An Underwater Target Detection Algorithm Based on Attention Mechanism and Improved YOLOv7

For underwater robots in the process of performing target detection tasks,the color distortion and the uneven quality of underwater images lead to great difficulties in the feature extraction process of the model,which is prone to issues like error detection,omission detection,and poor accuracy.Therefore,this paper proposed the CER-YOLOv7(CBAM-EIOU-RepVGG-YOLOv7)underwater target detection algorithm.To improve the algorithm’s capability to retain valid features from both spatial and channel perspectives during the feature extraction phase,we have added a Convolutional Block Attention Module(CBAM)to the backbone network.The Reparameterization Visual Geometry Group(RepVGG)module is inserted into the backbone to improve the training and inference capabilities.The Efficient Intersection over Union(EIoU)loss is also used as the localization loss function,which reduces the error detection rate and missed detection rate of the algorithm.The experimental results of the CER-YOLOv7 algorithm on the UPRC(Underwater Robot Prototype Competition)dataset show that the mAP(mean Average Precision)score of the algorithm is 86.1%,which is a 2.2%improvement compared to the YOLOv7.The feasibility and validity of the CER-YOLOv7 are proved through ablation and comparison experiments,and it is more suitable for underwater target detection.

Innovative design and motion mechanism analysis for a multi-moving state autonomous underwater vehicles

In order to achieve the functional requirements of multi-moving state, a new autonomous underwater vehicle(AUV) provided with the functions such as the submarine vectorial thrust, landing on the sea bottom, wheel driving on the ground and crawling on the ground was designed. Then five new theories and methods were proposed about the motion mechanism of the AUV such as vectorial thruster technology, design of a new wheel propeller, kinematics and dynamics, navigation control and the ambient flow field in complex sea conditions, which can all conquer conventional technique shortages and predict the multi-moving state performance under wave disturbance. The theoretical research can realize the results such as a vectorial transmission shaft with the characteristics of spatial deflexion and continual circumgyratetion, parameterized design of the new wheel propeller with preferable open-water performance and intensity characteristics satisfying multi-moving state requirements, motion computation and kinetic analysis of AUV's arbitrary postures under wave disturbance, a second-order sliding mode controller with double-loop structure based on dynamic boundary layer that ensures AUV's trajectory high-precision tracking performance under wave disturbance, fast and exact prediction of the ambient flow field characteristics and the interaction mechanism between AUV hull and wheel propellers. The elaborate data obtained from the theoretical research can provide an important theoretical guidance and technical support for the manufacture of experimental prototype.

Handover Mechanism Based on Underwater Hybrid Software-Defined Modem in Advanced Diver Networks

For the past few decades,the internet of underwater things(IoUT)otained a lot of attention in mobile aquatic applications such as oceanography,diver network monitoring,unmanned underwater exploration,underwater surveillance,location tracking system,etc.Most of the IoUT applications rely on acoustic medium.The current IoUT applications face difficulty in delivering a reliable communication system due to the various technical limitations of IoUT environment such as low data rate,attenuation,limited bandwidth,limited battery,limited memory,connectivity problem,etc.One of the significant applications of IoUT include monitoring underwater diver networks.In order to perform a reliable and energy-efficient communication system in the underwater diver networks,a smart underwater hybrid softwaredefined modem(UHSDM)for the mobile ad-hoc network was developed that is used for selecting the best channel/medium among acoustic,visible light communication(VLC),and infrared(IR)based on the criteria established within the system.However,due to the mobility of underwater divers,the developed UHSDMmeets the challenges such as connectivity errors,frequent link failure,transmission delay caused by re-routing,etc.During emergency,the divers are most at the risk of survival.To deal with diver mobility,connectivity,energy efficiency,and reducing the latency in ADN,a handover mechanism based on pre-built UHSDM is proposed in this paper.This paper focuses on(1)design of UHSDM for ADN(2)propose the channel selection mechanism in UHSDM for selecting the best medium for handover and(3)propose handover protocol inADN.The implementation result shows that the proposed mechanism can be used to find the new route for divers in advance and the latency can be reduced significantly.Additionally,this paper shows the real field experiment of air tests and underwater tests with various distances.This research will contribute much to the profit of researchers in underwater diver networks and underwater networks,for improving the quality of services(QoS)of underwater applications.

