QUANTITATIVE LOW-LIGHT IMAGING FOR MBARI'sAUV'S 900250 (McBRIDE)



Rob Sherlock explained the current video transect process and 
identification method to the core team.  I have been compiling 
requirements into a functional requirements document.  Preliminary 
comparison of the desired mission to AUV capabilities was 
completed, and an initial power budget came out of the analysis.   
I put together a spreadsheet for comparing various "low-light" 
cameras and the HDTV camera.  Jon Erickson has compiled a simple 
mathematical light attenuation model and has applied the model to 
Tiburon's lighting/camera for comparison to our lighting solution.  
He is now trying to expand the model to accomodate various light 
sources including LEDs and laser.  Duane Edgington and Mike McCann, 
on his personal interest time, are studying and evaluating video 
compression capabilities and will present their findings at the 
next team meeting.  Rob Sherlock has been studying video stream 
timing variations to evaluate identification ratios.  I have been 
studying laser scanning as a light source.  The team will continue 
to focus on lighting and video compression aspects.  
(http://mww.mbari.org/llim).