![]() They solved both problems simultaneously using red, green, and blue LEDs. It took a fair amount of creativity to figure out how to do this,” Adib says. “We were trying to minimize the hardware as much as possible, and that creates new constraints on how to build the system, send information, and perform image reconstruction. And since most underwater environments lack a light source, they needed to develop a low-power flash, too. But these sensors only capture grayscale images. To keep power consumption as a low as possible, the researchers used off-the-shelf, ultra-low-power imaging sensors. The camera stores harvested energy until it has built up enough to power the electronics that take photos and communicate data. Those sound waves could come from any source, like a passing ship or marine life. When a sound wave traveling through the water hits the transducers, they vibrate and convert that mechanical energy into electrical energy. ![]() Piezoelectric materials produce an electric signal when a mechanical force is applied to them. The camera acquires energy using transducers made from piezoelectric materials that are placed around its exterior. To build a camera that could operate autonomously for long periods, the researchers needed a device that could harvest energy underwater on its own while consuming very little power. The paper is published today in Nature Communications. Joining Adib on the paper are co-lead authors and Signal Kinetics group research assistants Sayed Saad Afzal, Waleed Akbar, and Osvy Rodriguez, as well as research scientist Unsoo Ha, and former group researchers Mario Doumet and Reza Ghaffarivardavagh. This technology could help us build more accurate climate models and better understand how climate change impacts the underwater world,” says Fadel Adib, associate professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and director of the Signal Kinetics group in the MIT Media Lab, and senior author of a new paper on the system. We are building climate models, but we are missing data from over 95 percent of the ocean. ![]() “One of the most exciting applications of this camera for me personally is in the context of climate monitoring. It could also be used to capture images of ocean pollution or monitor the health and growth of fish raised in aquaculture farms. After capturing and encoding image data, the camera also uses sound waves to transmit data to a receiver that reconstructs the image.īecause it doesn’t need a power source, the camera could run for weeks on end before retrieval, enabling scientists to search remote parts of the ocean for new species. It converts mechanical energy from sound waves traveling through water into electrical energy that powers its imaging and communications equipment. The autonomous camera is powered by sound. The device takes color photos, even in dark underwater environments, and transmits image data wirelessly through the water. MIT researchers have taken a major step to overcome this problem by developing a battery-free, wireless underwater camera that is about 100,000 times more energy-efficient than other undersea cameras. The high cost of powering an underwater camera for a long time, by tethering it to a research vessel or sending a ship to recharge its batteries, is a steep challenge preventing widespread undersea exploration. Scientists estimate that more than 95 percent of Earth’s oceans have never been observed, which means we have seen less of our planet’s ocean than we have the far side of the moon or the surface of Mars.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |