Multisensor visualization for underwater archaeology

The problems particular to underwater archaeology are discussed. The underwater archaeology study of three sunken ships is then described. They are the USS Monitor, Hamilton and Scourge. Future prospects with respect to improved technology are indicated. From depths prohibitive to human divers, remotely operated vehicles (ROVs) send back acoustic and optical data to archaeologists safe and comfortable aboard ship. Sonars give the big picture, and acoustic data can be processed to extract spatial information: shape and relative placement of artifacts. Still cameras and video document fine-scale features, allowing an archaeologist to identify and date underwater relics. New computational and graphics technologies afford scientists and engineers a visual means of digesting the massive information flow from state-of-the-art ROVs.<
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