Omnidirectional underwater surveying and telepresence

Exploratory dives are traditionally the first step for marine scientists to acquire information on a previously unknown area of scientific interest. Manned submersibles have been the platform of choice for such exploration, as they allow a high level of environmental perception by the scientist on-board, and the ability to take informed decisions on what to explore next. However, manned submersibles have extremely high operation costs and provide very limited bottom time. Remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) can partially address these two issues, but have operational and cost constraints that restrict their usage. This paper discusses new capabilities to assist scientists operating lightweight hybrid remotely operated vehicles (HROV) in exploratory missions of mapping and surveying. The new capabilities, under development within the Spanish National project OMNIUS, provide a new layer of autonomy for HROVs by exploring three key concepts: Omni-directional optical sensing for collaborative immersive exploration, Proximity safety awareness and Online mapping during mission time.Peer Reviewe

Optical data processing in the context of the picmar project

The inspection of the seafloor is a fundamental task during the implantation, maintenance and dismantling of marine and oceanic infrastructures. The PICMAR project is intended to overcome the existing limitations of the current inspection systems. In the developed framework, the whole sensor-data processing is treated, improving the state of the art in topics such as multimodal data registration and 2D / 3D data blending, and going beyond in others such as automatic data classification and change detection. In this paper, the image processing pipeline is explained, involving preprocessing, geometrical and photometrical registration and change detection, and some of the obtained results are shown.Peer Reviewe

3D data processing for underwater inspection and monitoring

Ever-growing attention has been given to the monitoring and inspection of underwater man-made structures for scientific and technical purposes. However, most of the related tasks are still involving the use of scuba divers. In this paper, we propose a data processing pipeline that allows automatic inspection and monitoring of underwater structures using 2.5D and 3D data provided by either acoustic or optical sensors.Peer Reviewe

Structure, temporal evolution, and heat flux estimates from the Lucky Strike deep-sea hydrothermal field derived from seafloor image mosaics

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2012. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Geochemistry Geophysics Geosystems 13 (2012): Q04007, doi:10.1029/2011GC003990.Here we demonstrate with a study of the Lucky Strike hydrothermal field that image mosaicing over large seafloor areas is feasible with new image processing techniques, and that repeated surveys allow temporal studies of active processes. Lucky Strike mosaics, generated from >56,000 images acquired in 1996, 2006, 2008 and 2009, reveal the distribution and types of diffuse outflow throughout the field, and their association with high-temperature vents. In detail, the zones of outflow are largely controlled by faults, and we suggest that the spatial clustering of active zones likely reflects the geometry of the underlying plumbing system. Imagery also provides constraints on temporal variability at two time-scales. First, based upon changes in individual outflow features identified in mosaics acquired in different years, we document a general decline of diffuse outflow throughout the vent field over time-scales up to 13 years. Second, the image mosaics reveal broad patches of seafloor that we interpret as fossil outflow zones, owing to their association with extinct chimneys and hydrothermal deposits. These areas encompass the entire region of present-day hydrothermal activity, suggesting that the plumbing system has persisted over long periods of time, loosely constrained to hundreds to thousands of years. The coupling of mosaic interpretation and available field measurements allow us to independently estimate the heat flux of the Lucky Strike system at ~200 to 1000 MW, with 75% to >90% of this flux taken up by diffuse hydrothermal outflow. Based on these heat flux estimates, we propose that the temporal decline of the system at short and long time scales may be explained by the progressive cooling of the AMC, without replenishment. The results at Lucky Strike demonstrate that repeated image surveys can be routinely performed to characterize and study the temporal variability of a broad range of vent sites hosting active processes (e.g., cold seeps, hydrothermal fields, gas outflows, etc.), allowing a better understanding of fluid flow dynamics from the sub-seafloor, and a quantification of fluxes.This project was funded by CNRS/IFREMER through the 2006, 2008, 2009 and 2010 cruises within the MoMAR program (France), by ANR (France) Mothseim Project NT05-3 42213 to J. Escartín, and by grant CTM2010-15216/MAR from the Spanish Ministry of Science to R. Garcia and J. Escartín. T. Barreyre was supported by University Paris Diderot (Paris 7– France) and Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris (IPGP, France). E. Mittelstaedt was supported by the International Research Fellowship Program of the U.S. National Science Foundation (OISE-0757920).2012-10-1

