Progressive image compression and transmission with region of interest in underwater robotics

The increasing demand for underwater robotic intervention systems around the world in several application domains requires more versatile and inexpensive systems. By using a wireless communication system, supervised semi-autonomous robots have freedom of movement and, at the same time, allows the operator to get camera feedback and supervise the intervention. Moreover, the limited and varying bandwidth of underwater radio frequency (RF) and underwater acoustic modem channels is a major obstacle. This paper proposes the use of progressive (embedded) image compression and region of interest (ROI) for the design of an underwater image sensor to be installed in an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, specially when there are constraints on the available bandwidth, allowing a more agile data exchange between the vehicle and a human operator supervising the underwater intervention.