Microstructure and mechanical properties of E36 steel joint welded by underwater wet welding

The microstructure and mechanical properties of E36 steel joint welded by underwater welding using flux-cored wire are comprehensively investigated. The welding depth, welding current and welding voltage is 4 m, 130 A and 32 V, respectively. The weld metal is ferrite which varies in size, with carbide particles distributed on it, while the microstructure of HAZ is mixture of martensite of different size and some tempered structure. The microhardness of the weld metal is 190 HV. Almost all the tensile specimens fracture in weld metal and the average tensile strength of joint is 390 MPa, which is equal to 80% that of base metal. The tensile fracture morphology of joint presents obviously the characterization of brittle fracture, which displays the features of cleavage fracture and intergranular fracture.

Metallurgical and Mechanical Properties of Underwater Laser Welds of Stainless Steel

In this paper, the microstructures and mechanical properties of underwater laser welds of Type 304 stainless steel were investigated. JISY308L type filler wire was used as filler wire during welding. A gas-shielding nozzle was used to form a local dry cavity surrounding the welding zone. The main results are summarized as follows: (1) The shielding condition of the local dry cavity severely affects the oxygen content of the weld, the worst shielding condition leading to the oxygen content of 800×10-6, which largely increases the oxide inclusions and somewhat reduces the ferrite content. (2) The increase of oxygen content reduces the elongation rate and reduction of area in tensile test, but has no influence on the tensile strength. (3) In appropriate shielding condition, the mechanical properties of the underwater laser welds can be as same as that in the air.

Mechanical properties of underwater friction stir welded 2219 aluminum alloy

Underwater friction stir welding of 2219 aluminum alloy was carried out in order to further improve the joint performances by varying welding temperature history.The results indicated that the tensile strength of the joint can be improved from 324 MPa by external water cooling action in normal to 341 MPa.However,the plasticity of the joint is deteriorated.The underwater joint tends to fracture at the interface between the weld nugget zone and the thermal mechanically affected zone on the advancing side during tensile test,which is significantly different from the normal joint.

Underwater Laser Welding/Cladding for High-performance Repair of Marine Metal Materials:A Review

With the rapid developments of marine resource exploitation,mounts of marine engineering equipment are settled on the ocean.When it is not possible to move the damaged equipment into a dry dock,welding operations must be performed in underwater environments.The underwater laser welding/cladding technique is a promising and advanced technique which could be widely applied to the maintenance of the damaged equipment.The present review paper aims to present a critical analysis and engineering overview of the underwater laser welding/cladding technique.First,we elaborated recent advances and key issues of drainage nozzles all over the world.Next,we presented the underwater laser processing and microstructural-mechanical behavior of repaired marine materials.Then,the newly developed powder-feeding based and wire-feeding based underwater laser direct metal deposition techniques were reviewed.The differences between the convection,conduction,and the metallurgical kinetics in the melt pools during underwater laser direct metal deposition and in-air laser direct metal deposition were illustrated.After that,several challenges that need to be overcame to achieve the full potential of the underwater laser welding/cladding technique are proposed.Finally,suggestions for future directions to aid the development of underwater laser welding/cladding technology and underwater metallurgical theory are provided.The present review will not only enrich the knowledge in the underwater repair technology,but also provide important guidance for the potential applications of the technology on the marine engineering.

Development of ICPF Actuated Underwater Microrobots

It is our target to develop underwater microrobots for medical and industrial applications. This kind of underwater microrobots should have the characteristics of flexibility, good response and safety. Its structure should be simple and it can be driven by low voltage and produces no pollution or noise. The low actuating voltage and quick bending responses of Ionic Conducting Polymer Film （ICPF） are considered very useful and attractive for constructing various types of actuators and sensors. In this paper, we will first study the characteristics of the ICPF actuator used in underwater microrobot to realize swimming and walking. Then, we propose a new prototype model of underwater swimming microrobot utilizing only one piece of ICPF as the servo actuator. Through theoretic analysis, the motion mechanism of the microrobot is illustrated. It can swim forward and vertically. The relationships between moving speed and signal voltage amplitude and signal frequency is obtained after experimental study. Lastly, we present a novel underwater crab-like walking microrobot named crabliker-1. It has eight legs, and each leg is made up of two pieces of ICPF. Three sample processes of the octopod gait are proposed with a new analyzing method. The experimental results indicate that the crab-like underwater microrobot can perform transverse and rotation movement when the legs of the crab collaborate.