The evolution of the ventilatory ratio is a prognostic factor in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 ARDS patients

Background: Mortality due to COVID-19 is high, especially in patients requiring mechanical ventilation. The purpose of the study is to investigate associations between mortality and variables measured during the first three days of mechanical ventilation in patients with COVID-19 intubated at ICU admission. Methods: Multicenter, observational, cohort study includes consecutive patients with COVID-19 admitted to 44 Spanish ICUs between February 25 and July 31, 2020, who required intubation at ICU admission and mechanical ventilation for more than three days. We collected demographic and clinical data prior to admission; information about clinical evolution at days 1 and 3 of mechanical ventilation; and outcomes. Results: Of the 2,095 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the ICU, 1,118 (53.3%) were intubated at day 1 and remained under mechanical ventilation at day three. From days 1 to 3, PaO2/FiO2 increased from 115.6 [80.0-171.2] to 180.0 [135.4-227.9] mmHg and the ventilatory ratio from 1.73 [1.33-2.25] to 1.96 [1.61-2.40]. In-hospital mortality was 38.7%. A higher increase between ICU admission and day 3 in the ventilatory ratio (OR 1.04 [CI 1.01-1.07], p = 0.030) and creatinine levels (OR 1.05 [CI 1.01-1.09], p = 0.005) and a lower increase in platelet counts (OR 0.96 [CI 0.93-1.00], p = 0.037) were independently associated with a higher risk of death. No association between mortality and the PaO2/FiO2 variation was observed (OR 0.99 [CI 0.95 to 1.02], p = 0.47). Conclusions: Higher ventilatory ratio and its increase at day 3 is associated with mortality in patients with COVID-19 receiving mechanical ventilation at ICU admission. No association was found in the PaO2/FiO2 variation

Erratum to: 36th International Symposium on Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s13054-016-1208-6.]

Image blending techniques and their application in underwater mosaicing

The fusion of several images of the same scene into a single and larger composite is known as photo-mosaic. Unfortunately, the seams along image boundaries are often noticeable, due to photometrical and geometrical registration inaccuracies. Image blending is the merging step in which those artefacts are minimized. Processing bottlenecks and the lack of medium-specific processing tools have restricted underwater photo-mosaics to small areas despite the hundreds of thousands of square meters that modern surveys can cover. Producing these mosaics is difficult due to the challenging nature of the underwater environment and the image acquisition conditions. This thesis proposes strategies and solutions to tackle the problems of very large underwater optical surveys (Giga-mosaics), presenting contributions in the image preprocessing, enhancing and blending steps, resulting in an improved visual quality in the final photo-mosaicLa unió de diverses imatges d’una mateixa escena en una d’única i més gran és coneguda com a foto-mosaic. Malauradament, els límits de les imatges són habitualment perceptibles, degut a imprecisions en els registres fotomètric i geomètric. La fusió d'imatges és l'etapa del procés d'unió a la qual aquests artefactes són minimitzats. Els colls d'ampolla en el processament i la manca d'eines específiques pel tractament del medi han restringint els foto-mosaics submarins a àrees reduïdes, malgrat que els estudis actuals poden cobrir centenars de milers de m2. . La producció d'aquests mosaics és complexa donada la naturalesa del medi subaquàtic i les condicions d'adquisició de les imatges. Aquesta tesi proposa estratègies i solucions per afrontar el problema de la generació de foto-mosaics submarins de grans dimensions (Giga-mosaics), i presenta contribucions en les etapes de preprocessament, realçat i fusió d’imatges, donant lloc a una qualitat visual millorada del foto-mosaic fina

