We All Live in a Virtual Submarine
Our seas and oceans hide a plethora of archaeological sites such as ancient shipwrecks that, overtime, are being destroyed through activities such as deepwater trawling and treasure hunting. In 2006, a multidisciplinary team of 11 European institutions established the Venus (Virtual Exploration of Underwater Sites) consortium to make underwater sites more accessible by generating thorough, exhaustive 3D records for virtual exploration. Over the past three years, we surveyed several shipwrecks around Europe and investigated advanced techniques for data acquisition using both autonomous and remotely operated vehicles coupled with innovative sonar and photogrammetric equipment. Access to most underwater sites can be difficult and hazardous owing to deep waters. However, this same inhospitable environment offers extraordinary opportunities to archaeologists because darkness, low temperatures, and low oxygen rates are all favorable to preservation. From a visualization pipeline perspective, this project had two main challenges. First, we had to gather large amounts of raw data from various sources. Then, we had to develop techniques to filter, calibrate, and map the data and then bring it all together into a single accurate visual representation.
Underwater cartography for archaeology in the VENUS project
This paper describes a suite of automated tools to produce underwater georeferenced cartographic data that includes archaeologically relevant information. The automated data-processing methodology ...
Development of polyamide curable modified epoxy novolac resins with improved adhesion and chemical resistance
Purpose – To prepare modified epoxy resins from resorcinol, cresol and phenol for improved adhesion and chemical resistance. To evaluate the properties of such modified epoxy resins.Design/methodology/approach – Epoxy novolac resins (ENRs) were synthesised by condensing epichlorohydrin with novolacs based on different types of substituted phenols for improving adhesion and chemical resistance. Various compositions were made by incorporating different proportions of polyamide resin. The chemical and adhesive strengths of the conventional epoxy and the modified epoxy resins were characterised.Findings – The modified ENR using substituted phenols showed significant enhancement of chemical and adhesive strengths over the conventional DGEBA resin. The modified ENR had an increased number of glycidyl groups (thus increased functionality) of resin, which was responsible for improved chemical and adhesive strengths over the conventional DGEBA resin.Research limitations/implications – The EPN resins used in the pr...