Abstract :
Underwater inspection and work operations are often restricted by turbid water caused by soft particles being stirred up by current, moving vehicles, thrusters, tools etc. A three dimensional real-time acoustic camera is being developed by OmniTech. The camera will be able to provide acoustically based visual information to the user of an ROV-even if turbidity restricts optical sight. As the update frequency of the acoustic image is 5 Hz, the acoustic camera can be used as a real time image sensor during work operations. Unlike conventional sonars, the camera provides three dimensional information and the image is based upon one acoustic pulse-making the camera virtually insensitive to movement