Underwater Gigamosaicing

El procés de fusió de dues o més imatges de la mateixa escena en una d'única i més gran és conegut com a Image Mosaicing. Un cop finalitzat el procés de construcció d'un mosaic, els límits entre les imatges són habitualment visibles, degut a imprecisions en els registres fotomètric i geomètric. L'Image Blending és l'etapa del procediment de mosaicing a la que aquests artefactes són minimitzats o suprimits. Existeixen diverses metodologies a la literatura que tracten aquests problemes, però la majoria es troben orientades a la creació de panorames terrestres, imatges artístiques d'alta resolució o altres aplicacions a les quals el posicionament de la càmera o l'adquisició de les imatges no són etapes rellevants. El treball amb imatges subaquàtiques presenta desafiaments importants, degut a la presència d'scattering (reflexions de partícules en suspensió) i atenuació de la llum i a condicions físiques extremes a milers de metres de profunditat, amb control limitat dels sistemes d'adquisició i la utilització de tecnologia d'alt cost. Imatges amb il·luminació artificial similar, sense llum global com la oferta pel sol, han de ser unides sense mostrar una unió perceptible. Les imatges adquirides a gran profunditat presenten una qualitat altament depenent de la profunditat, i la seva degradació amb aquest factor és molt rellevant. El principal objectiu del treball és presentar dels principals problemes de la imatge subaquàtica, seleccionar les estratègies més adequades i tractar tota la seqüència adquisició-procesament-visualització del procés. Els resultats obtinguts demostren que la solució desenvolupada, basada en una Estratègia de Selecció de Límit Òptim, Fusió en el Domini del Gradient a les regions comunes i Emfatització Adaptativa d'Imatges amb baix nivell de detall permet obtenir uns resultats amb una alta qualitat. També s'ha proposat una estratègia, amb possibilitat d'implementació paral·lela, que permet processar mosaics de kilòmetres d'extensió amb resolució de centímetres per píxel.The process of fusing two or more images of the same scene into a single and larger one is known as a Image Mosaicing. After the mosaic building process, boundary seams along the common overlapping regions are often noticeable, due to photometrical and geometrical registration inaccuracies. Image blending is the step of the mosaicing procedure where those artifacts are minimized or totally suppressed, when it is possible. There are several methodologies in the literature focused on dealing with those problems, but most of them are oriented to the creation of aerial or terrestrial panoramas, high resolution artwork reproductions, and other applications where camera placement and image acquisition are not especially relevant steps of the procedure. Underwater imaging presents special challenges, due to scattering and light attenuation, and to the extreme physical conditions under some thousands of meters of water depth, with limited remote control, using very expensive technology. Images with similar local artificial lighting, without a global illumination, like the one provided by the sun in terrestrial imaging, should be unified in a seamless manner. Furthermore, deep water images present depthdepending highly different quality, increasing the complexity of the seamless merging. The main aim of the work is to present the special underwater imaging problems, give solution by adequate selecting the strategies and deal with the whole acquisition-computation-display pipeline. The obtained results demonstrate that the developed approach, based on Optimal Seam Finding strategy, Intelligent Gradient Domain Blending in the common overlapping regions and Adaptive Image Enhancement for regions with low detail, allow to reach high quality level results. A Large Scale Mosaic Blending methodology, allowing to use parallel processing techniques, has also been proposed, in order process extremely large scale mosaics, of several square kilometers, with very high resolution, of some centimeters by pixel

Merging bathymetric and optical cues form in-de-tail inspetion of an underwater shipwreck

Peer Reviewe

Planar homography: accuracy analysis and applications

Projective homography sits at the heart of many problems in image registration. In addition to many methods for estimating the homography parameters (R.I. Hartley and A. Zisserman, 2000), analytical expressions to assess the accuracy of the transformation parameters have been proposed (A. Criminisi et al., 1999). We show that these expressions provide less accurate bounds than those based on the earlier results of Weng et al. (1989). The discrepancy becomes more critical in applications involving the integration of frame-to-frame homographies and their uncertainties, as in the reconstruction of terrain mosaics and the camera trajectory from flyover imagery. We demonstrate these issues through selected example