Analysis of underwater decoupling properties of a locally resonant acoustic metamaterial coating

This paper presents a semi-analytical solution for the vibration and sound radiation of a semi-infinite plate covered by a decoupling layer consisting of locally resonant acoustic metamaterial. Formulations are derived based on a combination use of effective medium theory and the theory of elasticity for the decoupling material. Theoretical results show good agree- ments between the method developed in this paper and the conventional finite element method （FEM）, but the method of this paper is more efficient than FEM. Numerical results also show that system with acoustic metamaterial decoupling layer exhibits significant noise reduction performance at the local resonance frequency of the acoustic metamaterial, and such performance can be ascribed to the vibration suppression of the base plate. It is demonstrated that the effective density of acoustic metamaterial decoupling layer has a great influence on the mechanical impedance of the system. Furthermore, the resonance frequency of locally resonant structure can be effectively predicted by a simple model, and it can be significantly affected by the material properties of the locally resonant structure.

Shock wave and bubble characteristics of underwater array explosion of charges

In this study, we focused on the effect of the underwater explosion parameters of multi-point array explosion. The shock wave and bubble parameters of aggregate charge, two charges, and four charges were measured through an underwater explosion test, and their influence on the explosion power field of charge quantity and array distance was analyzed. Results show that the multi-shock wave collision of array explosion can be approximated to a linear superposition, and the interaction of delayed shock wave can be deemed as the increase of the shock wave baseline. Shock wave focusing and delayed superposition increase the shock wave peak pressure. Compared with the aggregate charge, the greater the number of array explosion points is, the higher the impulse and the gain of the bubble peak pressure are. At the same array distance, the smaller the charge quantity is, the higher the bubble impulse will be. At the same charge quantity, the smaller the array distance is, the higher the bubble impulse will be. The bubble period decreases gradually with the increase of the charge quantity, but the test orientation has little effect on the bubble period.

Trajectory Simulation for Underwater Vehicle with Power-Lunched

The motion of combustion gas bubble produced by underwater ignition was developed based on Rayleigh-Plesset equation. Combining the bubble motion equation with the underwater launched vehicle motion equation in the longitudinal plane,a trajectory simulation model with power-launched was established. The hydrodynamic characteristics of underwater ignition at different depths and the trajectory analysis of the underwater vehicle with power-launched were given by simulation. The simulation results have a good agreement with experimental results,and show that the thrust peak caused by underwater ignition and the stable thrust both decrease slightly with the increase of the water depth,and the thrust peak will decline obviously by enlarging the initial radius of gas bubble; the thrust peak generated at the instant of ignition and the low-frequency oscillation of the stable thrust have no significant influence on the trajectory of underwater vehicle.

Design Research on Drive System of Underwater Tapping Machine

The underwater tapping machine is composed of a center bit, a tapping cutter, a seal box, a main drive box, a boring bar assembly, a envelop, a gear case, a counter and so on. The drive system in underwater tapping machine consists of a worm drive, a gear drive system and a screw drive. The worm drive is in the main drive box. The worm is connected with a hydraulic motor and driven by the hydraulic motor. The gear drive system is a combined gear train which is the combinations of the fixed axes and differential gear train in the gear case. On the one hand, by means of the fixed axes gear trains the turn and power of transmission shaft are transferred to the boring bar and the screw rod, causing differential turn between the boring bar and the screw rod. On the other hand, the turns of the boring bar and the screw rod are transferred to the differential gear train. The differential gear train is used to drive a special counter to count axial travel of the boring bar. The screw drive is composed of a feed screw and a nut on the boring bar. There is the differential turn between the boring bar and the feed screw. By means of the nut, the boring bar can feed automatically. With the movement of the sliding gear 7 in the gear case, the designed drive system can also be provided with the ability of fast forward and fast backward movement of the boring bar in its idle motion, resulting in the increase of the tapping efficiency.

