The Stuff of Science Fiction Made Scientific Reality
University of Aberdeen and European Partners Develop Pioneering
Underwater Holographic Camera
A camera so advanced that it takes three-dimensional photos that can be exactly reproduced by lasers? Not outside of ‘Star Trek’, some might say. But a team of eight European partners led by the University of Aberdeen have now developed exactly that.
The project was awarded a £1 million grant over three years from the Marine Science and Technology Initiative of the European Commission. Entitled ‘HOLOMAR’ (High resolution HOLOgraphic recording and analysis of MARine organisms and particles), the project was led by the University’s Department of Engineering. The project partners are Southampton Oceanography Centre and Brunel University in England, Holo 3 and Quantel in France, the Universities of Genova and Udine in Italy, and Nemko in Norway.
Holographic imaging allows non-intrusive and non-destructive recording of living organisms and particles in the natural environment. A volume of water about the size of a baby’s bathtub can be captured in a single exposure that “freezes” the organisms in their original position. This is important since it enables researchers to gain knowledge of the relative location of organisms to each other and use this information to determine predator-prey relationships and breeding patterns.
Dr. John Watson, Reader in the Department of Engineering, and Project Coordinator said: “HOLOMAR has been an exciting and demanding project to coordinate and to be a part of. The team spirit has been outstanding and has shown how valuable and fruitful cross-disciplinary and multi-national work can be. Holography can provide marine biologists with information that has been difficult or impossible for them to obtain by other means, and it is our hope that, as the power and benefits of the technique are realised, our system will find widespread use amongst the marine biological community and will prove to be an invaluable tool in biological science.
“Improved knowledge of plankton species, location and distribution will help to enhance our awareness of the environment and provide a better understanding of the health of the oceans and its influence, for example, on fish stocks. Our thanks go to the European Commission for funding the work and enabling us to put our ideas into practice and to our respective Institutions for their invaluable support and encouragement throughout this work. “
The camera works at depths down to 100 meters, or approximately 300 feet. Coupled with the camera (HOLOCAM) has been the development of an associated hologram readout system (HOLOSCAN) which allows the precision replay of the holographic image, and a suite of computer programmes and algorithms (HOLODATA) to allow tracking of the image followed by identification, relative location and concentration of species.
The prototype underwater holographic camera will leave Aberdeen on the 6th of September for Southampton. It will be publicly launched in Southampton at the Southampton Oceanography Centre on the 26th of September when it will begin a series of dockside trials. It is capable of either ship deployment or attached to a fixed buoy, is remotely automated and controllable, and may be equipped with other sensors (such as temperature, salinity and pressure) as needed.
Following the successful completion of the trials, it will begin active duty in September, when
Dr Richard Lampitt, Principal Scientific Officer at the Southampton Oceanography Centre, and his team will begin conducting research voyages around the coast of Britain.
Dr Lampitt said: “One of the big problems in oceanography to date has been the fact that samples have been collected using nets and water bottles and then squashed into tiny jars for examination. This gives no information as to whether the particles and organisms collected were several meters away from each other or right next door, and no indication as to their relationships in the marine ecosystem. With the HOLOMAR camera, this has now all been changed, and the potential for new discoveries is very exciting."
There are currently no similar systems in the marketplace comparable to the HOLOMAR technology. Other potential markets for its non-invasive measurement and analysis applications besides oceanographic science include the offshore oil industry, where it can be used to analyse pipeline fractures; the nuclear industry, for use in dry land hazardous environments; meteorology, for droplet analysis; and marine archaeology, to view wrecks and underwater formations.
Further information from:
University Press Office on telephone +44 (0)1224-273778 or email a.ramsay@admin.abdn.ac.uk.