DEEPi: A miniaturized, robust, and economical camera and computer system for deep-sea exploration Deep Sea Research Part I: Oceanographic Research Papers

Cameras are essential components to almost every underwater vehicle including ROV's, AUV's, manned submersibles, ocean observatories, and baited remote underwater video systems (BRUVs). Deep-sea cameras are traditionally expensive components, and are almost exclusively fabricated as 1-atm pressure housings made of aluminum, stainless steel or titanium, combined with custom-made optical viewports. In autonomous recording systems such as BRUVs and biologging animal tags, camera size and form factor directly influences the physical design of the entire system and limits the operational endurance. In this paper, we describe a novel design for DEEPi, a deep-sea imaging and control system based on the Raspberry Pi family of single-board computers. The DEEPi camera is an extremely compact remote head unit (~16 ml volume), can operate to depths of at least 5500 m, and uses a photopolymer 3D-printed shell partially filled with epoxy as a pressure housing. A flat polished borosilicate glass disc serves as the optical viewport, and protects the lens assembly from pressure and water intrusion. The control computer is completely potted in epoxy, and is accessible through a wifi connection. The DEEPi system is described in detail, along with example imagery from deep-sea deployments to depths of up to 1096 m. Grant no. NA18OAR0110288

相机几乎是所有水下运载平台不可或缺的核心组件，涵盖遥控水下机器人（Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicle，ROV）、自主水下航行器（Autonomous Underwater Vehicle，AUV）、载人潜水器、海洋观测站以及诱饵式远程水下视频系统（Baited Remote Underwater Video Systems，BRUVs）。
深海相机传统上造价高昂，且几乎均采用铝、不锈钢或钛合金制作1标准大气压耐压舱，搭配定制光学观察窗。在BRUVs与生物记录动物标记装置等自主记录系统中，相机的尺寸与外形规格直接影响整个系统的物理结构设计，并限制其作业续航能力。
本文介绍了一种基于树莓派（Raspberry Pi）系列单板计算机的新型深海成像与控制系统DEEPi。DEEPi相机为超紧凑型远程头部单元，体积约16毫升，可在至少5500米深度下作业，其耐压舱采用光聚合树脂3D打印壳体并部分灌注环氧树脂制成。采用抛光平面硼硅酸盐玻璃圆盘作为光学观察窗，可保护镜头组件免受水压侵袭并防止进水。控制计算机完全采用环氧树脂灌封，可通过WiFi连接实现访问。
本文详细阐述了DEEPi系统，并展示了其在最大1096米深海部署场景中获取的实拍图像示例。
资助项目编号：NA18OAR0110288