Determination of rock resistant coefficient based on Mohr-Coulomb criterion for underwater tunnel

According to the load-structure method, the wall rock with lining can bear the load caused by the surrounding rock, and the rock resistant coefficient (RRC) is a key parameter for evaluating the capacity of this wall rock. Based on the Mohr-Coulomb yield criterion, this paper develops a formula for calculating the RRC, which has been applied to the real engi-neering project, such as Xiamen Xiang’an East Passage Underwater Tunnel Project. The fact shows that this formula is helpful for designers to determine the RRC value.

Numerical Calculation of Supercavitating Flows over the Disk Cavitator of a Subsonic Underwater Projectile

为了在 supercavitating 上处理可压缩的液体的效果，溢出射弹的亚声的磁盘 cavitator，一个有限的卷方法基于理想的可压缩的潜在的理论被提出。由使用连续性方程和 Tait 状态方程以及 Riabouchinsky 闭合模型，一个反的问题答案为 supercavitating 流动被介绍。根据 supercavity 的表面上的刺不进的条件，为 supercavity 形状的一个新反复的方法被设计在 supercavity 形状上处理压缩的可能性的效果，压力拖系数和密度地。由这个方法，低成穴数字能被计算。计算结果与试验性的数据和实验公式同意很好。以亚声的条件，液体压缩的可能性将使 supercavity 成为长度和半径增加。supercavity 扩展，但是留下球状体。supercavity 的第一 1/3 部分上的效果不是明显的。成穴数字或马赫数字增加的射弹增加的 drag 系数。与马赫数字增加，压缩的可能性是越来越重要的。根据 supercavitating 流动的精确计算被担心，压缩的可能性必须被考虑。

Influence of water vapor concentration on discharge dynamics and reaction products of underwater discharge within a He/H2O-filled bubble at atmospheric pressure

In this study,a two-dimensional fluid model is proposed to simulate the underwater discharge in a He/H2O-filled bubble at atmospheric pressure.The molar fraction of water vapor is varied in the range of 0.01%-1%to investigate the dependence of discharge dynamics and reaction products on water vapor concentration(WVC).The numerical results show that most properties of the discharge sensitively depend on the WVC.The increase of WVC leads to an increase in the electron density and discharge propagation velocity,which is attributed to Penning ionization between He*and H2O.The main positive ion switches from He+to H2O+,while the WVC increases from 0.01%to 1%.The dominant reactive oxygen species is OH,whose peak density is about two orders of magnitude higher than that of O.Besides,the densities of OH and O radicals increase with the increasing WVC.It is shown that the formation mechanism of O radicals is significantly affected by the WVC.The dominant reaction creating O radicals changes from the charge exchange between He2+and H2O to the electron impact dissociation of H2O as the WVC increases from 0.01%to 1%.This study is helpful for better understanding the application of non-thermal plasmas discharges in water,such as biomedical,environmental engineering.

Effect of GGBS on performance deterioration of non-dispersible underwater concrete in saline soil

In saline soil areas,there are a large number of ions in soil or water environments,such as Cl^(-)and SO_(4)^(2-),which have strong corrosive interactions with buildings.To study the deterioration of non-dispersible underwater concrete in sulfate,chloride,and mixed salt environments,the compressive strength and deterioration resistance coefficient of the studied concrete mixed with different amounts of ground granulated blast-furnace slag(GGBS)were analyzed in this paper.At the same time,the micro morphology and corrosion products distribution of the studied concrete were observed by means of SEM,plus XRD diffraction,TG-DTG and FT-IR analyses to explore the influence of corrosive solutions on the hydration products of concrete.We also analyzed the mechanism of improving the deterioration resistance of the studied concrete by adding GGBS in a saline soil environment.The results show that the compressive strength of the studied concrete in a chloride environment was close to that in a fresh water environment,which means that chloride has no adverse effect on compressive strength.The deterioration of the studied concrete was most serious in a sulfate environment,followed by mixed salt environment,and the lowest in a chloride environment.In addition,by adding GGBS,the compressive strength and deterioration resistance of the studied concrete could be effectively improved.

