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This is the second of many housings commissioned by the Manta
Network to house a computer-controlled video security camera/computer running face-recognition software.
Each housing is placed in 20-40 feet of water, is powered from shore, and sends data by fiber optic connection to a server on shore. The server is connected via the
Internet to a master server in California.
The first two units are a proof of concept test to develop the technology of identifying individual Mantas
using a modification of the face-recognition
application and placing each sighting into a growing database for the study of population dynamics of these creatures. The first units are planned for deployment in Hawaii, with many others in locations where Mantas are known to occur. |
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A graduate student with Oceanwide Science Institute in Hawaii
ordered this housing to hold a video camera and a special-purpose computer, large batteries to power the equipment, and an array of four hydrophones on the front.
The goal is to us the computer to provide filtering, digital signal processing, and recording of the audio for later analysis. Later, computations are made to calculate the source of sounds made by individuals within a school of Spinner dolphins in the wild. This data should help correlate vocalizations with behaviors by identifying which individual within the group is making the sound at each instant of the recorded actions.
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Test dive of the above housing with a simulation of the hydrophone array
(white plastic rods) at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology’s facility at Coconut Island.
The purpose of the dive was to determine the weight necessary to achieve neutral buoyancy and test the handling of the housing with the hydrophone array in place.
The hydrophones are about 1 inch diameter and will be placed on the ends of the rods, one at each of the three tips and one on the short rod in the center of the array. The housing proved easy to handle and required 6 pounds of shot bags, which can be seen temporarily inserted inside the handles. |
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| This shows the completed housing, with hydrophone
array attached, in operational use in the Bahamas. Photo
courtesy The Wild Dolphin Project. |
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| Michiel recording the vocalizations from a wild
spotted dolphin named Burgundy at the Wild Dolphin
Project in the Bahamas. |
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| (2005) The customer, Michiel Schotten of Amsterdam,
a PhD candidate at Groningen University, presents a
poster of his work at the Marine Mammal Conference in
San Diego in December 2005. |
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This housing was designed for use on a ROV for the University of Texas. It holds a video camera and media translator.
The customer added his own underwater connectors for power and signal. Designed for 1000 feet, the construction is similar to the Malaysia housing, except that the front door also has a field-interchangeable 4-inch dome port.
The housing is 6.5 inch outside diameter aluminum tube with 1/2 inch wall, with 14 inches of useable inside length.
The equipment mounts on a tray attached to the rear door. |
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| Close up view of the front door of the above housing, showing the attachment for the dome port. The dome has an o-ring groove on its flange, and is held in place by a retainer ring with screws through the ring into blind holes in the front door. |
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One of four housings for tiny TV cameras that were designed for use in a
Steller
Sea Lion tank at Vancouver Aquarium.
One was mounted on each wall of the rectangular tank, and the four images were multiplexed together as an aid in studying the feeding behavior of these animals.
Four more of these cameras are at Alaska Sealife Center
in another Steller project, this time studying the metabolic requirements of these critters. |
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| From the multiplexed images from the four cameras above, the researcher can determine the location in 3D space of the sea lion and its prey, as part of a study of the declining populations of these magnificent creatures.
Four more of these cameras are at Alaska Sealife Center
in another Steller project, this time studying the metabolic requirements of these critters.
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| This photo shows one of these housings mounted to the wall of a Steller tank at Alaska Sealife Center.
The power/video cable is enclosed by the black shield, to keep it away from the jaws of the large, curious sea mammals.
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Population biologists have been using trawl nets towed behind a boat to gather samples of marine life from the ocean. By examining animals and plants caught in the net, one can see what kinds creatures are there. The problem is that some kinds of animals are mobile, and move out of the way as the net approaches. A researcher in Malaysia devised the concept of having a camera mounted in the mouth of the net pointing forward. This enables the researcher to compare what was seen to what was caught for a more quantitative analysis than before.
This housing was designed for 1000 Meter depth, and is made of ˝” wall thickness 6” aluminum tube. End caps are 1-1/2” aluminum and acrylic, and have both bore and face seals. In this case, the camera runs continuously during the trawl deployment and the tape is reviewed after the transit. |
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Rear view of same housing above, showing valves used for purging the internal atmosphere with dry Nitrogen to remove the moisture and prevent condensation in the inside of the lens port.
The hose and hose clamps are a temporary handle. |
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Designed for recording the feeding behavior of great whales by a graduate student from the University of California, this housing incorporates a mount for a hydrophone (yellow box near lens).
The silver box above the lens is an impedance-matching amplifier to allow the hydrophone to serve as an external audio input to the video tape. There is also a removable weight tray on the bottom that allows fine-tuning of the buoyancy, and can be jettisoned in an emergency.
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Like the one above, this housing was used to study whale feeding behavior by a scientist at the University of Galviston. It also has a hydrophone mount outside above the lens and an impedance-matching amplifier inside under the lens.
In addition, this housing uses a small TV set to monitor the tape and act as a
viewfinder. All components are mounted on a tray for easy access.
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This housing for a Arriflex 16mm motion picture camera was made for Jim Larison of the Oregon State University Sea Grant program. He used
this housing in making two award-winning films: NOVA's "Farmers of the Sea" and National Geographic's "Riches of the Sea".
Note the inflatable float and protection around the underwater viewer. The light meter is in a separate housing located on the far side of the main housing. This housing is made of 1 inch thick acrylic.
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This Super-8 camera was a high-end camera in its day, with full auto-exposure and macro focus. Zoom control is located on the top of the housing, to be operated by the right thumb.
There is also a linkage connecting the right-trigger-finger Record control to the button at the front bottom of the camera.
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Like the housing above, this was designed for use at 150 feet.
Note the wire-frame gun sight, and the tilted-wheel focus control. This one had no zoom control.
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This housing was designed for 100 feet, and has controls for only Focus and Record. It also has a collapsible gunsight with parallax marks for different subject distances. |
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See More Examples of
Underwater Video Housings
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Other types of Housings
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