Development and evaluation of a forward-looking acoustic camera for opaque media tested at high temperature and high pressure

A prototype forward-looking acoustic camera for imaging of objects in optically opaque media has been developed and evaluated. Its imaging capability has been successfully verified under simultaneous exposure to a temperature of 125 degree Celsius and a pressure of 720 bar. The current maximum imaging distance is 45 cm. The camera builds upon technology developed for the oil & gas industry, but has potential applications in a variety of optically opaque environments, e.g. downhole geotechnical mapping of subsea vents and subsea mining. The pressure performance is by far superior to the conditions that are expected in subsea hydrothermal vents while the current temperature performance is satisfying for a subset of vents.