Design,Hydrodynamic Analysis,and Testing of a Bio-inspired Movable Bow Mechanism for the Hybrid-driven Underwater Glider

Hybrid-driven Underwater Glider(HUG)is a new type of underwater vehicle which integrates the functions of an Autonomous Underwater Glider(AUG)and an Autonomous Unmanned Vehicle(AUV).Although HUG has the characteristics of long endurance distance,its maneuverability still has room to be improved.This work introduces a new movement form of the neck of the underwater creature into HUG and proposes a parallel mechanism to adjust the attitude angle and displacement of the HUG’s bow,which can improve the steering maneuverability.Firstly,the influence of bow movement and rotation on the hydrodynamic force and flow field of the whole machine is analyzed by using the Computational Fluid Dynamics(CFD)method.The degree of freedom,attitude control range and movement amount of the Movable Bow Mechanism(MBM)are obtained,and then the design of MBM is completed based on these constraints.Secondly,the kinematic and dynamic models of MBM are established based on the closed vector method and the Lagrange equation,respectively,which are fully verified by comparing the results of simulation in Matlab and Adams software,then a Radial Basis Function(RBF)neural network adaptive sliding mode controller is designed to improve the dynamic response effect of the output parameters of MBM.Finally,a prototype of MBM is manufactured and assembled.The kinematic,dynamics model and controller are verified by experiments,which provides a basis for applying MBM in HUGs.

改进生成对抗网络水下图像增强方法

针对水下图像颜色失真和细节模糊的问题,提出一种基于改进生成对抗网络的水下图像增强方法。该方法将生成对抗网络作为基础架构,生成网络采用编码解码结构,并引入RGB颜色空间块、HSV颜色空间块和注意力机制;RGB块可以更好地去噪和去除偏色,HSV颜色空间可以调整水下图像的亮度、颜色和饱和度,最后生成网络通过分配权重来生成图像。判别网络采用类似马尔科夫判别器的结构。此外,通过构建全局相似和内容感知多项损失函数,使生成的图像在色彩、内容、结构上和参考图像保持一致。实验表明,所提出的方法在主观比较和客观指标上都有很好的表现。其中结构相似度、峰值信噪比、水下彩色质量评估和水下图像质量度量在合成水下图像测试集的平均值分别为0.7746、19.2758、0.4889和3.3124。在真实水下图像测试集的平均值分别为0.9000、24.2636、0.4499和3.1619。在主观评价和客观评价指标上,综合比较,该文算法实验结果均优于对比算法。

基于改进U-Net的水下图像增强算法

针对水下退化图像存在颜色失真、模糊雾化、对比度低等问题,提出了一种新的基于改进U-Net的水下图像增强算法。设计一种新的残差注意力结构和边缘检测模块并将其引入到U-Net网络中,构建改进后的水下图像增强算法。实验结果表明,本文提出的算法在校正水下色偏和增强对比度方面均得到了很好的效果,IE值较原始图像平均提高了14.2%,UCIQE值较原始图像平均提高了24%。消融实验结果表明,本文提出的残差注意力结构、边缘检测模块和损失函数均对水下图像增强起到了积极的效果。

基于改进Deformable-DETR的水下图像目标检测方法

针对由于水下复杂环境造成的目标检测效果较差、检测精度较低的问题,基于Deformable-DETR算法提出一种改进的水下目标检测算法Deformable-DETR-DA。使用空间注意力模块结合标准Transformer块设计了一个用于增加模型深度的深度特征金字塔(deep feature pyramid networks,DFPN)模块,将其嵌入到模型中提高模型对深层纹理信息的提取能力。使用注意力引导的方式对原模型中编码器部分进行改进,加强了对特征信息的聚合能力,提高了模型在复杂环境下的检测能力。针对URPC数据集,模型各交并比尺度的平均准确度(average precision,AP)为39.5%,相比原模型提升1%,与一些DETR(detection transformer)类的模型相比,不同目标尺度的平均准确度均有1%~4%左右的提高,表明改进的模型能够很好解决复杂环境的水下目标检测的问题。本文提出的模型可作为其他水下目标检测模型设计的参考。