Data harvesting from seabed-mounted observation instruments using optical wireless communication on underewater drone

In order to collect data from seabed-mounted instruments, it was necessary and costly to recover the instruments themselves conventionally. data harvesting, which collects only data from the instruments, is a solution to reduce the cost. In this paper, specially developed UOWC modems were installed on a seabed mounted observation instrument and an underwater drone, and data harvesting was done from the instrument to the drone at the sea. In a preliminary test in shallow water, communication between the modems was established despite of sunlight. In a sea trial in deep sea, the communication range was reduced due to high turbidity near the seabed, but harvesting multiple photos taken by the seabed-mounted instrument was carried out successfully using the cruising underwater drone.