A team of MIT researchers have built a battery-less, wireless underwater camera to explore unknown ocean regions. The camera is approx. 100,000 times more energy efficient than other underwater cameras. It can take color photos even in dark underwater environments and transmits image data wirelessly through the water.
Without a power source, the camera could operate for weeks underwater to explore the deep and remote parts of the ocean, including 95% still need to be mapped to find new species. On top of that, the new camera could also improve our understanding of climate change by taking pictures of the same place for several weeks.
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How is the camera powered once in the water?
Instead of using a traditional battery, the camera converts sound waves into electricity through piezoelectric transducers and stores them in a supercapacitor, before using them to power ultra-low-power grayscale image sensors available in the trade. In other words, the camera is capable of transforming the mechanical energy of sound waves moving through water into electrical energy.
The source of these sound waves can be anything, such as a passing boat or a sign of aquatic life. Until it has accumulated enough to operate the circuits that take the pictures and transmit the data, the camera stores the collected energy.
To capture color images, these sensors are paired with red, green, and blue LEDs. The camera then captures three grayscale images under each color of light to combine them into a single color image.
” One of the most exciting applications of this camera for me personally is in the context of climate monitoring said study author and MIT computer science professor Fadel Adib in a press release. ” This technology could help us build more accurate climate models and better understand the impact of climate change on the underwater world “.