numerical results of this work emphasize the importance of considering dynamical conditions when operating underwater vessels, such as ROV. Further laboratory and field investigation are suggested to gain more understanding of this subject.

Efficient Identification of water conveyance tunnels siltation based on ensemble deep learning

The inspection of water conveyance tunnels plays an important role in water diversion projects.Siltation is an essential factor threatening the safety of water conveyance tunnels.Accurate and efficient identification of such siltation can reduce risks and enhance safety and reliability of these projects.The remotely operated vehicle(ROV)can detect such siltation.However,it needs to improve its intelligent recognition of image data it obtains.This paper introduces the idea of ensemble deep learning.Based on the VGG16 network,a compact convolutional neural network(CNN)is designed as a primary learner,called Silt-net,which is used to identify the siltation images.At the same time,the fully-connected network is applied as the meta-learner,and stacking ensemble learning is combined with the outputs of the primary classifiers to obtain satisfactory classification results.Finally,several evaluation metrics are used to measure the performance of the proposed method.The experimental results on the siltation dataset show that the classification accuracy of the proposed method reaches 97.2%,which is far better than the accuracy of other classifiers.Furthermore,the proposed method can weigh the accuracy and model complexity on a platform with limited computing resources.