Remote visualization and management tools for underwater operations

This paper introduces a new set of software tools that integrate near-real-time visualization with a publish and subscribe mechanism to achieve remote monitoring and control of dynamic objects in an underwater scene. The approach proposed in this paper involves the integration of existing technologies to produce a powerful and flexible solution to problems in which enhanced awareness of the situation can lead to improvements in performance. These tools can be easily adapted to the extensive and diverse set of situations encountered in underwater construction, underwater surveying and maritime navigation. Real-time data from instruments and positioning sensors is made available by using a publishing mechanism and a remote data server. Users with Internet or intranet access can subscribe to any real-time data field being published and receive updates every time the information changes. Underwater infrastructure information resulting from construction, maintenance and inspection is often stored in databases. The software libraries introduced in this paper also provide a full set of tools to store and retrieve information from such databases. The database access tools use the same publish and subscribe mechanism involved in real-time data acquisition. This similarity makes it very easy for developers to integrate historic and live data in a single monitoring application. The visualization tools presented in this paper enable developers to define virtual scenes that can display all the relevant elements associated with an underwater construction job, including complex structures and dynamic objects; i.e., ROVs, vessels, etc. The use of advance cueing techniques and multi-resolution rendering make it possible to achieve satisfactory interactive frame rates without sacrificing accuracy and realism. The concept of 3D indicator modules is also introduced. These powerful modules can be linked to live data using the subscribe tools and attached to any element in the environment including dynamic ones. This flexibility allows the users to monitor the data, not only as it changes, but also in the 3D location that makes the most sense. The three components of the tools being introduced in this paper (data acquisition, data distribution, and scene visualization) are fully described along with examples of applications that take full advantage of the integration of all three components